How did you become a Peter Lorre fan?

[Mrs Vindecco]

I was just wondering...

[woofy]

When I was a teenager our local Public TV station in Philadelphia ran the Fritz Lang film M. I thought (even then) that Lorre's performance was once of the best I'd ever seen. I've probably seen the film a dozen times since then and nothing has shaken me from that opinion.
By the time I ran across Nancy and Anne (about 10-12 years ago) I had already seen a number of Lorre performances--at least in the more famous "'A' films" he'd appeared in (like Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, 20000 Leagues Under The Sea, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Arsenic And Old Lace, The Moto films, etc. But it was through my association with those ladies that I really acquired an appreciation of the range of Lorre's talents. While I'm not "smitten" with Peter Lorre (like some people), I do consider him one of the best acting talents of the 20th century.

[Mrs Vindecco]

Jul 28, 2012 23:06:47 GMT woofy said:

While I'm not "smitten" with Peter Lorre (like some people), I do consider him one of the best acting talents of the 20th century.

"smitten"... who ever could you mean, sir? (cough,cough)



I've always known of Peter Lorre, probably from the regular viewing of Warner Bros cartoons and hours watching whatever B&W movie was on in the days when the UK only had four channels ( and strangely had a better choice of things to watch). So there's not a moment, I can pin point and say "that's when I first knew who Peter Lorre was."


I first remember really liking him when I first watched Arsenic and Old Lace. I first saw that at my Granny's and I think Peter was the character I most liked and found funny and quite sweet. I knew people were supposed to find him sinister, but I honestly never did. A couple of years later (early 1990's) , I started buying film magazines (mainly Empire) I remember on many occasions a German film called "M" being mentioned and reviewers raving that Peter Lorre gave an amazing performance as a child-killer. Naturally I was intrigued, not sure if this was the same Peter Lorre I saw in Arsenic and Old Lace because he looked slightly different and also the idea of anyone making a film that contained anything to do with child murder was quite surprising to me. I wasn't as naive as to think that before the Moors Murders, no child was ever killed, but the idea someone could make a film about it in the early Thirties was astounding to me.

When I finally got a chance to see "M", one late night on BBC2, I was quite excited. If I remember correctly, Barry Norman had it as the film of the week in the Radio Times and written an article all about it (damn, I wish I kept it). In fact I think it was a part of the Cinema 100 season, where the Beeb were showing a film a week from each year of cinema and I think "M" must have been the choice for 1931. Anyway when I watched it I was floored by Peter's performance and made a point of watching any Peter film.

However I became a true fan, through our mutual friend Ladylove on youtube. We became friends through our appreciation of Dwight, but when I saw her Peter Lorre videos I was curious by some of the films I hadn't seen, so she sent me a bundle and I have been hooked since.

Wow, I really blabbered there... apologies

[meerschwein]

I get the impression that Peter is regarded with considerably more respect outside the U.S. than he is here. Most of the time when you mention his name here you get some kind of sneering reaction. I get really tired of it.