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"The children's song immediately reminds us of every infant's instinctive fear of being torn away from the safety of their homes. \"The nasty man in black\" is first introduced to us by this group of joyless children who stand stiffly in a circle, seen from above, each casting a long shadow that is characteristic of the film noir genre. \n  \nThe camera moves away from the children and then upwards, showing us a tired, irritated woman who demands that the singing be stopped, as though the weight she is carrying were increased insupportably by the horror ellicited by the song. \n  \nA second woman opens the door and we see the expression of fatigue and preoccupation on her face. Through the dialogue with the other woman we learn that there is a murderer, confirming what was insinuated earlier. But when she is alone in the room, doing the laundry, her face lights up with anticipation. The camera is now at eye level with the woman in the room and there is light coming in through the window in a natural way. The sounds we hear from the neighbourhood contribute to a feeling of normalcy that was absent before. \n  \nMeanwhile, a girl almost gets run over by a car and the tension increases. It is heightened by the text we read in the advertisement against which she is bouncing a ball insistantly. And the scene reaches its climax when the large shadow of a man looming over the child is visible on the advertisement. \n  \n  \n  \nFritz Lang's M (1931). Opening scene "
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