Non-Fiction / DVD Extras

"M": The Masters of Cinema Blu-ray Series #9 (DVD booklet), edited by Jess Fulton & Andrew Utterson

A typically informative booklet from MoC, accompanying their new release of M on DVD and Blu-ray (out Monday).

Writings include Fritz Lang himself discussing the film, once in 1931 and looking back in an interview from 1963; details on a missing scene from early in the film (the most complete surviving version, restored from numerous prints, is seven minutes short of the original running time); and a discussion of the French and English versions of the film, which as well as dubbing include some re-shot scenes, including Peter Lorre's first performance in English.

I suppose one might argue the booklet's short on analysis, but when the disc includes two full-length audio commentaries that feature two film scholars, a restoration expert, an historian, and filmmaker (and commentator extraordinaire) Peter Bogdanovich -- not to mention excerpts from interviews with Lang -- it's hard to justifiably complain, I think.