Lost Lorre fter
a couple of minor films, the German actor Peter
Lorre established himself as a film star in Fritz Lang's 1931 film
M with a
memorable performance as a child murderer hunted by both the police and
criminals. His success took him to Hollywood, where he played colourful villains
in many films - most famously in The Maltese
Falcon. In
1951 he returned to Germany to direct and star in
Der
Verlorene (The Lost One), shown
yesterday evening at the National Film Theatre. It was his only film as a
director, and a fascinating if flawed one. He plays a doctor, Rothe, in a
displaced persons' camp just after the war, working with inadequate facilities
and resorting to drink. A former Nazi agent now on the run, Hoesch (Karl John),
appears and triggers memories of their wartime past, played out in flashbacks.
At that time a respected research scientist, he is warned by Hoesch that his
fiancée is a spy - and promiscuous: the news unbalances him and he murders
the girl. Because of Roche's usefulness to the state, Hoesch's superior covers
up the murder: but Roche's guilt and madness leads him to desire to murder
again: after almost getting to the point of murdering a prostitute he murders a
woman he has got into a conversation with on a train. The plot becomes rather
jumbled as it turns out that Hoesch's superior is involved in an unspecified
conspiracy: when Roche is thought to have been killed in the bombing of his home
he disappears and assumes the new identity he is now using in the camp. Going
over their past together, Hoesch becomes drunk: Roche kills him and commits
suicide.The film is atmospherically photographed and directed, particularly in the gloomy area around the camp: and Lorre makes good use of his haunted and expressive face as the kindly doctor who carries the guilt of his murderous obsessions. Though the pace is deliberate the film works well apart from the confusion in the final section of the flashback, covering the conspirator and his flight from Hoesch. However it was too downbeat for audiences at the time and was not a success: Lorre returned to Hollywood and never directed another film. It's a pity, because though his usual performances were always good (and he was a notorious screen-stealer) Der Verlorene shows the subtlety and depth of performance of which he was capable. Posted: Sun - March 23, 2008 at 08:45 AM by Roger Wilmut |
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Total entries in this category: Published On: Jul 16, 2008 08:51 AM |
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