ROPE OF SAND

Burt Lancaster and Peter Lorre

ROPE OF SAND (1949). Director: William Dieterle. Colorized. 

Mike Davis (Burt Lancaster) is an African guide whose charge, Ingram (Hayden Rourke), goes off into forbidden diamond territory while he's sleeping. When Davis finds him, Ingram is near-death, clutching a load of diamonds. Davis leaves the diamonds and tries to get Ingram out of the desert. When police guards, led by Commandant Paul Vogel (Paul Henreid), come upon the pair, Ingram is dead and Davis is tortured, but refuses to tell where the diamonds are located. Two years later Davis is back in the territory, where diamond mogul Martingale (Claude Rains), who pretends to like Vogel but secretly despises him, decides to use a beautiful refuge, Suzanne (Corinne Calvet of Flight to Tangier), to get the location of the diamonds from Davis. A battle of wills ensues between Davis and Vogel as they fight it out for both diamonds and lady, with Martingale manipulating everyone behind the scenes and Toady (Peter Lorre) hoping to score as well. Meanwhile, Davis has decided to go for the gems come hell or highwater ... 

Claude Rains and Corinne Calvet

Rope of Sand is a seriously flawed film, but it is entertaining and well-acted enough to prove a good watch. There seems to be so much missing of the characters' back stories that while you're watching it you think it must be based on a long novel, not all of which made it onto the screen, but this is not the case. This was supposed to be a follow-up to Casablanca with Bogart and Bergman in the Lancaster and Calvet roles, but producer Hal Wallis had to be satisfied with three of the supporting cast of that film. John Bromfield (of The Big Bluff) has a smaller role as one of Henreid's officers. Dieterle's direction is assured, the performances -- especially Rains' -- are uniformly good, there is outstanding cinematography from Charles Lang [Wild is the Wind]  and an exciting score by Franz Waxman, but you may find it hard to tell if there's more -- or less -- here than meets the eye. Lancaster and Henreid have a nifty fist fight at one point. 

Verdict: Certainly it's not boring. ***.  

M (1931)

Peter Lorre pleads his case

M (1931), Director: Fritz Lang.

In Germany a series of young girls have been abducted and presumably murdered. The police. headed by Inspector Lohmann (Otto Wernicke), are using all of their resources to track down this fiend, but can't zero in on him. Members of the underworld, represented by Schranker (Gustaf Grundgens), himself a murderer, gather together to try to deal with the fact that the search for the child-killer is drastically and negatively interfering with their own operations. The crooks determine to find the maniac themselves, and employ the beggars of the city to help them do so. A blind balloon seller who recalls a man whistling when one child goes missing is able to direct the thieves and cutthroats to one Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre), and he is put on trial by the city's underworld. 

Determined to catch the killer: Otto Wernicke

Frankly, M, long considered a classic and a masterpiece (I never held with the latter opinion), does not hold up well. The movie is rather slow, often primitive -- with long stretches of silence (sometimes strikingly interrupted by noise) -- although there are certainly touches of mild cinematic virtuosity. The final section of the film, the underground trial, presents Beckert as mentally ill and unable to control himself, an attitude that would not be that well-received today. (Some people would rather shoot themselves than hurt a child, and why couldn't Beckert have sought help when he realized he had these impulses?) The sequence can also be taken as a plea against capital punishment, with three mothers at the very end saying "it won't bring our children back." Having the killer judged by criminals also enables the film to supposedly take a moral high road it doesn't deserve. At times M has a light touch that is at odds with the proceedings. Peter Lorre gives a very good performance, however. Lohmann apparently played the same role two years later in Lang's Testament of Dr. Mabuse. The prolific Fritz Lang directed everything from genuine masterpieces like Clash By Night and Scarlet Street to stinkers like Secret Beyond the Door ... There was an American remake of M twenty years later. 

Verdict: I don't care what some so-called film scholars say -- this is a bit dull all told. **, 

THE BIG CIRCUS

THE BIG CIRCUS (1959). Produced by Irwin Allen. Directed by Joseph M. Newman. 

Circus owner Hank Whirling (Victor Mature) has just split off from his former partner and is determined to make a go of it on his own. Randy Sherman (Red Buttons) is assigned by the bank that loaned him money to keep him on the financial straight and narrow and also hired a public relations woman named Helen (Rhonda Fleming). For reasons that are never quite explained, Hank objects to having a woman doing publicity for him, and the two come to figurative blows almost immediately. A bigger problem is that an unknown person working with Hank's former partner is committing dangerous acts of sabotage. A variety of problems seem to be working against the circus' success as the bank keeps threatening to foreclose ... 

Red Buttons and Victor Mature

Producer Irwin Allen later became famous for his disaster flicks but The Big Circus is no disaster. The film is well-paced and quite entertaining, with some very satisfying performances. Red Buttons and Gilbert Roland as a first-class high-wire aerialist, come off best, along with Kathryn Grant, saucy and sexy, as Hank's sister. Mature saunters through the movie with his usual aplomb and Fleming is also appealing as his very feminine combatant. Vincent Price is adept if under-utilized as the ringmaster, and David Nelson [The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker], although he has little to do until the climax, plays a role very different from his part on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Peter Lorre is as lovable as ever as a clown in greasepaint. Although the process work isn't always great, the best and most suspenseful scene has to do with Roland's thrilling walk on a cable across the entire length of Niagara Falls! 

Verdict: This is superior to Jumbo and The Greatest Show on Earth. ***. 

DER VERLORENE

Peter Lorre

DER VERLORENE/ aka The Lost One/1951. Director: Peter Lorre. 

NOTE: This is a report on the movie as opposed to a review. The only print I could find of this film was in German with no sub-titles, but I had a detailed synopsis of the film which told me what was going on. However, as there was no way I could judge the effectiveness of the dialogue, I will withhold a verdict until I see the film with an English soundtrack or sub-titles.

In the only film ever directed  by Lorre, he plays Dr. Karl Rothe, who was the former director of bacteriological research under the Nazi regime. Now he has changed his name and works as a well-liked doctor at a post-war German refugee camp. Into the camp comes Hosch (Karl John), who had been his assistant before the war, and now -- also under an assumed name -- becomes his assistant once again. Meeting Hosch brings back unpleasant memories to Rothe, such as when he murdered his own fiancee when it was revealed that she was a traitor. Now he can't control his urges to kill other women. some of whom escape and some of whom do not. Finally Rothe can no longer live with himself.

Der verlorene got a mixed reaction, with some feeling that it was an uncomfortable mixture of politics and thrills; other contemporary critics felt it was one of the best films to come out of Germany in years. The picture is undeniably gloomy, well-photographed by Vaclav Viche, and there's a very powerful (if perhaps too often overwrought) musical score by Willi Schmidt-Gentner. For much of its length Der verlorene reminds one of nothing so much as a "B" noir thriller, and there is some suspense in certain sequences. Two of the best scenes involve trains, one concerning a murder, and the striking final shot of a train bearing down on Rothe that seems right behind the actor.  As far as I can judge, the performances in the film  seem to be quite good. 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Peter Lorre and Edward Arnold

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (1935). Director: Josef von Sternberg.

"You said you'd show me some of your blundering police methods, and you certainly have!" -- Roderick to Inspector Porfiry.

Roderick (Peter Lorre) is a poor but talented writer on criminal psychology who is months behind in his rent. He is forced to bring some of his possessions to a pawnbroker, Leona (Mrs. Patrick Campbell), a loathsome old lady who insults her clients and offers them little money for their items. Roderick hatches a scheme to get the money he needs, but things go wrong almost from the start. Now Roderick has to deal not only with Inspector Porfiry (Edward Arnold of Lillian Russell), who admires Roderick but comes to suspect him, but with his own conscience. One could argue that the movie is a cinematic "cliff's notes" version of Dostoevsky's famous 1866 novel, but the story and its implications and ironic aspects remain powerful. Lorre gives a great performance, nearly matched by Arnold, and there is also fine work from Marian Marsh [Svengali] as Sonya, whom Roderick has fallen in love with; Tala Birell [The Frozen Ghost] as Roderick's sister, Antonya, who is willing to make any sacrifice for him; Campbell as the old lady and murder victim; Gene Lockhart as Antonya's much-older suitor; Douglass Dumbrille as another man who is in love with the sister; and especially Elisabeth Risdon as Roderick's mother, who gets at least one very strong scene when she finds out the truth about what her beloved son has done. One problem with the movie is that our modern-day knowledge of criminology might cause us to look less sympathetically at Roderick. Nowadays we might even see Dostoevsky's anti-hero as a borderline narcissist and even a sociopath -- his crimes are even worse in the book than they are in the film -- and his "conscience" could simply be worry over being caught, thereby proving him not to be quite as superior as he thought.

Mrs. Patrick Campbell originated the role of Eliza Doolittle in Shaw's Pygmailion on the stage.  She was perhaps most famous for her oft-quoted line: "It doesn't matter what you do in the bedroom as long as you don't do it in the street and frighten the horses." More of a theater person than a film personality, she had only six movie credits, of which Crime and Punishment was the last. She did not enjoy working with von Sternberg, possibly because  he (appropriately) made her look horrible on camera.

Verdict:  Some very raw and powerful acting in this. ***. 

THE LOST ONE: A LIFE OF PETER LORRE

THE LOST ONE: A LIFE OF PETER LORRE. Stephen D. Youngkin. University Press of Kentucky; 2005.

It was to the eternal frustration of much-admired actor Peter Lorre that he was forever seen as some sort of "horror star," and never quite got the kind of roles that he wanted, and that would have lifted him into a more exalted category. Of course, nowadays most film enthusiasts who are familiar with Lorre's work in various genres have come to recognize his dramatic ability as his numerous fine performances certainly attest to. This lengthy, in-depth biography of the actor covers his life as a Jewish emigre from Austria to his move to the United States, details his coming to international attention thanks to his starring role in Fritz Lang's M, looks into his Hollywood career and the frustrations it engendered, and examines his private life, including his three marriages and serious, life-long drug addiction. Along the way he appeared in such notable films as the first version of Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much, Mad Love, Crime and Punishment and Casablanca, starred in a series of Mr. Moto movies, and directed his one and only picture, the controversial Der verlorene ("The Lost One"). In his later years he appeared in everything from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, along with a Jerry Lewis film, The Patsy, and Roger Corman's The Raven and Tales of Terror. The Lost One is a solid bio, although I wish it was perhaps a bit more entertaining; the passages devoted to Lorre's relationship with Bertolt Brecht eventually become tedious and there are other dry stretches. The details of Lorre's divorce from his first wife, Celia Lovsky, with whom he remained close, are never quite made sufficiently clear. Otherwise, this is a good book on an important film figure.

Verdict: Possibly not the last word on Lorre, but he certainly deserves this exhaustive look at his life and career. ***. 

YOU'LL FIND OUT

Kay Kyser bolstered by Petter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, and Boris Karloff

YOU'LL FIND OUT (1940). Director: David Butler.

Playing himself, band leader Kay Kyser brings his College of Musical Knowledge, along with singers Ginny Simms and Harry Babbitt (also playing themselves) to a spooky mansion where resides Janis Bellacrest (Helen Parrish of First Love), who happens to be engaged to Kay's manager, Chuck Deems (Dennis O'Keefe). Before long the group finds itself cut off from everyone with a cut phone line and a bridge that falls apart due to an explosion. Janis' Aunt Margo (Alma Kruger of Craig's Wife) is friends with a spiritualist named Prince Sallano (Bela Lugosi), who seems to be held in little regard by Professor Fenninger (Peter Lorre) and Judge Mainwaring (Boris Karloff). As Kay, Chuck, and alleged comic Ish Kabibble explore secret passages in the old mansion, attempts are made on Janis' life more than once. RKO obviously hedged its bets by bringing in that triumvirate of terror in the persons of Lugosi, Lorre, and Karloff, who get right into the silly spirit of things with marked professionalism and without losing their dignity. Kyser remains a likable presence, although some of the comedy shtick he does in the film is not only unfunny but painful to watch; ditto for Kabibble, whose jokes wouldn't impress a three-year-old. However, O'Keefe [Abroad with Two Yanks] is just right for this kind of material and he and Kyser make an engaging comedy team at different points in the story. Ginny Simms, who was not only Kyser's singer but was involved with him at the time, zestfully sings two nice numbers, including "I'd Know You Anywhere" and "One Track Mind." Late in the picture Kyser has the band instruments imitating human voices with horrific results. There's an amusing business with the dog Prince, who gets phosphorescent paint on his tail at one point, and later on plays catch with a bomb! Experienced director David Butler helps keep this whole thing running more or less smoothly. A number called "The Bad Humor Man" may have made the "Good Humor" ice cream people nervous.

Verdict: Silly, but with some nice numbers and a few laughs, not to mention those horror stars! **1/2. 

BLACK ANGEL

Dan Duryea and June Vincent

BLACK ANGEL (1946). Director: Roy William Neill. Based on a novel by Cornell Woolrich.

When sexy singer Mavis Marlowe (Constance Dowling) is murdered, the chief suspect is her lover, Kirk Bennett (John Phillips), who was being blackmailed by her. In spite of his affair, his wife, Catherine (June Vincent), remains loyal, as well as convinced that he is innocent. When he winds up convicted and on death row, with time running out, she makes up her mind to uncover the real murderer, and winds up working with the victim's ex-husband, Martin Blair (Dan Duryea of Terror Street), who was investigated by police and cleared. Catherine and Martin get a job as a singer and accompanist at a night spot owned by Mr. Marko (Peter Lorre of The Verdict), whom Martin swears he saw at Mavis' apartment house the night she was killed. Can the couple uncover the truth before they become more of his victims ,..? Black Angel is an absorbing, nominal film noir with some fine performances and a degree of suspense. Although June Vincent [Shed No Tears] is better cast as a bad girl and at first seems out of place in the movie, she has her typically sharp and unusual delivery to set her apart from the standard heroine. Duryea is, as ever, first-rate for the most part, and Lorre, in another in a long line of supporting roles that wasted his talent, is effortlessly excellent. Broderick Crawford plays the investigator on the case and is about as usual. There's a good score by Frank Skinner, and a snappy number called "I Wanna be Talked About" warbled by a dubbed Vincent. The ending is strangely moving, but you may be scratching your head at a couple of loose ends that make the denouement a bit suspect.

Verdict: Credible mystery with interesting cast. ***. 

HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN

Davis, Leslie, Garfield and Hutton

HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN (1944). Director: Delmer Daves.

Corporal Slim Green (Robert Hutton) and his buddy Sergeant Nowland (Dane Clark) are on leave in LA when they drop by the Hollywood Canteen. The canteen was started by Bette Davis and John Garfield, and both stars play a prominent role in the film, which is basically built around Slim wanting to meet actress Joan Leslie, playing herself, and the romance that ensues. During this, a number of stars either appear or do numbers. Among the highlights: Dennis Morgan and Joe E. Brown sing "You Can Always Tell a Yank;" The Andrews Sisters perform "We're Getting Corns for Our Country;" Jack Benny and Joseph Szigeti have a comical duel of violins; Joan McCracken does a jazz ballet production number; a Spanish dance number from Rosario and Antonio; and Kitty Carlisle singing "Sweet Dreams, Sweetheart." Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet have an amusing cameo, and there are lots of guest appearances by a host of stars, some of whom you may miss if you blink (Eleanor Parker, for instance). Davis and Garfield are wonderful playing themselves; Dane Clark has an affecting moment when his character realizes that he no longer needs to use his cane; and Robert Hutton is excellent as the shy, sensitive small-town fellow who develops quite a crush on Leslie, who gives a winning performance as well. Zachary Scott and Barbara Stanwyck have notable cameos, and Janis Paige makes a decided impression as a studio messenger who pretends to be an actress. Corporal Green addresses his fellow fighting men and allies at one point, and mentions "our own colored boys" as it flashes to a shot of several black soldiers. Good. Although Hutton never became a major star (this was his fourth picture) he did amass 90 credits in his long career. However, the one single actor who has the most sheer presence in the two hour film is the formidable Joan Crawford.

Verdict: Entertaining, and ultimately quite moving. ***.

CASBAH

Yvonne De Carlo and Tony Martin 

CASBAH (1948). Director: John Berry.

Thief Pepe le Moko (Tony Martin) hides out in the Casbah while the friendly cop Slimane (Peter Lorre) hopes he'll step out of his safe harbor so he can arrest him. Pepe falls for Gaby (Marta Toren), who is the fiancee of the wealthy Claude (Herbert Rudley of Decoy), inspiring jealousy both in Claude and in Inez (Yvonne De Carlo), who thinks of herself as Pepe's one true love. Naturally, nobody's plans work out as they intended. It was only a matter of time before someone got the idea of making a musical out of the Pepe le Moko story -- filmed at least twice before as Pepe le Moko and Algiers -- and this is the closest you'll ever get, as this is what you might call a semi-musical remake with crooner Martin singing a couple of vaguely pleasant tunes by Harold Arlen and Leo Robin (Martin is in splendid voice). Casbah is not nearly as bad as you might expect, with Martin making a sexier and gruffer Pepe, and Peter Lorre spicing up the proceedings with his typically interesting portrayal of Slimane. In this version the Casbah seems less a filthy ghetto and more a mere tourist attraction, but it has at least as much artificial atmosphere as the first two versions. Unlike Algiers, Casbah is not a copy of Pepe le Moko, but eliminates some characters, has different sequences, and makes Gaby even more independent than in the other versions but also less likable. Swedish actress Toren had a few uncredited parts before being "introduced" in this film as the "next Ingrid Bergman." She's adequate and managed to amass a number of credits but she died tragically young at thirty. Yvonne De Carlo is her saucy self as Inez, although she's not always photographed very flatteringly. Other cast members include Douglas Dick [The Accused] in an unsympathetic character part; Hugo Haas as a friend of Pepe's; and the always-interesting Virginia Gregg as a friend of Gaby's. If there's any problem with Casbah, it's that this version tries too hard to make this some kind of tragic love story when the lovers barely know one another, are completely one-dimensional, and Martin and Toren don't even have that much chemistry together. The shot of Martin on the runway while the plane bearing Toren soars overhead is a dramatic composition but it also comes off as a little hokey considering. Interestingly, while the earlier versions only talk about how difficult it would be for the police to get a captured Pepe out of the Casbah, this version actually shows us how difficult it would be, as all of Pepe's cronies come to his rescue after he's been handcuffed, attack the cops, and free him. John Berry also directed Tension.

Verdict: The odd but arresting duo of Martin and Lorre almost make this work. **1/2.

THINK FAST, MR. MOTO

Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto

THINK FAST, MR. MOTO (1937). Director: Norman Foster.

"Half of the world spends its time laughing at the other half -- and both are fools." -- Mr. Moto.

"Strange people, these Americans." -- ditto.

On a liner heading for China, a mysterious Japanese man named Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) encounters a pleasant young fellow named Bob Hitchings (Thomas Beck), whose father owns the steamship company. Bob falls hard for another mysterious person, Gloria (Virginia Field), who is employed as a singer at the International Club in Shanghai. Gloria's employer, Nicolas Marloff (Sig Ruman) is up to some skulduggery and Mr. Moto seems to have an uncertain role in this. Is he good guy or bad? Although Think Fast, Mr. Moto, the first of the Mr. Moto films, has a workable script and a fast pace, its primarily the performances that put it over, with Lorre superb as the importer who dabbles in detective work as a sideline, especially where his own concerns are involved. Thomas Beck is quite appealing as Bob, and Virginia Field [Repeat Performance] offers another of her expert portrayals as the mystery woman who has, perhaps, gotten herself in too deep. John Rogers scores as ship's steward, Carson, who may be hiding a shiv under his likable exterior, and there are nice turns from J. Carrol Naish as an assassin; Murray Kinnell as a business associate of Bob's father; and Lotus Long [Mr. Wong in Chinatown] as a hotel switchboard operator who helps Moto and is nearly killed for her troubles. Thomas Beck and Murray Kinnell both appeared in Charlie Chan in Paris.

Verdict: Good, snappy introduction to the Mr. Moto series. ***.

MR. MOTO'S GAMBLE

Mr. Moto meets Lee Chan, Charlie Chan's son

MR. MOTO'S GAMBLE (1938). Director: James Tinling.

Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) is teaching a course in criminology and his students include the punch-drunk "Knock-Out" Wellington (Maxie Rosenbloom of Mr. Universe) and Charlie Chan's son, Lee (Keye Luke) -- temporarily moving from one mystery series to another -- who wants to follow in his father's footsteps. These last two serve as comedy relief -- Rosenbloom instead of Mantan Moreland -- in a tiresome tale of a boxer, Frankie Stanton (Russ Clark), who is murdered in the ring during a battle. The surviving boxer, Bill Steele (Dick Baldwin), has two women fighting over him: the plucky sports reporter Penny (Lynn Bari of City in Darkness); and spoiled society gal, Linda Benton (Jayne Regan), who is sort of a groupie for boxers, dumping them whenever they lose. Suspects include not only those already mentioned, but also Clipper McCoy (Bernard Nedell); Nick Crowder (Douglas Fowley); Connors (George E. Stone, on vacation from playing the Runt in the Boston Blackie movies); nasty boxer Biff Moran (Ward Bond of Blowing Wild); and Linda's father (John Hamilton), whose racket is the fight game. Lon Chaney Jr. has a small role; Pierre Watkin plays another of his seemingly endless bland authority figures; Harold Huber is Lt. Riggs; and Irving Bacon almost runs off with the movie in his funny portrayal of Sheriff Tuttle. The comedy relief in this is quite stupid for the most part, and the script is mediocre, but at least it has a fast pace and a slightly surprising ending. With this third entry the Mr. Moto series took a real dip in quality, adding Lee Chan and the moronic Rosenbloom to make it more resemble the Chan series, but even the weakest Chan entry had a more interesting screenplay. Lorre is as terrific as ever. Mr. Moto apparently knows Charlie Chan, at least by reputation, but the two characters, I believe, never appeared together -- too bad.

Verdict: A vehicle unworthy of both Peter Lorre and Mr. Moto. *1/2.

MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY

Peter Lorre

MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY (1941). Director: William Morgan.

Socialite P. Cadwallader Jones (Dennis O'
Keefe) is assigned to the district attorney's office primarily on the strength of his father's name. At first he's a first-class screw-up, but then he gets involved with some missing money, and a suspect, Hyde (Peter Lorre), who seems to be missing himself. This picture is the first of two that were based on the radio series of the same title -- there were two TV series as well -- all of which have the exact same title, which meant that I looked up Mr. District Attorney and couldn't understand why there was a completely different cast aside from O'Keefe (not even playing the same character) and Lorre was nowhere to be found. Well, of course that was the 1947 version. In any case, this picture is utterly undistinguished but for the brief appearance of Peter Lorre. O'Keefe is okay, and the supporting players include Minor Watson, Grady Sutton, Stanley Ridges, and Florence Rice. After Lorre, Helen Brown makes the best impression as Hyde's wife. Let's hope the second movie with this title was a bit better.

Verdict: Fast-paced but stupid and uninteresting. *1/2.

THANK YOU MR. MOTO

Peter Lorre and Sig Ruman

THANK YOU, MR. MOTO (1937). Director: Norman Foster.

Charlie Chan had been appearing in motion pictures for some years when 20th Century-Fox and Monogram came out with competing series about Oriental sleuths. Boris Karloff's Mr. Wong appeared in films released by Monogram, while Mr. Moto had the more prestigious Fox at the wheel. Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) is a "confidential investigator" but his real profession, he claims, is "importer." Another character describes Moto as "an adventurer, an explorer, a soldier of fortune." In any case, Moto never quite seems altogether on the up and up although in essence he's a good guy. In this second Mr. Moto film, he is in Peping when it develops that certain parties wish to obtain scrolls that will lead to the hidden tomb of Genghis Khan in the Gobi desert and all of its treasures. Prince Chung (Philip Ahn) and his mother Madame Chung (Pauline Frederick) own the scrolls and will not part with them at any price because they fear the Great Khan's (!) tomb will be desecrated. Assorted individuals are murdered for the scrolls by an unknown party, but Thank You, Mr. Moto is less a mystery than a film of action and intrigue. Characters include Colonel Chernov (Sig Ruman), who tries to purchase the scrolls from the prince; his wife, Madame Chernov (Nedda Harrigan of Charlie Chan at the Opera); Periera (John Carradine), an antique dealer who knows more than he's telling; and Eric Koerger (Sidney Blackmer of The House of Secrets). The romantic interest is supplied by Thomas Beck and Jayne Regan. Lorre is fine as Moto, and Blackmer, Ruman, Harrigan and Carradine are also notable. The best performances, however, come from Ahn as the prince and Frederick as his mother; there's an especially good scene when the prince tries to keep his mother from being tortured. Philip Ahn [Red Barry] was an extremely talented actor, one of those who graces every film he appears in. There is a moving conclusion as well.

Verdict: Creditable if imperfect Moto vehicle. **1/2.

THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU

Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre

THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU (1942). Director: Lew Landers.

In this black comedy that seems influenced by the Broadway show Arsenic and Old Lace  (which itself was filmed two years later) Boris Karloff plays a crazy scientist in a crumbling old inn and Peter Lorre is the sheriff and just about every other official in the area. Winnie Slade (the oddly named Miss Jeff Donell of Night Editor) is a kooky gal who decides to buy the inn even though it's off the beaten track, an idea which her ex-husband Bill (Larry Parks) thinks is nutty. Professor Billing (Karloff) seems to think he can imbue a man with the ability to fly by putting traveling salesmen into a machine he's invented, but they all wind up dead -- apparently. "Slapsy" Maxie Rosenbloom plays a powderpuff salesman, Maude Eburne is a homicidal housekeeper, Frank Puglia [20 Million Miles to Earth] is "Jo Jo," an escaped lunatic, and Don Beddoe [The Face Behind the Mask] is a choreographer who takes a room at the inn. The cast is interesting, to say the least, with Parks and Puglia coming off best, but the material is far, far below the talents of the actors, and both Karloff and Lorre seem a mite uncomfortable, although everyone tries their best to make this funny and spirited, which it ain't. The movie has only a couple of titters and is mostly tedious.

Verdict: Makes a Bowery Boys film look intellectual. *1/2.

THE CHASE (1946)

Peter Lorre, Steve Cochran, and Bob Cummings as chauffeur

THE CHASE (1946). Director: Arthur D. Ripley.

Ex-serviceman Chuck Scott (Robert Cummings) finds a wallet on the sidewalk and returns it to its owner, the quite unsavory hoodlum Eddie Roman (Steve Cochran). Roman, who has an associate named Gino (Peter Lorre) and a wife named Lorna (Michele Morgan), hires Chuck as his chauffeur. A peculiar feature of the limo is that Roman can take over the controls from the back seat whenever he wants. Roman dispatches a business rival by trapping him in his wine cellar with a vicious dog, so it's fairly likely that he won't have a good reaction when a desperate Lorna begs Chuck to help her escape to Havana ... The Chase begins well, with Cochran offering a chilling portrait of a glib sociopath, but it gets too tricky and an actual "chase" never really develops. Instead of a decent plot and some interesting developments, The Chase substitutes a lengthy dream sequence that serves little purpose besides confusing the viewer. Cummings is always miscast in film noir, but otherwise does okay, and Lorre simply isn't given enough to do. Michele Morgan is pretty and seems efficient enough, but she's also under-utilized. This movie goes nowhere slowly. Loosely based on a novel by Cornell Woolrich that just had to be much, much better.

Verdict: Cochran's picture -- and he can have it. **.

TALES OF TERROR

TALES OF TERROR (1962). Director: Roger Corman.

There really isn't much terror in this light adaptation of several stories by Edgar Allan Poe starring Vincent Price. The dead "Morella" (Leona Gage) blames her infant daughter for causing her death, and when the grown woman, Lenora (Maggie Pierce), shows up to see her father (Price) after many years, Morella seizes the opportunity to take over her body. In "The Black Cat," which also incorporates elements from "The Cask of Amontillado," Montresor (Peter Lorre) walls up his wife (Joyce Jameson) and her lover, Fortunato (Price), but is seemingly haunted by their spirits. "The Case of M. Valdemar" has a dying man (Price again) agreeing to allow mesmerist Carmichael (Basil Rathbone) to hypnotize him at the moment of his death, keeping his soul tormented and imprisoned in his dead flesh. Debra Paget and David Frankham play Valdemar's wife and doctor, respectively. It's great fun to watch old pros Price and Lorre (see photo) sparring with each other, especially during a delightful wine-tasting contest between the two, but the movie itself is mediocre and lacks chills. 

Verdict: Watch this, but then read Poe's original stories for the real spirit of the Master. **1/2.

THE VERDICT (1946)

THE VERDICT (1946). Director: Don Siegel. 

Scotland Yard superintendent George Grodman (Sydney Greenstreet) loses his job to a rival, Buckley (George Coulouris), when it is discovered that a man he sent to the gallows for a murder was actually innocent. Then another murder occurs in the same family as before, and Buckley sets out to find the killer as Grodman does what he can to help him. Peter Lorre is cast as Victor Emmric, an artist friend of Grodman's, and Paul Cavanagh is Russell, who becomes a major suspect in the second murder. Rosalind Ivan is the hysterical landlady, and Joan Lorring is Lottie, a nightclub singer who was involved with the dead man. The picture at first seems to go in many different directions, but it eventually builds up quite a bit of suspense as to the identity of the murderer. The acting all around is excellent, although at times it may seem as if that wonderful team of Greenstreet and Lorre are just going through the motions (although it may just be some consummate underplaying). Terrific ending, and the film is fascinating on many different levels. Very well-directed for maximum tension by Donald Siegel, who also directed the science fiction classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This was his third directorial assignment. Lorring also appeared with Lorre and Greenstreet in Three Strangers. 

Verdict: Greenstreet and Lorre are always fun! ***1/2.

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

VOYAGE OF THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1961). Director: Irwin Allen.

This was one of Twentieth Century-Fox's big CinemaScope "thrill"pictures that all the kids had to see. The amazing thing is how entertaining the darn thing is. Meteors have set the Van Allen belt aflame and it looks like the world could be doomed. Many scientists feel that the fire will simply burn itself out, but Admiral Harriman Nelson (Walter Pidgeon) is convinced that the only way to save Earth is to fire a missile into the fiery belt about a day before it's predicted that the flames will expire. So Nelson sets sail with his fancy nuclear sub the Seaview and heads for the Marianas, where the missile can be fired. But he has to contend with a disgruntled crew, saboteurs, waters full of mines, a bad-tempered squid, a giant octopus, a nutty religious fanatic, and mutineers before its over. The movie works up a considerable amount of suspense as Nelson makes his mad dash to save the planet. The special effects work is uneven but generally credible. There's a terrific shot of Manhattan with a sky full of flames overhead. The squid is phony-looking and has limited movement, but the octopus is a better actor. Robert Sterling (as Captain Lee Crane) Barbara Eden, Henry Daniell, Joan Fontaine. Michael Ansara, and the inimitable Peter Lorre are all fine in supporting roles. Sterling is given a good speech in which he tells off Ansara for preaching fatalism -- accepting the inevitable -- to the sailors when he needs them to be at peak strength to pull off the impossible. Best scene: Joan Fontaine falls into the shark pool! Good script, fast pace, and effective musical score help enormously. Although this was clearly inspired by Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, it's actually more entertaining. 

Verdict: More fun than it has any right to be. ***.

THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK

THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK (1941). Director: Robert Florey.

Janos Szabo (Peter Lorre) arrives in America full of hope and awe and fully expecting to have his sweetheart join him as soon as he is established. Instead he winds up horribly burned and disfigured in a boarding house fire and looks so terrible that no one will give him a job. He meets up with a kindly small time crook named Dinky (George E. Stone), and is slowly drawn into a life of crime, becoming ringleader of a gang of ambitious thieves. And then he meets a pretty, sensitive blind girl named Helen (Evelyn Keyes) and wants out ..... This is an absorbing and well-acted melodrama with touches of pathos throughout. Lorre is, in a word, superb. Keyes gives a lovely performance and Stone makes Dinky a memorable character in his own right. Don Beddoe is also noteworthy as the cop who befriends Janos when he first gets off the boat. Although different in its way (and not as good) this has some similarities to A Woman's Face which came out the same year. The make up is excellent, particularly when Janos is supposed to be wearing a lookalike mask of his face.

Verdict: Another great Lorre performance. ***.