#peter lorre lost movie

[peterlorrefanpage]

Peter Lorre in "Schuß im Morgengrauen" (A Shot at Dawn), 1932

Plot: A bullet-ridden crime drama centered around a jewel heist.

Peter Lorre played Klotz, a trigger-happy thug.

Klotz was a small and underwritten role, and Peter wasn't happy with it. So, naturally, he made his character a frustrated sex maniac. :D

"He followed every young female character from behind, with his hand and fingers outstretched to pinch her bottom. So when he started that gag, the audience knew what was coming and roared with laughter. In fact, he never got to “grips” with any unsuspecting bottom!" - The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre

More to the plot: The gang of jewel thieves makes the mistake of murdering a detective; a Berlin policeman tracks down the thieves by posing as a gang member.

Pictures include: Theodor Loos, Ery Bos, Fritz Odemar, Heinz Salfner, Guenter Grau, and director Alfred Zeisler.

So I felt like doing a round-up of pics again because this is a lost film. (There's a French language version, but Peter isn't in it.) And you never know when new eyeballs upon these pictures will yield treasure!

In the meantime, we could probably piece together the script + Lorre's part in it if we put the pics in proper order. :/

[vintageerieteacup]

How to drink coffee in the most aesthetic manner.

[edgarallanmoe]

Publicity for movies starring Conrad Veidt

[faustiandevil]

There is no greater personal Hell of your own making then getting obsessed with some dead actor and not being able to watch their entire filmography.

[gnome-adjacent-vagabond]

Whoever wrote the ending to The Face Behind the Mask needs a smack in the teeth.

[rightdowntothedirtywork]

LONGLEGS (2024) Dir. Osgood Perkins ‘This is a cruel world, especially for the little things.’

LONGLEGS is a psychological thriller/horror film released earlier this year in 2024. Following in the footsteps of similar 90s FBI procedurals such as CURE (1997), Silence of the Lambs (1992) and SE7EN (1995), it follows a young FBI agent Lee Harker as she attempts to solve a string of familicides in 90s Oregon.

The film received a lot of publicity upon first being announced, being hailed as the ‘scariest film in the last 50 years’, which was only furthered by an incredible marketing campaign audience members could be involved in, such as calling the titular villain and cracking coded files to uncover crime scene photos, seemingly sent to you directly by the villain himself (which I managed to get from when I was involved with this before the movie came out);

The film was created by Osgood Perkins, the son of 60s horror darling, Anthony Perkins, who’s family life with Perkins’ mother informed the overarching 'meaning' behind the film.

Perkins' father died on September 12, 1992, from complications related to AIDS. He had been diagnosed with the disease a few years earlier but kept his illness private for most of his life. His mother, the talented Berry Berenson, also tragically lost her life in the September 11th attacks in 2001. In conversation with Vulture, Perkins reflects on his family life and the ways in which these experiences shaped his creative process in developing LONGLEGS:

““Mothers can craft stories,” he says as we loop along a lake and he looks toward the looming Cathedral Mausoleum, home to the remains of Peter Lorre and Rudolph Valentino. (For all his dry affect and working-director gear, with scruff and a baseball cap, Perkins still gives the occasional gleam of matinee-idol drama.) “They can tell their kids a version of what’s going on in their life or in the lives of their parents. And it’s done compassionately, protectively. And it’s not great.” In Longlegs, Agent Lee Harker (Monroe) gets assigned to investigate a series of murders with supernatural implications that are revealed to have a connection to details she never understood about her own childhood. In the character of Lee’s mother, Ruth (Alicia Witt), who raised her daughter alone and whose religiousness contains an off-key note, Perkins sees something personal about the domestic mythology his own mother wove. “My father was a homosexual man, or at least a bisexual man, who had a life that wasn’t reconcilable with his family life. For us, growing up, we just weren’t given that language. We weren’t given that access. Instead, there was a narrative put on things about what the family was like and how we were together and how my dad was. The challenge of rectifying what I felt I understood and what I was being told is the genesis for the mother that chooses to be complicit in a story.”

LONGLEGS quickly became one of my favorite films from the moment I first watched it. I remember leaving the cinema and immediately adding it to my (previously very stubbornly unchanging) Letterboxd top 4. I found its exploration of the themes surrounding the sheltering from the harsh truths of the world, particularly through the conversations between the secondary antagonist, Ruth Harker, and her sheltered, emotionally immature daughter, Lee, to be highly relatable.

Lee, who was raised in a Catholic environment with her mother working as a nurse, is suggested to have been sheltered as a direct result of this upbringing. Ruth's desire to protect Lee from the harsh realities of life culminates in the films final act, where it's revealed that she is collaborating with LONGLEGS - or Dale Cobble - to murder families after making a pact with the Devil to safeguard Lee from an eternity in Hell. Earnestly telling a panicked Harker that, “If they don't die, then we will burn … and twist, and burn … and twist, in hell. Forever and ever.”

Lee was incredibly relatable to me, but so was her mother, in a way. Having experienced a form of Religious mania as a child, I could easily see myself growing up like Ruth if not for the timely intervention of others around me.

Although it was probably unintentional, the film resonated with me as someone who was raised Catholic. In Catholic schools, particularly in Ireland, the teachings often leaned more towards fearmongering than actual 'this is why you should be comforted by the afterlife!' lessons.

I vividly remember being terrified of burning in Hell for even the smallest mistakes—like not blessing myself when passing a church, failing to say my prayers, mispronouncing Irish during hymns, or living in sin (as a nine year old).

The imagery of genuine horror, unease and brainwashing that comes in this film is very familiar and haunting to me, and I really enjoyed it. Unlike the older women I saw on the way out the moment Cobble mentioned Satan by name, which I guess still isn't capable of a soft landing in Irish cinemas.

[sixty-silver-wishes]

Hmm gonna make a classic film ask game!

(for the purpose of this game, I'm defining "classic film" as films made up until the 1960s.)

1- Silents or talkies? 2- If you could see one lost classic film, which one would it be and why? 3- Who is your favorite classic film director?

4- What is your favorite decade of film? 5- Favorite actor/actress?

6- What's a popular classic film that you dislike? 7- What do people get wrong about your favorite film? 8- Give a fun fact about the production of a classic film! 9- Have you ever seen a classic film screened in a movie theater?

10- How would you adapt a classic film of your choice?

11- Does your favorite classic film have a sequel and/or remake? If so, do you like it? 12- If you were cast in a classic film, which one would you want to be cast in, and which character would you want to play?

13- Favorite instance of practical effects in a classic film?

14- Hot take!

15- What's the oldest film you've seen? 16- What's your least favorite role of your favorite actor's?

17- Which film do you want to see that you haven't seen yet?

18- Where do you go to watch classic films? (Physical media? Streaming services? Internet?)

19- Does your favorite classic film have source material, such as being based on a book or play? Have you read or seen the source material?

20- Thoughts on colorizing black and white films?

21- Which film do you prefer- Nosferatu (1922) or Dracula (1931)?

22- Do you own a physical copy of your favorite classic film?

23- Have you shown your favorite classic film to someone else? What did they think of it? 24- Is there a classic film you watch as a holiday tradition (ie, "It's a Wonderful Life" around Christmas, "Arsenic and Old Lace" around Halloween?)

25- Have you seen any classic films made outside western Europe or the US? If so, what are your top favorites?

26- How did you get into classic films?

27- Whose acting do you prefer- Charlie Chaplin's or Buster Keaton's?

28- What is "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920) actually about?

29- Least favorite classic film?

30- They're making a Muppets adaptation of your favorite classic film. Who's who?

31- Peter Lorre or Dwight Frye?

32- Has a classic film ever genuinely scared you? Which one?

33- What's your comfort film?

34- Is there a classic film that makes you cry?

35- Favorite comedy?

36- Best Hitchcock film?

37- Best Fritz Lang film?

38- Favorite Universal monster?

39- What's your classic film character OTP? NoTP?

40- Thoughts on talking during a silent film?

41- Favorite Lon Chaney role?

42- Ingenues or femme fatales?

43- Favorite pre-Code film?

44- Without the Hays Code in the way, would you change anything about your favorite Code-era film?

45- Which actors do you think were snubbed with the roles they got?

46- Do you own any classic film memorabilia- ie., autographs, photos, etc.? If so, what's your favorite piece?

47- Which role do you wish your favorite classic film actor got to play, but didn't?

48- Favorite classic animated film?

49- Black and white or glorious technicolor?

50- Favorite classic movie musical?

[coyoteprince]

We're going through Peter Lorre movies to watch and came across The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and iiiiiiiit was. Not good!

Lorre was fantastic- especially considering he learned his lines phonetically and didn't understand English yet? Damn.

But for a story about preventing war and a kidnapped child, good lord did it feel emotionally empty and full of unneccessary, meaningless scenes and actions. Like junkfood movies of today, no substance at all. Nothing to say. A few characters I kept expecting to do something important, but in the end i have no idea why they were really there? Motives of almost everyone were so vague that I was just left confused as to why any of this matters. I'm surprised it was rated so highly by audiences- probably because of the new, exciting action of the time.

Tho i lost my mind in bewildered delight where instead of getting into a gun fight or something like expected, they all just start throwing tons of chairs at each other for a solid minute or two while Lorre just leans against a wall and watches without care, Jesus christ

We're on to M and the Maltese Falcon next. It's good to recognize that I'm really retaining what I've been learning about story telling. I think I can finally pin point and articulate why certain stories frustrate me. Gob and I ripped this one apart post watch!

[noirgasmweetheart]

Hotel Berlin (1945)

This might be the most underrated War Era movie I've seen yet.

Both the theatrical trailer and the DVD cover advertise it as a corny exploitation movie. It's nothing of the sort. It's as sincerely written and acted as "Casablanca," with far more direct references to the Jewish people, and specific concentration camps.

I legitimately ordered the DVD just to see Peter Lorre as a disheveled angst-ridden scruff-muffin; I had no idea the character was going to be so compelling, or the rest of the movie equally so. Several other characters also exploded beyond the old clichés I was expecting. The movie appears to be building towards a predictable, cheesy love story, but...doesn't. Another character who at first appears one of the most despicable opportunists in the movie...isn't. And the movie's nuanced look at an indoctrinated population being carpet-bombed while their tyrannical, antisemetic leaders flee to save their own skins is uh...timely, to say the least.

I'm sure it helped that I watched this movie during a rainstorm at night, which is the way to watch it. The timeliness of a story about

Spoilers Below!

Faye Emerson deserved that top billing.

According to IMDB, Andrea King was originally to be billed as the film's female lead, with Faye Emerson billed as a supporting character. When Emerson married the son of President Roosevelt, she was given top billing over King, to capitalize on her new fame. I find that ironic, given that by the end of the movie, Faye's character Tilly has, against all odds, proven to be the film's true heroine.

Introduced as a materialistic Nazi informer, dating SS officers and betraying a hiding resistance fighter just to get herself some new shoes, Tilly's reality turns upside-down when she learns that the lover she thought she'd lost is still alive. After an emotional breakdown over what her despair let her become, she defends her boyfriend's mother against a Nazi officer, and delivers the most powerful speech in the movie. It is her character who finally mentions the Jews out loud, after an entire movie and an entire genre dancing around the subject.

I've recorded the scene from the DVD and uploaded it to YouTube:

"Go on shoot me, arrest me, have me killed, I don't care! Why should I. I loved Max Baruch and you sent him to a concentration camp! You hung a sign around my neck saying I loved a Jew! And you paraded me down the street. They'll hang something around your neck someday, and it won't be a sign!"

Corny Romance is Just a Red Herring

My stance that Emersen deserved that top billing in no way negates Andrea King's marvelous performance as the film's faux female lead. Though we are warned right from the start that her character, movie star Lisa Dorn, is a Nazi and a master manipulator, the film plays her as the straightforward love interest for much of the film: helping the hero partially out of the hope that he'll save her in return, seemingly building a genuine admiration for his heroism...then completely subverts expectations by revealing her to be exactly what she she was introduced as: a Nazi collaborator out to save her own skin.

I was genuinely afraid at the end that the hero would find himself unable to shoot her, and we'd see her tearfully declare her love for him, and end with him forgiving her. Not so. She argues pathetically, trying to excuse her betrayal and convince Richter that she loves him, and he doesn't fall for it. Richter sees Sam Spade's "I'll be waiting for you," and raises him two gunshots.

Peter Lorre like we've never seen him before

Okay, maybe we have seen Peter angsting around and wobbling drunkenly a few times before. But this was the first time I saw him directly address the issues that so closely affected him (and his costars of course) in real life.

Peter Lorre died before talk about the Holocaust really became mainstream. But the emotion behind the lines he delivers as the self-hating German professor speaks volumes. The gleeful smile he wears in his first scene, while saying that the bombing is only what the Germans deserve; his bitter sarcasm about the achievements of German science in the concentration camps, and wondering where all the "good Germans" are now; his breakdown when Richter tells him of a mutual friend's murder at Dachau. Much like his frantic escape attempt in "Casablanca," Peter likely didn't have to fish too hard to dig up the needed emotions for these scenes.

This is also the closest I've ever come to seeing Peter cry.

Other PL fans have lamented that his role was too small. I agree that I'd have loved to see a hell of a lot more of Koenig, but it's not like many of the other characters had much more screen time, which all the different storylines running at once. Aside from maybe Helmut Dantine and Andrea King, most of the important characters probably only have a handful of scenes tops.

Edit: That said, knowing he had scenes indicating how he joined the resistance that were cut is very frustrating.

But the fact that Peter's character not only lives to the end as one of the heroes, but gets to read President Roosevelt's uplifting speech to the German people, definitely counts for something.

That speech packed a powerful punch for me, at a time when I sometimes need reminding that indoctrinated civilians in war zones are still individuals, and can't be lumped with their dogmatic leaders. I don't doubt for a minute that President Biden took inspiration from Roosevelt for how to address the Palestinian people in regards to stopping Hamas.

The Fugitive

I suppose I should also mention the film's lead: Helmut Dantine as Martin Richter, the German anti-Nazi resistance fighter who escaped Dachau Concentration Camp. Helmut Dantine played Jan, the Bulgarian husband in "Casablanca." The controlled desperation with which he gambled at Rick's roulette wheel as Jan serves well for his fugitive resistance fighter in this movie. The fact that Dantine was actually imprisoned at Rosserlaende Concentration Camp for his anti-Nazi political activism at age 19 no doubt also helped him in the role.

My only complaint is the makeup and costuming department failing to help him look the part. While Paul Henreid got a scar and a white streak of hair for Victor Laszlo, Dantine is done up to look like a particularly slick, clean movie star, standing out in a cast of disheveled and weary looking people. One could interpret this as a symbolic way of singling him out as the hero, but I found it distracting. I am not throwing shade on Dantine's acting abilities or natural looks, just how the people in charge had him presented.

I'm unsure how to close this review.

It's getting late and I have some more clips to upload, and cake to eat. "Hotel Berlin" is up there with "Casablanca" on my personal list of unironically great old movies. Professor Koenig is on my list favorite Peter Lorre characters, and I have a handful of new favorite actors.

I'll just finish by saying that this guy in the barrette looks noticeably like Robert Picardo, if maybe a "stretched out" version thereof. Voyager's EMH hanging out with a holo-Peter Lorre in one of Tom Paris's noir programs is something I never knew I needed.

[texas-gothic]

I really can't express how stricken I am by the passing of Roger Corman. To say I would be a radically different person today without his films and influence would be an understatement.

I grew up on Corman's work. Old VHS tapes of the Poe movies and The Terror. Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Borris Karloff. Jack Nicholson, of all people. It's true, they were cheesy, and most of them were shit, but they were so passionately off the wall. Who else could take Edgard Allen Poe's morose, grieving poem The Raven, and turn it into a movie about Vincent Price and Borris Karloff's wizard beef? Was there devil worship in the original text of Masque of The Read Death? No? There is now!

Corman was an exceptional talent in the world of B-movies, a world that has become a thing of the past in our modern, hyper amalgamated film industry. There's no more room for the Cormans of the world when every movie has to break $800M just to keep the bloated studio afloat. It will be to my lasting sorrow that we lost him. RIP to truly one of the best there ever was.

[peterlorres21stcentury]

Is there any truth to the story that Peter Lorre won his part in The Man Who Knew Too Much by pretending he understood English in an interview with Alfred Hitchcock? My reason for doubting it is that Hitchcock was a fairly good German speaker (enough that he directed a movie in German), so he and Peter could have conversed perfectly well in that language if necessary. Or maybe Lorre just wanted to convince Hitch he could speak English, since he was auditioning for an English-language movie?

Great question! You're not the only one who doubted that Lorre didn't know any English during The Man Who Knew Too Much. While he wasn't completely fluent, I suspect he knew just enough to get by, and like you said he probably didn't want Hitch thinking that he couldn't perform the role. But he had nothing to worry about--associate producer Ivor Montagu was thoroughly impressed by his work in M and was eager to give him the role of criminal mastermind, regardless of fluency. There are accounts of Peter learning English prior to filming (all quotes from Lorre's biography The Lost One):

“At that time Peter’s English wasn’t exactly great,” confirmed screenwriter Charles Bennett. “Hitch had recently employed a young female Oxford graduate named Joan Harrison. . . with high honors in French. With language difficulties existing, and since Peter was known to be a French linguist, Hitch asked Joan to discuss the next scene or such with Peter in French. Peter listened bewilderedly for a while, then said in his halting if hopeful grasp of the English tongue, ‘Please—please, speak English.’” Lorre claimed that he learned English in two to three months with the aid of a tutor. At night he sat up with a cup of black coffee and mentally translated his dialogue into German in order to firmly fix its meaning and inflection. After getting a handle on his characterization, he returned to his English lines, rehearsing and memorizing them word by word. However he managed it, by the time filming began on May 29, Lorre had more than a working knowledge of English. His acting is far too subtle and well-shaded to be dismissed as mere parroting.

He put a lot of work into the role and it shows!

[peterlorrefanpage]

Peter Lorre as the haunted, dangerous, brooding, and altogether compelling Dr. Rothe in his directorial debut, "Der Verlorene" (1951).

[vintageerieteacup]

The Art Of Walking Alone.

Der Verlorene, 1951.

[zippocreed501]

FROM THE B-MOVIE BADLANDS...

...images from the lost continent of cult films, b-movies and celluloid dreamscapes

Peter Lorre horror movies

Hey Peter, we would like to offer you the romantic lead in this movie...nah we're just joshin' with you...we want you to play the usual creepy kind of guy...You know, what you're best at...put the gun down Peter...

Mad Love (1935)The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942) The Beast With Five Fingers (1946) Tales Of Terror (1962) The Raven (1963) The Comedy Of Terrors (1963)

[faustiandevil]

Baby, you my Bugsy Malone and I'm your suicide blonde You can be my film noir star I'm your Queen of Saigon If they don't think we're good together Baby, just forget 'em and let bygones be bygones

I feel rusty with digital now for only using markers for… what 2 weeks now… So I decided to experiment again instead of finish something that I already have. To be honest I wasn’t feeling any of the drawings that I started anyway. I wanted to try for a few days now to just put down a block of color and carve out/erase the drawing from it and the below reference from Der Verlorene had just the right amount of light and shadow for that.

Reference image under the cut.

[technicolorfamiliar]

Technicolor Familiar Watches Too Many Conrad Veidt Movies Part 3 of ?

Part 1 // Part 2

Anders als die Andern (Different From the Others), 1919 Dir. Richard Oswald ⭐4/5 Watched Nov 15, Archive.org It really breaks my heart that so much of this film was lost and destroyed, and that the story is unfortunately still relevant 100+ years later. Maybe I don't have as much to say about this one because it's so chopped up, and because it's already been written and talked about so much. I am glad it seems to have found its proper place in literature/content about LGBTQ+ history, getting the acknowledgement it deserves. Despite already knowing so much about the movie from various books, podcasts, and documentaries, I was still very affected by the story and performances, especially towards the end. It really hit a nerve, surprisingly so. Connie's Paul is really lovely, tragic, and so sweet with Kurt.

Jew Süss, 1934 Dir. Lothar Mendes ⭐3.5/4 Watched Nov 26, Youtube There's something about the structure and the hazy, dreamy quality of the film itself that makes this seem like a fable. There are parts that are deeply upsetting and chilling despite the mediocre supporting cast. It's imperfect, but definitely did a lot more than other films to create complex and sympathetic Jewish characters in the 1930s (even if still playing on stereotypes). I'm a total sucker for 18th century opulence and fashion so I can’t complain much. And oh boy, does the 18th century suit Connie. He knows how to work the lace and silk to great affect. Some of the things he's doing as Josef are really fascinating and gut-wrenching. He's doing so much vocally, too. He's in an entirely other class compared to many actors of that era. P.S. The scenes with Josef and his mother and daughter were, uh, interesting. I have… mixed feelings.

Rome Express, 1932 Dir. Walter Forde ⭐3/5 Watched Nov 26, Youtube My expectations were pretty low for this one based on some things I'd read online, but it's a cute if slightly baffling train thriller with an ok-ish ensemble. I'm a little biased, my inner child fuckin loves trains so any train movie is at least going to be semi-enjoyable. I was so stressed the whole time about how everyone was handling that apparently very expensive painting. Connie is so extra, though. Why is Zurta eating a banana as soon as he jumps onto a moving train? Why does he hold a gun like ~that~? Why are his fingernails so long?? It's so funny seeing him next to all these tiny British actors. It may partly be how they dressed him for the role, but he makes everyone else look positively shrimpy.

All Through the Night, 1942 Dir. Vincent Sherman ⭐3/5 Watched Nov 27, Vudu Once I finally leaned into how silly this movie was, it was pretty entertaining. The dialogue alone is so stupid, but self aware of how stupid it is. And it features one of my favorite gags of all time: making up gibberish words for technical terms with complete confidence. There's a dog. (Question: Is the dog a nazi like the monkey in Raiders of the Lost Ark? Does the dog know it's complicit in war crimes??) Peter Lorre looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. Mrs. Danvers is there. Some of the visual comedy is actually pretty great -- the dog in the boat at the end when Connie is being totally deadpan serious? Hysterical. (DID THEY BLOW UP THAT DOG?) I think this was the first time I've heard Connie speak German, too.

The Spy in Black, 1939 Dir. Michael Powell ⭐3.5/5 Watched Nov 27, Youtube Interesting that the main character, the person carrying this British movie in the late 1930s, is a German U-boat captain. But wow. I'm obsessed. Hardt's entrance into the hotel? Baa-ing at the sheep? The delicious gluttony with food? Dragging the stupid motorbike up the stairs to his room? "It is evening. And I am grown up."?? We love a sexy, honor driven character like Captain Hardt. Therefore, Valerie Hobson going for the British officer seems totally unlikely and unbelievable. I think I like this movie marginally better than Dark Journey, as far as espionage films go. It's slightly more engaging (but that may be Connie and Valerie Hobson's chemistry) and the story is a little better.