Tag: Peter Lorre
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What Really Makes a Film Noir? The Noir Rorschach Test
Let’s be clear: film noir isn’t a genre. Westerns, war movies and horror films are all genre pictures with motifs that signal the kind of film you’re watching. But noir isn’t as easy to spot. There are noir cliches — shadows cast by venetian blinds, voice-over narrations by weary, defeated perps and fall guys, and…
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Crime tourists, Part II: Americans clash with the underworld in foreign lands
DeForest Kelley, Cameron Mitchell, Robert Ryan, (unidentified), Robert Stack, ‘House of Bamboo’ (1955). We’ve already talked about films with Americans acting badly overseas . It seems that whenever a region is beset by war, a pack of jackals descends on the still twitching carcass of civilization to devour whatever meat is left on its bones.…
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Peter Lorre’s First Starring Role Was a Hit — That Was the Problem
Renowned character actor Peter Lorre created many indelible roles in groundbreaking noirs, thrillers and films of other genres while achieving greatness in Hollywood. Since June 26th marks the 120th anniversary of his birth, this is a good time to look back at some of his remarkable performances from the 1930s onward. Born László Löwenstein in…
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More Than Just a Gunsel: Elisha Cook Jr. Was the Face of Noir
When he died in 1995 at the age of 91, Elisha Cook Jr. was the last surviving cast memberof John Huston’s 1941 film noir classic “The Maltese Falcon,” whose players included Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Mary Astor. While his was a supporting role, Cook left an indelible impression that remains intact more…