Films are, of course, both a verbal and a visual medium – something we listen to and very much look at. As such, a few lines of dialogue or a short sequence of shots can sum up and capture the whole essence of the film in just a few seconds or moments.These instances can be called dialogue movie moments or visual movie moments.
Perhaps my favorite visual MM is from the 1931 German murder suspense film “M”, directed by Fritz Lang. M tells the story of a child murderer who is hunted by both the police and the criminal underworld.
Early in the movie we meet Elsie, a young girl playing with her ball as she walks home from school.She crosses paths with the murderer and they go off together; next we see the man buying Elsie a balloon, in the form of a child, from a blind beggar. A balloon is, of course, a traditional symbol of the innocence of childhood, but in the film it proves to be the most important key element in the whole story.
At around 7 mins 20 secs in the film, we see Elsies mother getting anxious as Elsie is late and she moves to open the apartment window and call out. So .We then cut to a sequence of shots which, without actually showing Elsie`s fate, nevertheless strongly suggest what has happened.
* 7.22 : The anxious mother at the window
* 7.34 : The empty stairwell
* 7.38 : The deserted drying room
* 7.46 : Elsie`s unoccupied place at the dinner table
* 7.52 : Her ball rolling free on empty waste ground
* 8.00 – 8-04 Her balloon, no longer held by Elsie, but trapped in the overhead telegraph lines, before flying away.
As the negative, lifeless images accumulate, one on top of the other, we surely know that Elsie is gone, murdered – especially with that final image of the balloon no longer held by Elsie, but lost, flown away.
That lost symbol of childhood innocence, the balloon, then becomes the most important clue in finding the murderer. The blind beggar who sold the balloon is unable , of course, to provide a physical description of the killer – but he remembers that the man was whistling a particular tune – and this is what betrays the killer and leads to his eventual capture.
So that short sequence of 6 shots sums up the early fate of the child, especially with the harrowing image of the lost balloon ; and the balloon then proves to be the key to finding the murderer : a truly stunning visual movie moment.
Peter Anyon
