 It was a financial flop, as were his last silent films "Spies" (1928) and "Woman in the Moon" produced by Lang's own company.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.