Moto Movie Scheduled for Syracuse Cinephile Society

The Syracuse Cinephile Society continues their 2019 Spring Season of classic movies with a mystery double-feature on Monday, April 22, 2019 – The Phantom of Crestwood (1932) and Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937), the first in a series of eight films in which Peter Lorre played intrepid Japanese detective Mr. Moto.

All films in the series are shown at the Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurant, located at 689 North Clinton Street in Syracuse, New York. Parking is available in the lot beside the restaurant.

Directions to the Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurant are available on the Cinephile Society's website.

The program begins at 7:30 pm, but attendees who plan to come for dinner are recommended to arrive no later than 6:15 pm, in order to finish dinner by 7:30 pm.

Admission to the Syracuse Cinephile Society event is $3 for Cinephile members, and $3.50 for non-members. Annual membership in the Syracuse Cinephile Society may be purchased for $5.

The 2019 Spring Schedule began on Monday, Mar. 18, and will run until Monday, June 24, 2019. The full schedule for the Monday Night Series is available on the Syracuse Cinephile Society website.

In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen D. Youngkin discusses the making of the Mr. Moto series, including interviews with Harvey Parry, who doubled for Peter on stunts throughout the Moto series, as well as several movies at Warner Bros. in the 1940s; and Norman Foster, who directed Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937) and five other Moto films.

Although initially interested in playing the intrepid – and globe-trotting – Japanese importer for whom detecting is a hobby, Peter soon grew of the character. Continually addressed as "Mr. Moto" by the public, playing Mr. Moto in sketches on the radio variety series of the late 1930s, and getting few opportunities to appear in non-Moto projects at 20th Century-Fox all added to Peter’s disappointment with the series.

In 2006 and 2007, 20th Century-Fox remastered and restored all eight of the Moto films, hired John Cork and his production company Cloverland to produce a unique documentary – including interviews with Stephen Youngkin – for each movie, and released the series in two DVD box-sets with additional extras.

Purchase Mr. Moto, Volume 1, from Amazon.

Purchase Mr. Moto, Volume 2, from Amazon.

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.

Take a Class on "Peter Lorre"

From Oct. 6 to Nov. 3, 2009, Lorre fans in Vero Beach, Florida, will be able to study the life and career of the classic film actor.

“The World of Peter Lorre” will be offered through the Education and Film Department at the Vero Beach Museum of Art. Warren Obluck, the museum’s film studies coordinator, will lead the discussions and screen several Lorre movies, including M (1931), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Beat the Devil (1953), and Silk Stockings (1957).

In addition, Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937) – the first of the eight Mr. Moto detective films Lorre made at 20th Century-Fox in the late 1930s – will be shown in serial style at the beginning of each class session.

The 5-week class will be held in the Leonhardt Auditorium every Tuesday, beginning Oct. 6 and ending Nov. 3. Two sessions are available – afternoons at 1:30 p.m. and evenings at 7 p.m. The cost is $55, $45 for Museum members.

The Vero Beach Museum of Art is located in Riverside Park, at 3001 Riverside Park Drive, Vero Beach, Florida. Free parking is available on campus.

Registration for the fall term began Sept. 8 and continues during Museum hours in the Education Wing or at the main lobby Visitor Services desk throughout the term. Students may register in-person between 4 and 6 p.m., or by phone between 5 and 6 p.m.

For information about registration or any classes, contact Ellyn Giordano, Museum Art School Manager, (772) 231-0707, extension 116. For more information on “The World of Peter Lorre”, call (772) 231-0707, extension 136.

Why a class on Peter Lorre? As instructor Warren Obluck stated in a recent interview with TCPalm, Lorre was “so amazingly talented and so remarkably underused in the United States that audiences never had the opportunity to discover what he was all about.” Through Peter’s movies and a discussion of his personal life, Obluck intends to help students “understand Lorre’s range as an actor.”

Text for the “World of Peter Lorre” course is not announced on the VBMA’s website – but a good choice would certainly be Stephen D. Youngkin’s The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre (University Press of Kentucky, 2005), Peter’s authorized biography.