I can't address the "paragraph 51" aspect of this query (I found nothing about it in McGilligan's recent Lang biography), but *M* assiduously avoids any type of voice-over narration (although perhaps I don't quite understand your usage of "narrator" here). All sound is diegetic, although near the film's beginning I believe it is the police commissioner (Adolph Loos?) whose telephone conversation with a government minister, perturbed over the police's lack of success in finding the murderer, describes the police procedures that Lang portrays onscreen, in a manner "narrating" what is viewed. Lang's most radical sound innovation is beginning the film (after opening credits) with a completely black screen, with the children's song about the "little man in black" on the soundtrack, effectively prefiguring both the plot and the Lorre character; eventually (as I recall), the black dissolves into a high-angle shot of the children playing. They undoubtedly exist, but I cannot think of an earlier film that uses so effectively the absence of an image in complete deference to the soundtrack, especially so at the film's beginning, when the audience expects to "see" something. _______________________________________________________________________________ William Lafferty, PhD Department of Theatre Arts [log in to unmask] Wright State University office (937) 775-4581 or 3072 Dayton, OH 45435-0001 USA facsimile (937) 775-3787 The universe was once conceived almost as a vast preserve, landscaped for heroes, plotted to provide them the appropriate adventures. The rules were known and respected, the adversaries honorable, the oracles articulate and precise as the directives of a six-lane parkway. Errors of weakness or vanity led, with measured momentum, to the tragedy which resolved everything. Today, the rules are ambiguous, the adversary is concealed in aliases, the oracles broadcast a babble of contradictions. --- Maya Deren, from her notes for *At Land* ---- To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]