The Mysterious Mr. Morphine

It has been a damn fine year for fans of everyone's favorite morphine addict ... Peter Lorre. What's that!? Peter Lorre was addicted to morphine!? Yes. For decades!? Yes. Even during all his turns as a white guy pretending to be Asian!? Yes.

Well, it's like I was saying, its been a fine year for Peter Lorre fans especially those like myself who knew nothing of his drug addiction. This information comes from just one of many exciting Peter Lorre related releases of this past year, Stephen Youngkin's comprehensive biography of Mr. Moto himself, titled The Lost One (it actually came out at the tail end of 2005). The book sheds new light on fascinating and scandalous incidents in the life of Lorre the likes of which would've made Kenneth Anger soil his pants. From Lorre's agonizingly long bout with morphine (he was under the influence of the narcotic for the overwhelming majority of the films he appeared in, including his two most famous - Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon), to his close friendship with defiant left wing bohemian Bertolt Brecht, as well as anecdotes of his unbearable halitosis which plagued him throughout the nineteen thirties until 20th Century Fox paid to have his teeth fixed, the book is chalk full of goodness. The biography is in fact so full of said juiciness, it begs to be turned into a trash film ala Mommie Dearest (1981) perhaps by the likes of a John Waters. Who could possibly play a convincing Lorre? Michael J. Anderson has my vote.

Along with the book, four of the eight pictures in which Peter played the master Japanese sleuth Mr. Moto were finally given legitimate DVD release (a pair of Charlie Chan boxsets were also put out by Fox in the past few months). The films prove how a movie can be incredibly racist and yet remain very enjoyable - how this is achieved I still have no idea. The "yellowface" pictures of the nineteen thirties and forties, particularly the reoccurring series of Mr. Moto, Charlie Chan, and Mr. Wong (with Boris Karloff), were predecessors in mood and style to the film noir genre that would become such a sensation for film scholars decades later. The violence, the darkness, and that sinister fog all appeared first in these culturally fucked up films in which white people starred as Asian characters (and yet actual Asian actors would often appear as their children!). It's quite a treat to watch Peter Lorre in what have essentially been, understandably, taboo pictures for several years now. Capping off the DVD Lorre releases this year was the Boris Karloff Icon of Horror Collection which featured a previously unreleased-to-home-video pic called The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942) with the dream line-up of Karloff, Lorre, and boxer turned actor turned tragic Bukowski-esque boarding house tenant 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom. I haven't actually seen the movie yet but one IMDB user describes it as "Patriotic Horror Nonsense," so from that we can only assume ... it is amazing.

Turner Classic Movies, a television channel that if you don't have access to in your area you should either move somewhere that does or simply kill yourself, showed several hard to find Lorre pictures this past year and at least one that has never been released on VHS or DVD. Firstly, The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) has the easiest sell for a night of film viewing imaginable. Peter Lorre ... versus a disembodied hand. Nuff said ... definitely not enough seen. Who couldn't watch such a scenario on a loop for the rest of their life? The picture was released on VHS only once back in the early nineties despite its obvious DVD appeal.

Secondly, The Face Behind the Mask (1941) is a classic example of the actor at his hyperventilating best (Youngkin's book reveals his absolute contempt for its trivial "horror" subject matter), in which he oscillates between the extremes of sweet n' cute to fullbore insane. I don't think i'm giving anything away by explaining that the movie features Lorre having his face burned off in a fire ala Merrill Womach. He does not take up a career as a gospel singer however.

Thirdly, and best of all, was TCM's two showings of You'll Find Out (1940). Despite the insipidly dull title (and despite the comment of the Leonard Maltin guide and its many copycats) the film is an eighty minute black and white orgasm for fans of anything haunted house related. The plot consists of once massively popular bandleader Kay Kyser and his novelty orchestra (like Spike Jones and his City Slickers except nowhere near as funny) having motor trouble with their tour van and having to take refuge in a spooky house on a rainy night. Turns out the home is inhabited by a Boris Karloff butler, a chain-smoking Lorre, and Bela Lugosi sporting a swami's hat. Further elaboration would seemingly be unnecessary as this sounds pretty fantastic as is, but wait, there's more. The film features what was at that time a new invention: The Sonovox. This device is first used by Bela Lugosi, secretly haunting the house from the depths of the basement. The Sonovox used a similar theory to that of the tool used by smokers who lose their voice and must talk through the use of amplifying the vibration of their throat. The Sonovox produces a nearly satanic sound when used by Lugosi producing the film's creepiest moments. Once all is said and done, and our heroes win out in the end, Kyser's orchestra uses the Sonovox to create some swingingly eerie effects in the film's closing big band number. In the 40's this effect was used most famously in a series of radio commercials for Lifebuoy brand soaps. The Sonovoxed voice in their ads would terrifyingly announce "BEEE-OHHHH!"  As in, "Say friends, do you know someone who suffers from ... BEEE-OHHHH!" This campaign was so well known at the time that it was made fun of in both Bob Clampett cartoons and the routines of the aforementioned Spike Jones group.

2006 - a good year for Peter Lorre fans.

Comments

[ResidentClinton]

Bravo! I love love love Mr. Lorre, and indeed this has been a banner year. In 2004, The Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge did a centenial career retrospective that was just fantastic - and gave me my first chance to see the Mr. Moto films. It's so nice that these gems are finally on DVD. And I have to check out the biography as well - it's been on my wish list all year.

A few years ago I kicked off a Halloween marathon at my theatre with Mad Love, perhaps my favorite Lorre star vehicle. He plays a crazed surgeon who is obsessed with a Grand Guignol actress and plots to steal her from her pianist husband - by replacing his mangled hands with that of a convicted murderer! It's a great atmospheric pshychological horror film by Karl Freund that was remade more than once. It was a big hit at the show (most of the audience had never even heard of the film) and finally came out on DVD this year as well, as part of this affordable and classy Legends of Horror collection. If you haven't seen it, check it out. In the meantime I am going to search long and hard to see You'll Find Out, which just sounds amazing. Damn me all to hell for not having cable TV!

[johnny]

I got this wacky flick from 1940s starring Mickey Rooney as a small time hood getting shafted by Mr Peter Lorre who plays a creepy (what else?) amusement arcade operator. I'm traveling now, and can't check out the title. The Mr Moto movies are eminently watchable. I used to watch them on WNEW Channel 5 when I was a kid (that's "FOXFIVENEWYORK" to you young 'uns). It seems that on Dec 7, 1941, Mr Moto miraculously went from being a "Jap" to Filipino, much like the Green Hornet's sidekick, Kato.

[Call Screener Jeff]

The Beast with Five Fingers scared the $#!t out of me when I was 6 or 7 and inspired some horrible nightmares!!!

[jtm]

Very good article Kliph, thanks. Fantastic photo of PL also.

[Max Sparber]

Hey! I have that Slapsy Maxie Rosenbloom album!

Waitaminute .. that's my copy of the album in the picture!

Well, good. I freakin' love Peter Lorre.

[LIsten Kliph Nesteroff]

The Mickey Rooney/Peter Lorre film in question is Quicksand. It's in the public domain so it's readily available in most dollar store bargain bins, and probably one of the single best films you can find in the public domain. The plot is quite ingenius, actually. Well worth seeking out. The other most common Peter Lorre flick in the public domain is the Bob Hope comedy My Favorite Brunette, and Lorre is hilarious in it, again easy to find, always cheap, and well worth seeing. Max Sparber, thanks for letting me steal the image.

[96dbFreak]

Who should play Mr Lorre in the biopic? Steve Buscemi, that's who.

[Michael Powers]

I've always been intrigued and a little frightened by the fact that Lorre got sick and somehow gained a hundred pounds in more or less a fell swoop, if my information (via, I think, an ancient issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland) is correct. I'm not sure exactly when that was, but it certainly trumps Cary Grant getting the mole removed from his cheek in 1950 as a very visible bifurcation of a career.

Lorre is simply impossible to beat as a compelling actor and no one ever stole a scene from him to my knowledge, including Bogart in "The Maltese Falcon" or Cary Grant in "Arsenic and Old Lace." I've heard that he blows both Karloff and Lugosi(!) off the screen in "You'll Find Out" although I've never seen it myself. I'd love to see him work directly with Rooney, a similarly intense screen presence, to see which one the audience looks at. That might be difficult to predict.

I had no idea that Lorre, like Lugosi, was addicted to morphine. I think the earlier post is correct that Buscemi would be the choice to play him right now if someone shot a biographical film, although this is a case where the actor would have to get the voice and nuances exactly right, I think. With today's technology, they could put him in a fat suit for the post-weight gain sequences and splice in actual colorized footage of Grant, Bogart, Lugosi, etc. when it fits the script to add verisimilitude and surprise the audience.