What was the deal with Peter Lorre's hair? Why is it so e-mo. Does anyone have any ideas to why Hitchcock put it in? Please give your input.
shareI just watched this film on DVD this morning and I was wondering about Lorre's hair too. Maybe the style/colouring was to make his character stand out -- be more distinctive -- spot the baddie with the bad hairdo, lol.
shareSometimes, if someone is wounded on the scalp, hair will grow in white over a scar. This may have been the natural assumption of a 1930's audience. This was some time before streaking or highlighting was popular.
shareSkunk, lol, that's good analogy.
"William F. Buckley wrote a book at Yale; I read one." George W. Bush
I know someone in his thirties who has the same streak of perfectly white hair. He wears it shorter, though... So sometimes it just grows that way.
In theatre, it is often used to "mark" demonic characters, like Mephistopheles, Nick Shadow, etc. Maybe Hitchcock was inspired by this.
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The skunk analogy is a good one. I thought the lock of white hair was a good way of pointing to the scar over Peter Lorre’s right eye. The origin of scar is from a story yet to be told, but it does inform us that he came from a violent background.
Smoke me a kipper. I’ll be back for breakfast
And don't forget Dr.X!:)
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2439616512/tt0031851
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And the Bride of Frankenstein, Lisa in The Omega Man, Jobeth Williams in Poltergeist, etc.
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Nobody here gets it. Although the Hays Code was in effect in the 30's for American films, censorship was also a problem for directors in the UK as well.
Surprisingly, nobody has posted the obvious, the Peter Lorre character is gay.
Ironically, Lorre got married during the film shoot.
Sorry, I don't get it: he's gay, so he has the white hair? Is it something distinctive?
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