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Stanley Stewart
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« on: 16:30:16, 31-08-2008 » |
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Monday, 1st Sept; 14.15 hrs to 15.00 hrs R4: Afternoon Play-Peter Lorre v Peter Lorre.
I'm intrigued as I followed the film career of Lorre (1904-1964) from the time I saw his portrayal of a psychopathic serial killer in Fritz Lang's "M", (1930), at a Film Society in the late 40s. He was Hungarian and made his career in the German cinema and, later, achieved international status in Hollywood. Scored success in several B features as Mr Motto and his vocal mannerisms also made him popular with imitators. However, he had to wait until John Huston's "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) to enter the first league. He was a notorious upstager but knew that he had met his match with Huston, Bogart and Sydney Greenstreet. Bogey played Sam Spade and told Lorre (Cairo): "When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it!" Graham Greene, in a stint as film critic wrote:
"Those marbly pupils in the pasty spherical face are like the eye pieces of
a microscope through which you can see laid flat on the slide the entangled mind
of a man: love and lust, nobility and perversity, hatred of itself, and despair jumping
up at you from the jelly."
The R4 play covers a strange 1963 court case in which a young German immigrant, in California, applied to change his name to that of the star.
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Antheil
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« Reply #1 on: 16:49:14, 31-08-2008 » |
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Stanley,
Thanks for that, will listen.
His eyes were indeed fascinating as was his speech.
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Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
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offbeat
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« Reply #2 on: 21:08:59, 31-08-2008 » |
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I always enjoyed Peter Lorre films one of which Mad Love in which he plays a mad professor was really good!
Think 'M' was very controversial subject for the time but showed different side to his acting which in the main was very one dimensional- also enjoyed the Mr Moto series which promptly stopped when America and Japan declared war.
Perhaps best of all was the films with Humphrey Bogart and Sydney Greenstreet - the very essence of film noire!!
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #3 on: 23:30:48, 31-08-2008 » |
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Serendipity again, offbeat. I read your comments on 'Mad Love' after listening to the Verdi Requiem Prom. Yes, I recognised the title but couldn't relate to the context. Doh!!! Got it finally. The UK title was 'The Hands of Orlac' (1935) and the plot was the grafting on of a pair of hands on a pianist, after an accident, by a mad doctor. The hands had been removed from a murderer! I'll rummage for my off-air video in the next few days.
A further thought which lay in my mind was that the plot for the film was adapted by Mary Hayley Bell, circa 1945, as "Duet for Two Hands" and John Mills (husband of MHB) played the title role, in the West End for a long time. The play was set in Orkney and with only a cast of four, it was always popular in rep for many years. The extraordinary Mary Morris played the love interest. I played Stephen, the pianist, a couple of times in the 1960s, and the play always packed 'em in. Happy memories.
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #5 on: 12:29:00, 01-09-2008 » |
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A real find, Mort; thank you. I must try and trace the silent version as I've always admired Conrad Veidt's 'Dr Caligari'. Later, he came to this country before being contracted by Warner Bros. I knew an actor who'd appeared with him in either 'The Spy in Black' or 'Contraband', both minor but watchable Powell & Pressburger films which you've already posted on. In those times, a star performer would arrive on set, perhaps nodding to the supporting players. Apparently, Veidt always took the trouble to introduce himself and engaged in convivial conversation between takes. 'By their fruits, ye shall know them'.
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #6 on: 17:36:17, 01-09-2008 » |
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Highly enjoyable. A neat couple of unexpected twists in the plot and I finally concluded that the play was a perceptive study of two sad men.
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