Friday Favorites: Peter Lorre

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Yes, after a month sabbatical, Friday Favorites is back! I’ll do my best to keep this up on a regular basis, but one of the things that helps keep this alive is the participating from you, the reader. The last few Friday Favorites post only had a few responses. The whole reason for this idea to get start the conversation. Until the whole plague happened, during the after-hours at conventions, we would have these long conversations about a variety of subjects, but mainly movies and those that worked in the business. That is what I’m trying to replicate here, a place for fans to give their two cents worth and maybe start a little bit of dialogue. So if you have time, please take a few minutes to post a thought or two, or make a comment on someone else’s comment. With social gatherings being few and far between, let’s make one thing in social media a good thing and talk about the horror genre!

Okay, enough of that. Let’s get to the subject at hand… the one and only Peter Lorre. Like a lot of the actors type-cast in the genre, Lorre just wanted to be a character actor. But because of his incredible performance as Hans Beckert in Fritz Lang’s M (1931), he couldn’t get rid of that shadow, as much as Beckert could get rid of those nasty impulses. But none the less, Lorre appeared in more than few films, and was always entertaining. 

So… what is your favorite of Lorre’s films? Mad Love (1935)? The Raven (1963)? Or maybe The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)? 

Let us know and let’s get that conversation going!

11 thoughts on “Friday Favorites: Peter Lorre”

  1. Peter Lorre is one of those character actors that it didn’t matter what the film was about, he was always good: Drama The Face Behind the Mask (1941), comedy Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), slapstick The Comedy of Terrors (1963). the list goes on and on…The Raven, My Favorite Brunette. These are just a few that I have enjoyed!

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    • I agree that he was a very diverse actor. I’ve always loved him in Tales of Terror, where he showed he could be funny and damn scary in a split second. I’m glad you brought up The Face Behind the Mask because I think that is a film more people need to see.

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  2. Excited to see the return of Friday Favorites! I truly hope this can become a regular post! I have enjoyed a number of Peter Lorre films over the years, but my favorite performance will always be his role as Conseil in the immortal “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1954). His interaction with Ned Land (Kirk Douglas) was pure genius and made the film very memorable to me. My other favorite Lorre films include Mad Love (1935) and Tales of Terror (1962). Both of these films are carried by great performances by Peter Lorre.

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    • I probably would say that Leagues might have been my first Lorre movie that I saw, only because I remember seeing this as a kid. Really need to rewatch that one too.

      Back in my youth, Mad Love was a lost film, and I can remember when it finally had been found and was going to be coming out on VHS. Seeing photos from this movie for so many years in different movie books, it was so great to finally get to see it, and it lived up to everything I’d hoped.

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  3. Admittedly, I’m not familiar with Lorre’s genre work. From what I have seen that he’s in, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Arsenic and Old Lace are my favorites!

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  4. Ok, once again I find it hard to narrow it to just 1. There are two great performance by Lorre that I have always loved. The first is Mad Love. The ability he shows to play mad/crazy and walk the fine line between hysterical & over doing it is amazing here. I also loved him in M. I thought the fact that he could bring sympathy and pathos to the role of a child molester and murderer really showed his acting talent.

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