{"id":37895,"date":"2017-09-26T20:36:31","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T01:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/?p=37895"},"modified":"2017-09-27T16:21:34","modified_gmt":"2017-09-27T21:21:34","slug":"mmm-m-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2017\/09\/26\/mmm-m-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Mmm, M good"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

DB here, boasting about Kristin:<\/p>\n

Our series on the Criterion Channel<\/a> on FilmStruck<\/a> continues with this month’s entry, Kristin on M<\/em><\/a> as an exceptionally rich sound film. She talks about how Lang adapted silent-film techniques to the demands of sound while also using sound to achieve effects that couldn’t be achieved purely through images.<\/p>\n

Watching her discussion and the clips, I was reminded of what a precise director Lang was–a unique mixture of stylistic flamboyance and swift economy. You see that mix in silent masterpieces like the Mabuse films, Metropolis<\/em>, The<\/em>\u00a0Niebelungen<\/em>, and Spione<\/em>. In various entries (here<\/a> and here<\/a> and here<\/a>) I’ve dwelt on his poised, meticulous compositions that use the entire frame area. Sound gave him a new set of resources for dynamic expression. Rather than becoming more conventional, Lang’s American films seem to subtly absorb the discoveries of\u00a0M. <\/em>Examples are\u00a0the tapping of the “blind” man’s cane in Ministry of Fear<\/em> and the ominously croaking frogs in\u00a0You Only Live Once<\/em>. And the propulsive sound cuts in his last film, The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse<\/em>, show that he never forgot that sound could be edited as freely as images.<\/p>\n

You can sample a clip from the episode at On the Channel <\/a>at Criterion’s site. A complete list of the\u00a0Observations on Film Art<\/em>\u00a0series (eleven already!) is\u00a0here<\/a>. Go here<\/a> for blog entries offering background on those installments.<\/p>\n

\n

Thanks as ever to Peter Becker, Kim Hendrickson, Grant Delin, and all their teammates at Criterion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DB here, boasting about Kristin: Our series on the Criterion Channel on FilmStruck continues with this month’s entry, Kristin on M as an exceptionally rich sound film. She talks about how Lang adapted silent-film techniques to the demands of sound while also using sound to achieve effects that couldn’t be achieved purely through images. Watching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,12,91,228,137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-directors-lang","category-film-history","category-film-technique-sound","category-filmstruck","category-national-cinemas-germany"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37895"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37939,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37895\/revisions\/37939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}