BFI Player is now available on more TV apps

Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £6.99 a month

M PG rating

Peter Lorre is unforgettable as the compulsive child murderer on the run from both police and criminals alike, in Fritz Lang’s seminal crime film.

Crime 1931 111 mins

Director: Fritz Lang

Overview

Peter Lorre’s first major screen role was also his greatest, as the compulsive child murderer on the run from both a desperate, frustrated police force and Berlin’s far more ruthless criminal underworld. Made two years before Hitler came to power, Fritz Lang’s first sound film is a great psychological thriller, a trenchant treatise on crime and justice, and a vivid portrait of the rapidly disintegrating Weimar Republic.

Ranked joint 36th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll