August 19, 2019

The Chase at Toronto Summer Film Fest

The Toronto Film Society continues its summer series “Black and White and Noir All Over” with a screening of Peter Lorre’s film The Chase (1946), on a double-bill with Tension (1949), at the Innis Town Hall Theatre on Monday, August 19, 2019, in Toronto, Canada.

The program begins at 6:30 pm with The Chase, followed by Tension.

Memberships in the Toronto Film Society are available in a variety of price levels. The “Trial Membership” may be purchased at the door before any screening. The Trial Membership is $18 for adults and $15 for students with valid student ID. More information about memberships is available on the Toronto Film Society website.

The Chase and Tension, as well as other movies in the festival, will be shown at the Innis Town Hall Theatre, located at 2 Sussex Avenue, within Innis College on the downtown campus of the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada.

Parking is available in several parking garages near the venue. Closest is the garage located at 371 Bloor Street West, in Toronto, Canada. More information about parking is available on the University of Toronto website.

The “Black and White and Noir All Over” film festival runs every Monday evening from July 8 to August 26, 2019. The full schedule is available on the Toronto Film Society website.

August 18, 2019

The Mask of Dimitrios at the Brattle Theatre

A special treat is in store for Lorre fans in the area of Cambridge, Massachusetts, when the Brattle Theatre presents The Mask of Dimitrios (1944) on Monday, August 19, 2019, as part of their series “Noirversary!

On a double-bill with The Woman in the Window (1944), The Mask of Dimitrios will be shown at 5 pm and 9:15 pm. The Woman in the Window, starring Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett, will be shown at 2:45 pm and 7 pm.

The Brattle will screen 35mm prints of both films.

The “Noirversary!” series salutes noir films made in 1944 and celebrating their 75th anniversary in 2019. The series runs throughout August on Mondays and Tuesdays. The full schedule is available on the Brattle Theatre website.

Tickets for The Mask of Dimitrios are $12 general admission; $10 for students (with valid ID) and Brattle members; and $9 for children (age 12 and under) and seniors (age 65 and older).

Tickets for both movies are $15 general admission, and $13 for children, students, seniors, and Brattle members.

Admission for military personnel is $10 with valid ID.

Tickets may be purchased at the box office, which opens 30 minutes before the first show of the day. Tickets may also be purchased online through the cinema’s website. Click the show-time and select a ticket option from the list. Tickets may be picked up at the “Will Call” office. A nominal fee will be added to all online purchases.

The Brattle Theatre is located in Brattle Hall, at 40 Brattle Street, a block from Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Also located in the building are the Algiers Café and the Alden and Harlow Restaurant. The cinema’s entrance is on the left side of the building – look for the sidewalk poster case and the marquee.

Parking is available at meters around Harvard Square, as well as nearby parking garages. The Brattle Theatre box office will validate parking tickets for the Charles Square Garage and the University Place Garage.

The Brattle Theatre is well-served by public transportation – both MBTA bus routes and the subway.

More information about parking and public transportation, as well as directions, is available on the Brattle Theatre website.

For more information, please call the cinema at 617-876-6837.

In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen D. Youngkin discusses the making of The Mask of Dimitrios through interviews with director Jean Negulesco. Well established as a screen team, Peter Lorre and his co-star Sydney Greenstreet also recreated their roles on radio for an episode of The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater on April 16, 1945.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre is available in hard-back, soft-bound, and Kindle editions, and may be purchased through Amazon U.S., Amazon Canada, and Amazon U.K, as well as other booksellers.

Click on any of these links, and the order page will open.

August 16, 2019

Chicago University Film Fest Includes Lorre

Held at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, Doc Films continues its summer film festival with two Peter Lorre movies in August – Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) and Stranger on the Third Floor (1940).

Arsenic and Old Lace – A 16mm print will be screened on Friday, August 16, 2019, at 7 pm and 9:30 pm.

Stranger on the Third Floor – A 35mm print will be screened on Wednesday, Aug. 21, at 7 pm.

Tickets go on sale 30 minutes before each screening. Tickets are $7 for General Admission. Quarterly membership and summer membership passes are also available. More information about tickets is available on the Doc Films website.

Movies are shown in the Max Palevsky Cinema, a state-of-the-art cinema built through the kind donation of Max Palevsky and located in Ida Noyes Hall at the University of Chicago. The University of Chicago is located at 1212 East 59th Street in Chicago, Illinois.

Parking is available is in the Judd Parking Lot, located at 5835 South Kimbark Avenue, between East 59th Street and East 58th Street on the University campus. Parking is free and open to the public after 4 pm on weekdays and at all times on Saturday and Sunday. More information about parking is available on the Doc Film website.

Ida Noyes Hall is also served by public transportation. More information about public transportation is available on the Doc Film website.

The longest continuously running student film society in the United States, Doc Films was founded in December of 1940 as the International House Documentary Film Group. Originally beginning with documentary films only, Doc Films soon came to include fiction and experimental films, a mixture that it maintains to this day.

For more information, please call 773-702-8574.

August 13, 2019

SiriusXM Airs Lorre Radio Series

Peter Lorre fans with access to the satellite radio provider SiriusXM can tune into the Radio Classics channel the week of August 12, 2019, and hear an episode of Peter’s 1947 summer series Mystery in the Air – “The Lodger”, which originally aired over NBC on Thursday, Aug. 14, 1947.

“The Lodger” kicks off a 2-hour program block celebrating the birthday of Alfred Hitchcock and will air these dates and times ~

Tuesday, August 13 –
6 pm Pacific, 9 pm Eastern

Thursday, Aug. 15 –
12 noon Pacific, 3 pm Eastern

Saturday, Aug. 17 –
10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern

SiriusXM airs Radio Classics over Channel 148. Subscribers may also listen to the programs over the internet. Log-in with your User ID and password. Not a subscriber? A free 30-day trial is also available through the SiriusXM radio website.

In “The Lodger”, Peter Lorre co-stars with famed radio and film actress Agnes Moorehead. The mysterious “Mr. Sleuth” (Lorre) takes a room in the home of Mrs. Ellen Bunting (Moorehead) and her husband, but when a number of music hall girls are murdered, Mrs. Bunting fears their lodger may be a killer.

For 13 weeks during the summer of 1947, Mystery in the Air replaced The Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Show. The series presented tales of suspense “culled from the four corners of world literature”, adapted from such famous tales as Alexander Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades" and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat", as well as original radio dramas.

Peter Lorre began with “The Tell-Tale Heart” on July 3, 1947, and continued to the final program, “Crime and Punishment”, adapted from his own 1935 Columbia Studios film, on Sept. 25, 1947.

A complete-to-date list of Peter’s radio work is available in the Appendix of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, written by Stephen D. Youngkin and published through University Press of Kentucky in 2005.

The Lost One may be purchased from Amazon U.S., Amazon Canada, and Amazon U.K, as well as other booksellers.

Click on any of these links, and the order page will open.

August 1, 2019

Lorre Films Return to Buffalo Movie Expo

On the schedule of classic silent and sound movies of the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, Lorre fans can always find at least one Lorre movie at the annual Western New York Movie Expo, held in Buffalo, New York.

This year, two Lorre films will be shown – Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) and Nancy Steele is Missing (1937).

Nancy Steele is Missing is currently scheduled for Friday evening, Aug. 2, in Screening Room “B”.

Arsenic and Old Lace is currently scheduled for Saturday evening, Aug. 3, in the Main Screening Room.

Admission is $40 for the full weekend. Daily admission on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday is $12 for general admission, and $10 for students with proper ID. On Sunday, admission is $6 for everyone. More information about tickets is available on the Expo's website.

Admission includes three screening rooms, as well as a large dealers’ room, filled with posters and autographs, records and magazines, cameras and projectors, and more. The full schedule of documentaries, silent and sound movies, short subjects, and special presentations is available on the Movie Expo’s website.

The Western New York Movie Expo will be held at the Buffalo Grand Hotel, formerly known as the Adam’s Mark Hotel and Event Center, located at 120 Church Street, in Buffalo, New York. Room discounts are available for Expo attendees staying at the hotel. More information about the hotel, as well as directions, is available on the Expo’s website.

Parking is available at the Buffalo Grand Hotel. A parking fee of $15 per day will be charged. More information about parking is available on the Movie Expo’s website.

Lorre Movies on TV This Fall

As summer becomes fall, Lorre fans have many movies to look forward to on the Turner Classic Movies channel, as well as other channels.

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.



August, 2019

Every August, the Turner Classic Movies channel presents their “Summer Under the Stars” festival, and although Peter Lorre does not have a “Day” this year, some of his famous co-stars do.

Aug. 11 (Sun), 7:30 am, Turner Classic Movies – All Through the Night (1942). August 11 is “Humphrey Bogart Day”, and two of Peter’s movies with his off-screen buddy Humphrey Bogart will be shown, beginning with the second movie the two actors made – a spy comedy set in New York City.

Aug. 11 (Sun), 12 noon, TCM – Passage to Marseille (1944). “Humphrey Bogart Day” continues with the fourth movie Peter made with Bogie, and his final movie with his pal while Peter was under contract with Warner Bros.

Aug. 26 (Mon), 8 pm, TCM – The Maltese Falcon (1941). It’s “Mary Astor Day” today, and TCM presents the only film Peter made with Mary Astor, as well as his first movie with Bogart and Sydney Greenstreet, with whom Peter would go on to make many more films.



September, 2019

September brings several Lorre movies to the TCM schedule, including some films rarely shown and two birthday salutes to Lorre co-stars.

Sept. 11 (Wed), 3 am, TCM – Around the World in 80 Days (1956). TCM's prime time theme in September is "100 Years of United Artists", and tonight's theme is "The 40s and 50s", with thise all-star extravaganza, starring David Nevin as the intrepid Victorian Englishman who makes a bet with his Club cronies that he can circle the globe in 80 days.

Sept. 14 (Sat), 6 pm, Movies! Network – The Beast with Five Fingers (1946). In one of his final movies at Warner Bros, Peter plays the private librarian of a former concert pianist (Victor Francen), residing in an Italian villa. When the pianist dies in a fall down the staircase, friends discover to their horror that his right hand has been cut off. Is the hand now roaming the villa, wreaking revenge on anyone who would try to change the pianist's will?

Sept. 16 (Mon), 6 am, TCM – Confidential Agent (1945). TCM celebrates the birthday of Lauren Bacall with a day of Bacall movies, and the day kicks off with the only movie Peter made with Lauren Bacall, newly married to Humphrey Bogart.

Sept. 18 (Wed), 9:30 am, Movies! Network – Beat the Devil (1954).

Sept. 18 (Wed), 6 pm, Movies! Network – Beat the Devil (1954).

Sept. 21 (Sat), 2 am, TCM – The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934).

Sept. 23 (Mon), 6 am, Movies! Network – The Beast with Five Fingers (1946).

Sept. 23 (Mon), 3:30 pm, TCM – Quicksand (1950). TCM salutes the birthday of Mickey Rooney, and on the schedule is the only movie Peter made with Mickey, who plays a car mechanic who falls deeper and deeper in petty crime, as he tries to impress Peter’s former girlfriend (Jeanne Cagney).

Sept. 30 (Mon), 6 pm, Movies! Network – The Beast with Five Fingers (1946).



October, 2019

October means Halloween and horror movies, and among the Lorre movies on TCM’s schedule is one of the few horror films Peter appeared in.

Oct. 4 (Fri), 11:30 am, Movies! Network – The Beast with Five Fingers (1946).

Oct. 6 (Sun), 8 am, TCM – The Constant Nymph (1943).

Oct. 8 (Tues), 9 am, TCM – Strange Cargo (1940). The daytime theme is "The Oldest Profession", with a day of actresses who played prostitutes on film, including Joan Crawford as "an entertainer" in the French penal colony in Guiana.

Oct. 8 (Tues), 1:30 am, MeTV – Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "The Diplomatic Corpse" (CBS, Dec. 8, 1957).

Oct. 11 (Fri), 6 am, Movies! Network – The Beast with Five Fingers (1946).

Oct. 14 (Mon), 10:30 am, Movies! Network – The Beast with Five Fingers (1946).

Oct. 17 (Thurs), 7 am, TCM – Stranger on the Third Floor (1940).

Oct. 22 (Tues), 4:30 pm, TCM – The Story of Mankind (1957). The daytime theme is "Marx Brothers Marathon", as TCM presents a day of movies starring the Marx Brothers, including this all-star extravaganza directed by Irwin Allen.

Oct. 25 (Fri), 10 pm, Movies! Network – The Beast with Five Fingers (1946).

Oct. 28 (Mon), 4 pm, Movies! Network – The Beast with Five Fingers (1946).

Oct. 30 (Wed), 8 pm, TCM – Mad Love (1935). The prime-time theme on TCM is "Short and Sweet – 100 Terrific Movies Less than 75 Minutes Long", and the category tonight is "Horror". Celebrate Halloween with this supernatural film about a knife thrower’s (Edward Brophy) hands transplanted onto the wrists of a concert pianist (Colin Clive) – courtesy of a brilliant Parisian doctor (Peter Lorre) in love with the pianist's actress wife (Frances Drake).



Many of these and other Lorre movies and television programs are now available on DVD and Blu-Ray – many 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.

In The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen D. Youngkin discusses the making of Peter’s movies, including interviews with many of the directors, writers, actors, and crew who worked with Peter.

A complete list of Peter’s movies and television credits is available in the book’s Appendix.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre may be purchased from Amazon U.S., Amazon Canada, and Amazon U.K, as well as other booksellers.

Happy viewing!