September 27, 2013

Peter Lorre on TV This Fall


Fall is on the way, and with it, a number of Peter Lorre movies on television and Turner Classic Movies during October, November, and December. All times shown are Eastern Standard.

Peter Lorre's page on the TV Guide Channel website lists the Lorre films scheduled on various television channels over a 2-week period.



October, 2013

October means Halloween and horror movies, and with Vincent Price as TCM’s “Star of the Month” on Thursdays, a few of the films Price made with Peter Lorre are included in the schedule.

Oct. 1 (Tues.), 11:35 am, Fox Movie channel – Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962).

Oct. 1 (Tues.), 12:30 pm, Encore Suspense channel – Tales of Terror (1962). Peter stars in the second of the three Poe stories, as a man who “hated a cat – a black cat”.

Oct. 2 (Wed.), 9:30 am, Fox Movie channel – Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962).

Oct. 4 (Fri.), 6:15 pm, Retro Movie channel – The Patsy (1964). Peter Lorre’s death on March 23, 1964, came three days after Peter finished work on this film.

Oct. 5 (Sat.), 8:05 am, Retro channel – The Patsy (1964).

Oct. 10 (Thurs.), 9:20 am and 4:30 pm, Retro channel – The Patsy (1964).

Oct. 12 (Sat.), 12:30 am, Turner Classic Movies channel – Crime and Punishment (1935). The theme is “Crisis of Conscience”, and Peter Lorre stars in his second American film as Roderick Raskolnikov, a student of crime who commits murder.

Oct. 13 (Sun.), 12:30 am, Antenna TV channel – Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "Man From the South". A scary tale suitable for Halloween about a bet involving fingers, a car – and a lighter that will light 10 times in a row without fail.

Oct. 14 (Mon.), 9 am, Antenna TV channel – The Face Behind the Mask (1941). Peter plays Janos Szabo, an Humgarian immigrant watch-maker whose face is horribly burned in a fire, turns to crime to finance a mask and then plastic surgery, but discovers love with a blind woman and a new life that unfortunately ends in tragedy.

Oct. 17 (Thurs.), 9 am, TCM – Beat the Devil (1954). The theme is “Americans Abroad”, and Peter co-stars with Humphrey Bogart in their final movie together as conmen bound for a uranium mine in South Africa.

Oct. 17 (Thurs.), 1:15 pm, Encore Suspense channel – Tales of Terror (1962).

Oct. 17 (Thurs), TCM – A Lorre double-feature with October star Vincent Price in The Story of Mankind (1957) at 9:45 pm and The Big Circus (1959) at 11:30 pm.

Oct. 20 (Sun.), 6:30 am, Antenna TV channel – The Face Behind the Mask (1941).

Oct. 20 (Sun.), 7:40 am, Encore Suspense channel – Tales of Terror (1962).

Oct. 25 (Fri.), 8:15 am, TCM – The Raven (1963). The Vincent Price festival continues with an entry in AIP’s Poe series. Peter Lorre and Vincent Price play 16th century sorcerers facing off against fellow sorcerer Boris Karloff.

Oct. 29 (Tues.), noon, THIS channel – The Raven (1963).

Oct. 30 (Wed.), 10:15 am, TCM – You’ll Find Out (1940). A day of “Thrills and Chills” includes this “old mansion” musical horror comedy with Peter, Karloff, and Bela Lugosi.

Oct. 31 (Thurs.), 10 am, THIS channel – The Comedy of Terrors (1964). Spend Halloween with Peter and his friends Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, and Basil Rathbone, in this horror-comedy about an undertaker (Price) and his assistant (Lorre) who are unable to dig up profitable business in the usual way and so decide on an unusual way – "creating" their own customers.



November, 2013

Burt Lancaster is November’s “Star of the Month” on Turner Classic Movies. Unfortunately, Rope of Sand (1949), the only film Lancaster made with Peter Lorre, is not on the schedule, but two Lorre / Bogart films are.

Nov. 1 (Fri.), 2:50 am, Antenna TV channel – The Jack Benny Show (Jan. 22, 1963).

Nov. 6 (Wed.), 2:50 am, Retro TV channel – Tales of Terror (1962).

Nov. 7 (Thurs.), 9:45 pm, Retro TV channel – Tales of Terror (1962).

Nov. 10 (Sun.), 4 pm, TCM – Casablanca (1942).

Nov. 14 (Thurs.), 1 pm, Fox Movie Channel – Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961).

Nov. 19 (Tues.), 8 pm, TCM – The Maltese Falcon (1941). The falcon statuette is among several famous movie props up for auction at Bonhams Auctioneers on Nov. 25, 2013, in New York City. Tonight, Dr. Catherine Williamson, Bonhams' Director of Entertainment Memorabilia, will join TCM host Robert Osborne for an evening of programming related to the auction.

Nov. 23 (Sat.), 9:30 am, Fox Movie Channel – Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962).

Nov. 29 (Fri.), 11:15 am and 9:30 pm, Retro TV channel – Tales of Terror (1962).

Nov. 29 (Fri.), 3 am, MeTV channel – Wagon Train, "The Alexander Portlass Story" (Mar. 16, 1960).



December, 2013

December’s “Star of the Month” on Turner Classic Movies is Fred Astaire, and on the schedule is Silk Stockings, the only movie Peter Lorre made with the classic dancer.

Dec. 6 (Fri.), 12 midnight, TCM – Casablanca (1942). Turner Classic Movies turns their Friday Night Spotlight on "The Hollywood Costume", and included in the line-up is costume designer Orry-Kelly (Orry George Kelly) and his work on Casablanca.

Dec. 11 (Wed.), 1:30 am, TCM – Silk Stockings (1957). Peter joins Jules Munshin, Joseph Buloff – and Fred Astaire – in this musical from MGM.

Dec. 24 (Tue.), 10:15 am, Fox Movie Channel – Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962).

Dec. 27 (Fri.), 2 pm, TCM – Three Strangers (1945). Peter joins Sydney Greenstreet in their eighth film together as two of the title characters who, with Geraldine Fitzgerald, make a wish on a statue of the Chinese goddess Kwan Yin.

Dec. 28 (Sat.), 1 pm and 4 am, Fox Movie Channel – Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961).

Dec. 29 (Sun.), 2 pm, TCM – The Constant Nymph (1943). Turner Classic Movies remembers Joan Fontaine, who passed at age 96 in mid-December, with an afternoon of movies, including The Constant Nymph, in which Peter romances her sister, played by Brenda Marshall.



Many of these and other Lorre movies are now available on DVD and VHS – some remastered and packaged with extra features. For more information on the films of Peter Lorre released to home video, head on over to the DVD — VHS section of The Lost One website.

Happy viewing!

Two Venues Screen The Maltese Falcon This Weekend

West Coast fans of Peter Lorre and Humphrey Bogart will have a couple opportunities to catch the two actors onscreen in The Maltese Falcon (1941) this weekend – in San Diego, California, and Cañon City, Colorado.



San Diego, California

Cinema Under the Stars will present The Maltese Falcon in their unique open-air theater for three nights, from Thursday, September 26, to Saturday, September 28, 2013.

The movie begins at 8:30 pm each night. Doors open at 6 pm.

General admission is $15 for all seats, and $14 for Cinema Under the Stars members. Cash or check is accepted at the box-office. Seats may be selected and reserved on-line through the Cinema website, up to 5 pm the day of the screening. A fee of $2 will be charged for non-members.

Cinema Under the Stars features a 20-foot screen with high-definition projection and surround sound; single and double zero-gravity recliners, love seat cabanas, and deck chairs and ottoman with tables; a retractable cover, blankets, and space heaters. More information may be found on the cinema’s website.

Refreshments include coffee, tea, soda, bottled water, popcorn, and candy. Outside food and drinks are not permitted in the theater.

Cinema Under the Stars is located behind the Tops Salon at 4040 Goldfinch Street, in the Mission Hills area of San Diego, California.

For more information, please call (619) 295-4221.



Cañon City, Colorado

On Friday, September 27, The Maltese Falcon will end the Frames FCA Film Club’s “Bogart Month” at the Fremont Center for the Arts in Cañon City, Colorado.

The movie will begin at 6 pm in the Christie Theatre, located on the lower level of the Fremont Center for the Arts.

Admission is free to FCA members and guests. Membership information may be found on the FCA website. Children will not be admitted.

Metal folding chairs will be provided – but the Frames Film Club recommends bringing a cushion or your own chair.

The Fremont Center for the Arts is located at 505 Macon Avenue in the historic downtown area of Cañon City, Colorado. Built as a post office in 1933, the FCA is across the street from the public library and close to the Museum of Colorado Prisons. Enter the Christie Theatre through the west door on North Fifth Street.

Parking is available in the lot at the FCA.

For more information, please call the FCA at (719) 275-2790.



In The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen Youngkin discusses the on- and off-screen friendship of Peter Lorre and Humphrey Bogart through interviews with the actors and directors who worked with both men.

The two actors met while working on The Maltese Falcon and remained friends to the end of Bogart’s life, making a total of five movies together – four during Peter’s years at the Warner Bros. studio.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre is available for the Nook and Kindle, hard-bound and soft-bound editions.

September 25, 2013

Bogart Fest in Medford, Oregon, Includes Lorre Films

A trio of Humphrey Bogart films will be shown by the Friends of the Medford Library in Medford, Oregon, and on the schedule are two Peter Lorre movies – The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Casablanca (1942).

The Maltese Falcon will be shown on Wednesday, September 25, 2013.

Casablanca will be shown on Wednesday, October 8, 2013.

Both films will begin at noon. Admission is free and open to the public.

For more information, please contact the Medford library at (541) 774-8679.

The Medford Branch Library is located at 205 South Central Avenue, in Medford, Oregon.

Parking is available in several locations around the library. The Evergreen Parking Structure, located on 8th and Main Street, provides three-hour free parking on the first three levels. “Pay to Park” lots include the lot at the corner of 10th Street and Riverside, as well as a lot on Central Avenue, across the street from the library building. More information on parking may be found on the library’s website.

September 19, 2013

The Maltese Falcon Onscreen at City Honors School

The City Honors School in Buffalo, New York, will kick off their monthly “Cinema on the Hill” film series with The Maltese Falcon (1941) on Thursday, September 19, 2013. The series will benefit the film program at the school. The complete series schedule may be found on the School website.

The program will begin at 7 pm in the Auditorium at City Honors School.

Admission is $3 for all seats. Popcorn will be available for purchase for $1, and beverages for $2 – however, a ticket, popcorn, and beverage combo is available for $5. A series ticket, including refreshments, may be purchased for $40.

The City Honors School is located at 186 East North Street, in Buffalo, New York. Directions, including a map, may be found on the school’s website.

In The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen Youngkin discusses the making of The Maltese Falcon, as well as the on- and off-set friendship between Peter Lorre and Humprey Bogart.

The two actors met while working on Falcon and remained friends to the end of Bogart’s life, making a total of five movies together – four during Peter’s Warner Bros. period.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre is available for the Nook and Kindle, hard-bound and soft-bound editions.

September 18, 2013

Passage to Marseille at Larchmont Public Library

Rob Goldstone, well-known “Movie Man” in Larchmont, NY, will present Passage to Marseille (1944) at the Larchmont Public Library, on Wednesday, September 18, 2013.

The movie will be shown at 2:30 pm. Attendees should meet in the Village Center.

Admission is free, and all are welcome to attend.

The Larchmont Public Library is located at 121 Larchmont Avenue, in Larchmont, New York.

Directions to the library are available on the library’s website.

In The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen Youngkin discusses the making of Passage to Marseille.

Released in February, 1944, it was the final movie Peter Lorre made with Humphrey Bogart while Peter was still under contract to Warner Bros. The movie’s unusual flashback-within-flashback structure, criticized then and now by film critics and film fans alike, actually follows the outline of the original novel, Men Without a Country, written by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall and published in the June 1942 issue of The Atlantic Monthly.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre is available at the Larchmont Public Library, as well as the Nook and Kindle, hard-bound and soft-bound editions.

September 16, 2013

Northern Arizona University Screens Two Lorre Movies

As part of the College of Arts and Letters Film Series “In Support: Unforgettable Supporting Actors and Actresses”, Northern Arizona University will include two Peter Lorre movies – The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Arsenic and Old Lace.

The Maltese Falcon will be shown on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013.

Arsenic and Old Lace will be shown on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013.

All films in the series will be shown at 7 pm in the Cline Library Assembly Hall. A cartoon will be shown with both The Maltese Falcon and Arsenic and Old Lace. A list of all films in the series is located on the NAU website.

Admission to the film series is free and open to the public.

Northern Arizona University is located on South San Francisco Street in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Cline Library is located in Campus Building 28 at the University.

Free parking is available behind the Cline Library in lot P13. Parking is also available in Parking Garage P96A at a fee. More information about parking, including maps of the Northern Arizona University campus, may be found on the NAU website.

In The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen Youngkin discusses the making of The Maltese Falcon and Arsenic and Old Lace through interviews with directors John Huston and Frank Capra.

Both movies were shot in mid-1941, while Peter was still freelancing at all the Hollywood studios. By the time Arsenic and Old Lace was released in the fall of 1944, Peter was in the midst of the most creative and lucrative period of his career, with radio work and a “House Act” tour of downtown movie theaters, in addition to films at Warner Brothers as a member of their stable of contract players.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre is available on the Nook and Kindle, as well as hard-bound and soft-bound editions.

September 12, 2013

The Maltese Falcon Onscreen at Bow-Tie Cinemas This Weekend

Lorre fans in the northeast will have an opportunity to catch Peter in theaters when the Bow-Tie Cinemas chain screens The Maltese Falcon (1941) on Saturday and Sunday, September 14 and 15, 2013, as part of their “Movies and Mimosas” classic movies series.

At most locations, the film will begin at 11 am on both Saturday and Sunday. In New Haven, Connecticut, the movie will begin at 11:30 am.

Admission is $5 for all seats, and $4 for Criterion Club members. Mimosas may be purchased for $2.

Bow-Tie Cinemas are located in Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. A list of cinemas, including addresses, phone numbers and schedules, is located on the Bow-Tie Cinemas website.

The making of The Maltese Falcon is discussed in The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, by Stephen D. Youngkin, including interviews with director John Huston and featured player Lee Patrick.

As the first movie Peter Lorre made for Warner Bros., The Maltese Falcon led Peter to a contract with the studio, a lifelong friendship with star Humphrey Bogart – and to Karen Verne, who became the second Mrs. Lorre.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre is available on the Nook and Kindle, as well as hard-bound and soft-bound editions.