Welcome to episode 61 of The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we pair two movies to create something greater than the sum of their parts.

This week we are in pursuit of a killer or two, the first in Germany in 1931 and the second in London four decades later, in 1972.

First up, we have M, directed by Fritz Lang. This stars Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke, Georg John and Theodor Loos.

Then we follow this with Frenzy, from director Alfred Hitchcock. This stars Jon Finch, Barry Foster, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Alec McCowen and Anna Massey.

Along the way, we’ll be discussing the career and films of director Fritz Lang, actor Peter Lorre, the real-life crimes that inspired both movies, attitudes towards sexual violence in the 1970s, and much, much more.

Recommendations

Metropolis (1927)

Scarlet Street (1945)

The Woman in the Window (1944)

Mad Love (1935)

Blood Simple (1984)

Arsenic & Old Lace (1944)

The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)

Sleuth (1972)

References

M by Samm Deighan (Devil’s Advocates)

Euro Gothic: Classics of Continental Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby

Fritz Lang: The Life and Legacy of the Influential German-American Film Legend by Charles River Editors

Fritz Lang by Lotte H. Eisner

M (blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment)

Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy by Raymond Foery

Frenzy (Devil’s Advocates) series of books.

https://filmfolly.com/features/m-explained-fritz-langs-shockingly-relevant-story

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_K%C3%BCrten

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M_(1931_film)

https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/alfred-hitchcock-frenzy

https://cinephiliabeyond.org/frenzy-hitchcocks-return-perfection-penultimate-film/

https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1679830/Michael-Caine-Hollywood-feud-director-Alfred-Hitchcock-Frenzy-film

https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a440534/helen-mirren-on-alfred-hitchcock-meeting-i-was-arrogant-ignorant/

https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2022/cteq/m-fritz-lang-1931/

https://youtu.be/GNm0ultOUC0?si=Ao74fogYdec9McDC

https://www.executedtoday.com/2016/02/15/1926-josef-jakubowski-weimar-germany-wrongful-execution/

https://www.ndr.de/geschichte/chronologie/Josef-Jakubowski-Unschuldig-wegen-eines-Mordes-enthauptet%2Cjakubowski100.html

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