I have decided to analyse an extract of the classic film-noir, German thriller M [Lang, 1931] in my textual analysis, a film set in the 1920’s about the police in a German city being unable to catch a child-murderer causing other criminals join in the manhunt¹. My chosen extract is 00:49:57:00-00:54:50:00 at the start of th esecond act where the scene cuts back and forth between the murderer, Hans Beckert, prying upon a potential victim through a shop mirror and a detective discreetly searching through Beckert’s home for evidence. In order to analyse this section, I will evaluate the use of mise-en-scene and cinematography and its representations and ideologies, specifically how it links to the social and historical context of the production process.