The Man Who Knew Too Much, The 39 Steps, Secret Agent, Sabotage

Hitchcock hit his stride in the mid-1930s with a series of adventurous stories in which he drew major performances from Peter Lorre as the unpredictable villain in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Robert Donat as the sensitive hero and Peggy Ashcroft as an abused wife in The 39 Steps (1935), and Sylvia Sidney in Sabotage. Hitchcock allowed Lorre a lot of creative freedom within his frames, and he took full advantage of the quicksilver talent of Donat and Ashcroft while carefully controlling Sidney in Sabotage so that the scene where she murders her husband (Oskar Homolka) is a triumph for both herself and for Hitchcock. Less happy was Lorre’s exaggerated performance in Secret Agent (1936), where Hitchcock allowed his actor to Go Big in a way that lacked the structure and surprise of Lorre’s work in The Man Who Knew Too Much. But by using the affable Robert Young as the villain in Secret Agent, Hitchcock showed how effective it could be to cast against type.

A noir európaisága. Peter Lorre, a film noir emblematikus figurája

A film noir képlékeny identitásának, átmenetiségének egyik hordozója annak „európaisága”, a tanulmány ezt az egyszerre külső és belső vonatkoztatási rendszert vizsgálja. A noir transzkulturalitásának, összetett, egymásba fonódó hatás- és visszahatástörténeteinek szemléltetéséhez Peter Lorre emblematikus figuráját használom fel, aki – ahogyan azt a The Face Behind the Mask és a Der Verlorene felmutatja – egyben médiuma annak a klasszikus noir tematikának, amely a jelent és a múltat egyaránt belakni képtelen egyén identitásdrámáját a vissza nem hozható idő és tér traumatikus tapasztalatának narratívájába helyezi.

Peter Lorre in M

A discussion of Peter Lorre in M

Close-Up

This two-volume set presents detailed interpretations of singular performances by several of the most compelling actors in cinema history, asking in many different and complementary ways what makes performance meaningful, how it reflects a director's style, as well as how it contributes to the development of national cinemas and cultures. Whether noting the precise ways actors shape film narrative, achieve emotional effect, or move toward political subversion, the essays in these books innovate new approaches to studying screen performance as an art form and cultural force. This second volume focuses on international cinema, and includes case studies of key performances from actors like Ingrid Bergman, Gael Garcia Bernal, Nikolai Cherkassov, Alec Guinness, Setsuko Hara, Isabelle Huppert, Peter Lorre, Madhubala, Anna Magnani, Toshirô Mifune, and Choi Min Sik, amongst many others.

“They Are Sure Reds”

For thirteen years, Hopkins has been investigated by the FBI. Based on her 100-page file, her life as a possible Communist sympathizer is examined. She is grey listed and doesn’t work in films for a decade. Hopkins divorces Ray Brock and appears in various plays and early television shows. Michael joins the Air Force and in the process learns about his adoption—something that his mother failed to share with him. She options the play A Night at Madame Tussaud’s and costars with Peter Lorre. Hopkins tries to bring the play to Broadway but is unsuccessful. She goes from one play to another with mixed success. Michael is stationed in Morocco and marries a French girl, Christiane Carreno. When her father dies of a heart attack, Hopkins is at his bedside. Michael and Chris have a son, Tom, but Hopkins asks that they baptize him in the States. They do as she asks, but she does not show up, causing resentment.

Mr. Moto: Improbable International Man of Mystery

Mr. Moto, a fictional Japanese detective, achieved mass popularity through a series of 1930s films starring Peter Lorre. Moto was the creation of successful writer John P. Marquand (1893–1960), whose novels depicted a Japanese international spy quite different from the genial Mr. Moto of film. Revisiting the original Mr. Moto novels illuminates a Japanese character who rationalized Japan’s 1930s continental expansionism in ways that might have been acceptable to many Americans. Although Marquand intended to present Mr. Moto as a “moderate” and reasonable Japanese agent and generally present East Asians in a positive light, it is difficult to see the novels as doing anything more than buttressing prevailing racial and ethnic stereotypes.