Peter Lorre — Actor (49)

Movie

美艳亲王 (1947)
My Favorite Brunette Douban
other title: My Favorite Brunette / 傻侠救美(港)
Baby photographer Ronnie Jackson, on death row in San Quentin, tells reporters how he got there: taking care of his private-eye neighbor's office, Ronnie is asked by the irresistible Baroness Montay to find the missing Baron. There follow confusing but sinister doings in a gloomy mansion and a private sanatorium, with every plot twist a parody of thriller cliches. What are the villains really after? Can Ronnie beat a framed murder rap?

Movie

Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962)
Five Weeks in a Balloon WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
伊尔温·艾伦 actor: 莱德·巴顿斯 / 芭芭拉·伊登 Barbara Eden …
other title: 气球上的五星期 / Fünf Wochen im Ballon …
Professor Fergusson plans to make aviation history by making his way across Africa by balloon. He plans to claim uncharted territories in West Africa as proof of his inventions worth.

Movie

Quicksand (1950)
Quicksand Douban
other title: 流沙
After borrowing $20 from his employer's cash register, an auto mechanic is plunged into a series of increasingly disastrous circumstances which rapidly spiral out of his control.

Movie

The Face Behind the Mask (1941)
The Face Behind the Mask WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
罗伯特·弗洛里 actor: 彼得·洛 / 伊夫林·凯耶斯 …
other title: 面具背后的脸 / 더 페이스 비하인드 더 마스크 …
THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK, while generally regarded as a horror film, is not a pure example of the genre, and that is the very crux of its interest. Rather, it addresses topics outside the expected parameters of horror, and in offering an uncompromising view of human anguish, THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK is a truly unusual picture in both content and treatment. THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK relates how a hopeful new immigrant, Janos Szaby (Peter Lorre), arriving in New York City, is trapped in a hotel fire that leaves his face hideously scarred. Ostracized and refused employment although still able to work, the only way he can survive is by turning to theft. Hence, THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK is also a social consciousness film, detailing the position of the outcast and particularly the handicapped in society, along with crime and its causes, and the American immigrant milieu. All of these themes are treated with sympathy and taste, avoiding the gruesome potential of the premise. The only people who are kind to Janos are a tubercular small-time thief, Dinky (George E. Stone) and a blind woman, Helen (Evelyn Keyes). Janos falls in love with Helen as her soul sees the goodness within him, but the gang refuses to let Janos quit the rackets and kills her. This leads to a memorable denouement where Janos has suicidal revenge by flying the gang to the desert and marooning them all amid the sandy wastes, where he can watch their dying torment. The actual screenwriter of THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK gives a clue as to its intent: although the writing credit on screen was given to two men, Allen Vincent and Paul Jarrico (from a story by Arthur Levinson, based on a radio play by Thomas Edward O'Connell) the scripts indicate the picture was in fact written by Irmegard Von Cube, who explored similar themes in JOHNNY BELINDA (1948). Appropriately, the style also deemphasizes the horror elements, with a naturalized version of director Robert Florey's expressionistic tendencies, as in the waterfront scene when Janos and Dinky first meet. The abstract acting required by the mask, together with Lorre's costume, themselves become expressionistic devices. Moments of high tension are appropriately punctuated by director Florey's typical angled shots, as when Janos first sees his face after the bandages are removed, or when he tries to rescue Helen from the gang's car bomb. THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK was dependent on a strong and capable performance in the lead, and Lorre proved ideal in one of his best roles. He not only had to portray a man disintegrating under a terrible fate, but also had to exercise incredible control over his facial muscles, allowing him to only express emotion through his eyes in close-ups. Lorre simulated a mask where there was none, and the effect is achieved by white powder and two pieces of tape placed on his face, contrasted with his costume of black jacket and scarf, and enhanced through lighting. This was all the more remarkable in that Lorre was uncomfortable with the fast schedule and began his drinking with a straight Pernod for breakfast, so that by the afternoon he had became undirectable. As a result, Florey had to try and juggle the schedule so as to get all of the star's primary scenes in the morning. In the supporting roles, Stone and Keyes were equally memorable, as were the character actors in the remaining roles, together demonstrating the possibilities for fine acting despite the pressures of a two week shooting schedule. This was the fourth time Florey had dealt with an unusual theme, the effect of facial mutilation on men's lives, also depicted in his FACE VALUE (1927), THE FLORENTINE DAGGER (1935), THE PREVIEW MURDER MYSTERY (1935), and later in his television episode ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS: WHERE BEAUTY LIES (1961). Florey was engaged by Columbia in late 1940 on a deal for three so-called "action pictures," movies made on low budgets in twelve days. The first two, THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK and MEET BOSTON BLACKIE (first in the series), took two months to prepare--Florey was able to revise the script of THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK and write the continuity--and were shot back-to-back. Such a hasty schedule was especially difficult for a picture that required extensive location shooting. The cameraman was the talented Franz Planer, lately arrived from Germany, and still unaccustomed to working at the Hollywood pace, requiring that many shots be sacrificed because of the time lost in lighting. Today, Florey is best remembered for his other work in the horror genre, including coauthoring the script of the original FRANKENSTEIN (1931), writing and directing MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1932), and directing a later Peter Lorre classic, THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS (1946). Florey was a key figure in adapting the German expressionism and other European styles into Hollywood film-making before the cycle of film noir, and THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK reflects an ideal mid-point, both using such techniques but also adjusting them to the needs of a genre-driven industry. Despite its modest origins, THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK is widely acknowledged to be among the greatest "B" films ever made, and one of the few to offer profundity and depth in theme and characterization, as well as artistry in its writing, direction, and acting. While containing elements of several genres--horror, social consciousness, gangster, and romance--the film transcends all of them. THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK won favor from both critics and audiences, and a small following in its time that has grown in the intervening years, an exceptional record of success for a movie made so inexpensively. The film remained in continuous showing for two years after it was released in 1941, and was later theatrically reissued on numerous occasions, as late as 1955, before it began to be shown on television.

Movie

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Douban
other title: 海底两百里 / 地球危机 …
美国海军上校尼尔逊(沃尔特皮金饰)领导潜艇海景号在北极下探测时,地球突生危机,大气层被一股大火燃烧,令地球极速升温,地球上干旱无雨,顿诚人间炼狱。科学家主张纷歧,尼尔逊决定由海景号发射核子飞弹,让其在大气层外爆炸以期熄灭大火,令地球降温。为求能够快速解决这个问题,尼尔逊毅然由船员自愿选择是留在船上还是继续前进,但是在全世界都没有办法的情况下,只有听命于尼尔逊的这个计划了……

Movie

Black Angel (1946)
Black Angel WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
罗伊·威廉·尼尔 actor: 丹·德亚 / 琼·文森特 …
other title: 黑天使 / 贝奈特案件 …
A falsely convicted man's wife, Catherine, and an alcoholic composer and pianist, Martin, team up in an attempt to clear her husband of the murder of a blonde singer, who is Martin's wife.

Movie

Secret Agent (1936)
Secret Agent WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 6.8 5 ratings
other title: 间谍 / 密使 …
During World War I, a novelist declared dead is recruited by British intelligence and sent to Switzerland under a new identity to assassinate a German spy. Teamed with a fellow agent posing as his wife and an eccentric assassin known as “the General,” the trio close in on their target — until two of them grow ambivalent when their duty to the mission clashes with their consciences.

Movie

Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
Stranger on the Third Floor Douban
★ 7.2 5 ratings
Boris Ingster actor: 彼得·洛 / 约翰·麦圭尔 …
other title: 三楼的陌生人
故事讲述一名有良知的记者出庭作证后,怀疑自己冤枉了好人,之后在自家一直心神不安,接着撞见鬼鬼祟祟的邻居之后,又目睹另一起凶案的发生,自后携同当秘书的女友一起侦查。--甜蜜电影字幕组

Movie

Beat the Devil (1953)
Beat the Devil WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
约翰·休斯顿 actor: 亨弗莱·鲍嘉 / 珍妮弗·琼斯 …
other title: 战胜恶魔 / 打击魔鬼 …
A quartet of international crooks -- Peterson, O'Hara, Ross and Ravello -- is stranded in Italy while their steamer is being repaired. With them are the Dannreuthers. The six are headed for Africa, presumably to sell vacuum cleaners but actually to buy land supposedly loaded with uranium. They are joined by others who apparently have similar designs.