In 1931, independent producer Seymour Nebenzahl hired Lang to direct "M" for Nero-Film. His first "talking" picture, considered by many film scholars to be a masterpiece of the early sound era, "M" is a disturbing story of a child murderer (Peter Lorre in his first starring role) who is hunted down and brought to rough justice by Berlin's criminal underworld. "M" remains a powerful work; it was remade in 1951 by Joseph Losey, but this version had little impact on audiences, and has become harder to see than the original film.