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Why does Hans Beckert whistle “In the Hall of the Mountain King” in M?

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Fritz Lang directing Woman in the Moon (1929) — Fritz Lang Although it took Fritz Lang some 21 years to make 22 Hollywood films, arguably at least half of them are noirish masterpieces of menace. His time in Hollywood, which began in 1934, followed a directing career in Germany during the 1920s that included several landmark films.

In the 1931 thriller M, directed by Fritz Lang, the character Hans Beckert whistles the melody of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt as a leitmotif to signal his presence before committing a crime.1

Rather than depicting the murders on-screen, Lang utilized this auditory cue to build a sense of encroaching terror and psychological entrapment. By associating this specific melody with the character's actions, the film effectively uses offscreen sound to heighten the audience's fear and anticipation of the violence to come.1