MovieChat Forums > The Mask of Dimitrios (1944) Discussion > Peter Lorre As The Good Guy

Peter Lorre As The Good Guy

posted 16 years ago by antpaste
7 replies | jump to latest

Lorre was always a good actor, but usually played a psychotic killer (as he did so magnificently in "M.") It was refreshing to see him in a sympathetic part, and especially refreshing to find out he was the hero of the film!

Lorre was also Mr. Moto, a thoroughly good, good guy in several B-movies that were made in the late thirties. But here again, there was always something a little sinister and menacing about Moto, even though he was on the side of the law.

"The Mask of Dimitrios" gave Lorre a chance to completely chuck his psycho image.*

*The apex of his psychotic portrayals was in "The Beast With Five Fingers." He was every bit a super-psycho in that film. I won't ruin the story by revealing the surprise ending, but Lorre was the cinematic nut case of all time, even surpassing Richard Widmark's portrayal of the laughing sadist Tommy Udo in "Kiss of Death."

[–] cinefool 16 years ago

Peter Lorre was a magnificent talent that Hollywood really didn't know what in the world to do with. What a shame. That said, he had some fine moments, especially at Warner Brothers in the 40's, when he lost a good deal of weight and married his second wife. He is great as the heroic lead in "The Mask of Dimitrios", and also as the sympathetic drunk in "Three Strangers", both atypical roles for him.

Then there are his psychos..."Mad Love", "Island of Doomed Men", and of course, "The Beast With Five Fingers", perhaps my favorite of his "nut" portrayals.

In comparison with Richard Widmark, and "Kiss of Death"; frankly Lorre did crazy first, and he did it better!

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] mam13143 9 years ago

An extremely good and underrated actor. Aside from the films you mentioned I also have The Verdict where once again he plays a good guy with Greenstreet. Those two were great separately and dynamite together. Thankful we can see and even own their films today.

[–] PeaceRocks 9 years ago

In comparison with Richard Widmark, and "Kiss of Death"; frankly Lorre did crazy first, and he did it better!

Lorre's performance in "M" tops them all, imo.

[–] cabbageboy316 9 years ago

For whatever reason I have never watched The Beast with Five Fingers. I'll have to check it out now that I hear Lorre goes totally over the top in it.

Mask of Dimitrios is a fine film but there's always been one thing that has annoyed me to no end. Why on earth does Lorre only get FOURTH billing in the movie? He was listed behind Faye Emerson, who I don't really know and at best has maybe 10 minutes of screen time. Lorre is the star of the movie! Even if they billed him behind Greenstreet he should have been 2nd. Think about that, a veteran actor being billed behind a guy in his film debut (Zachary Scott) and a random woman of little fame.

[–] mam13143 9 years ago

My only thought is that the others were better known to audiences. Nevertheless, it makes no sense since the entire film revolves around him, for goodness sake he should have gotten top billing!

[–] Professor_Jarrod 9 years ago

cabbageboy,

Blame studio politics for Lorre's lackluster billing in what was otherwise a great film for him. The actor did some great work at Warner Brothers, but studio boss Jack Warner didn't respect Lorre's talent and resented his flippant attitude toward him.

"The Mask of Dimitrios" was directed by Jean Negulesco, an Eastern European like Lorre who was greatly impressed with the actor's talent; Negulesco fought Warner and producer Henry Blanke to cast Lorre as Cornelius Leyden and while he got his star, the studio honcho had the last laugh by assigning Lorre the lowest billing possible. Its too bad Warner and Lorre had such a poor opinion of each other; I could see a whole series of films starring Lorre as the globetrotting mystery writer.