Halloween with Lorre at Woodmere Art Museum

Happy Halloween! A movie set at Halloween is always fun to watch on this holiday – and when the movie features Peter Lorre, it’s even better!

As part of their series “Movies at the Woodmere”, the Woodmere Art Museum, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will show Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017.

The Chestnut Hill Film Group will present the movie at 7:30 pm in the museum’s main gallery. A donation of $5 is suggested.

The Woodmere Art Museum is located at 9211 Germantown Avenue, at the corner of Germantown Avenue and Bells Mill Road, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Directions to the Woodmere are available on the museum’s website.

Parking is available in the museum’s parking lot.

For more information, please call the Woodmere Art Museum at 215-247-0476.

Lorre Biographer Discusses Mad Love at The Projection Booth

Kicking off “Shocktober 2017” – a month-long look at horror films – with a discussion of Mad Love (1935), long-time filmfan and writer Mike White invited Stephen D. Youngkin, author of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre (2005), to The Projection Booth on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017, for a discussion of Peter Lorre and his first American movie.

During the hour-long interview, Stephen Youngkin described Peter’s journey to Hollywood as a contract player with Columbia Pictures in 1934, his love of America and all things American, his dislike of the term “horror film”, and being labeled a horror movie actor after Mad Love. Having his head shaved for the role of the bald Dr. Gogol was not Peter’s idea, said Youngkin. He was sensitive about his appearance and went to visit Frances Drake, who played Yvonne Orlac, Dr. Gogol’s object of desire, to show her what he really looked like before work began on Mad Love.

Mike White also talked with film historian Greg Mank, whose book Hollywood Cauldron: Thirteen Horror Films from the Genre’s Golden Age (1994) includes a chapter on Mad Love and an interview with Frances Drake. Mank discusses scenes deleted from the finished print; the sad end of Colin Clive, who hated Mad Love and the other horror movies he made in the early 1930s; and Karl Freund’s approach to directing – which involved paying more attention to the movie’s cinematography than the performances of the actors. This suited Peter Lorre, said Mank, who could then do what he wanted to do with a part.

Using clips from the Mad Love dialogue track, Mike White and his guest co-host Samm Deighan explore the story, the characters, the cinematography, the direction, and the performances of the lead actors Peter Lorre, Colin Clive, and Frances Drake.

Episode 343, Oct. 3, 2017, marks Stephen Youngkin’s third visit to The Projection Booth. On May 24, 2017, Youngkin appeared in Episode 324 for a program about Der Verlorene (The Lost One, 1951), Peter Lorre’s only directorial effort. And on Nov. 22, 2016, Youngkin came on-board in Episode 298 for a discussion of Stranger on the Third Floor (1940).

On Nov. 29, 2016, Episode 299, Mike White and his special co-hosts and guests discussed The Chase (1946).

All current and past podcasts of The Projection Booth are available on the program’s website.

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And on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017, Mad Love will be shown on Turner Classic Movies at 10 am EST and 7 am PST, as part of a day-long salute to horror movies.

Happy Halloween from Turner Classic Movies!

Bogart Fest Includes Lorre Films

Hurricane Irma paid a visit to Key Largo in September 2017, but the annual Humphrey Bogart Film Festival carries on!

This year, the Bogart fest celebrates the 75th anniversary Casablanca (1942) with showings of the classic movie, as well as three of the five movies Peter made with Bogart – Passage to Marseille (1944), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Beat the Devil (1954) – and special guests Monika Henreid, daughter of Paul Henreid, and Jessica Rains, daughter of Claude Rains, joining Stephen Bogart, son of Humphrey Bogart.

Running from Wednesday, Oct. 18, to Sunday, Oct. 22, 2017, the festival includes special events, round-table discussions, a display of Bogart family memorabilia, a Saturday evening dinner, a closing Sunday brunch, and much more.

Stephen Humphrey Bogart, son of Bogie and Lauren Bacall, will host the event, joined by Illeana Douglas, granddaughter of actor Melvyn Douglas. The many Bogart films on the schedule will be screened at the host hotel and the Tavernier Cinemas.

Playa Largo Resort and Spa is the host hotel of the Bogart Film Festival, as well as the primary event venue. Guests attending the festival may receive special discounted rates at Playa Largo by calling the hotel directly at 305-853-1001, Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm. More information about discounted rates may be found on the festival website.

Playa Largo Resort and Spa is located at 97450 Overseas Highway, in Key Largo, Florida.

Passes may be purchased on-line through the Festival website. In addition to tickets, special Bogart Fest merchandise is also available.

Lorre films and events include ~

• Showings of The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942), Passage to Marseille (1944), and Beat the Devil (1954) at various times and dates
• Casablanca cocktail party and costume and trivia contest
• Discussion of the life and career of Humphrey Bogart, led by Stephen Bogart and Ileana Douglas
• The Bogart family memorabilia collection, hosted by Stephen and Ileana
• Sunset Cocktail Party with live music and outdoor screening of To Have and Have Not
• Roundtable discussion of Casablanca with Stephen, Ileana, Jessica Raines, and Monica Henreid
• Playa Largo Main Event – Cocktail party, followed by Festival Awards Dinner and screening of Casablanca
• Festival Closing Brunch

All movies will be screened at Tavernier Cinemas, located at 91298 Overseas Highway, in Tavernier, Florida. Outdoor screenings, as well as all the special events, will take place at the Playa Largo hotel.

The full schedule of films and events is available on the festival website.

In The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, author Stephen Youngkin chronicles Peter Lorre’s on- and off-screen friendship with Bogart. The two actors first worked together on The Maltese Falcon in the summer of 1941 and went on to make another four movies – three of them at Warner Bros. Their final movie, Beat the Devil (1954), reteamed them with John Huston, their Falcon director.

During his lifetime, Peter had few friends, but he counted Bogie as one of his two closest – the other being Bertolt Brecht, the German playwright with whom Peter worked as a young stage actor in Berlin during the 1920s.

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

Lorre Film Scheduled for Castro Theatre Noir Fest

The Castro Theatre, located in San Francisco, continues its noir film festival, “I Wake Up Dreaming 2017: Sleep No More!”, with a showing of All Through the Night (1942), on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017.

All Through the Night will be shown at 7:15 only. Ministry of Fear (1944), also on the double-feature, will be shown at 5:30 pm and 9:20 pm.

The festival is running every Monday night in October, beginning Oct. 2, and ending oct. 30, 2017, with a double or triple feature. The complete schedule is available on the Castro Theatre website.

Admission for every double or triple feature is $12 for all seats. Tickets may be purchased at the box office.

The Castro Theatre is located at 429 Castro Street, in San Francisco, California.

Parking is available in two small lots and on the street near the cinema. The Castro is also well-served by both bus and street car. Public transportation options, as well as directions to the Castro, can be found on the cinema’s website.

For more information, please call the Castro at (415) 621-6120.

In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre (2005), Stephen D. Youngkin chronicles the making of All Through the Night. Continuing to freelance at Warner Bros, Peter was called back to the studio to appear in what would be his second movie with pal Humphrey Bogart – but his first and only movie with Kaaren Verne, who played Bogart’s love interest on-screen. The young actress became Peter’s love interest off-screen, a relationship that led to marriage as the second Mrs. Lorre.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre is available in soft-cover and hard-back, as well as the Kindle and Nook.

Film Forum Warners Series Includes Lorre

As part of their series “Warner Bros: Tough Guys, Tough Dames . . . Tough Pictures”, the Film Forum, located in New York City, will present a 35mm double-feature of The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Key Largo (1948), on Friday, Sept. 29, 2017.

The movies will be shown at the following times ~

• Key Largo – 12:50 pm, 4:50 pm, and 8:50 pm
• The Maltese Falcon – 2:50 pm and 6:50 pm

Admission is $15 for adults, and $9 for children under the age of 12. Seniors age 65 and older attending shows before 5 pm, Monday to Friday, may purchase tickets for $9. Tickets for Film Forum members are $9 for all showings.

A double-feature ticket allows patrons to attend two consecutive showings for one price.

Tickets may be purchased at the Film Forum box office. Tickets may also be purchased on-line through the Film Forum website. Click the “Buy Tickets” button under The Maltese Falcon. On-line registration is required to purchase tickets through the venue’s website. More information on tickets is available on the Film Forum website.

The Film Forum is located at 209 West Houston Street, between 6th Avenue and Varick Street, in New York City, New York.

Parking, both metered and non-metered, is available on many of the streets close to the Film Forum. Parking on 6th Avenue, 7th Avenue, and Varick Street is metered.

The Film Forum is well-served by subway and bus lines. Directions to the theater, as well as parking and public transportation information, are available on the venue’s website.

Programmed by Bruce Goldstein, “Warner Bros.: Tough Guys, Tough Dames . . . Tough Pictures” will run from Friday, Sept. 22 through Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017. The full schedule is available on the Film Forum website.

For more information, please call the Film Forum at 212-727-8110.

Saranak Lake Library Schedules Lorre Film

The Saranac Lake Free Library continues their “Great Films” movie series with a showing of The Maltese Falcon (1941) on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017.

The movie begins at 2 pm in the Thomas B. Cantwell Community Room.

Admission is free for everyone.

The Saranac Lake Free Library is located at 109 Main Street, in Saranac Lake, New York.

Parking is available in the library’s parking lot.

For more information, please call the library at 518-891-4190.

Buffalo Movie Expo Includes Lorre

Lorre fans attending the second annual Western New York Movie Expo this weekend in the Buffalo area of New York state are in for a treat – a screening of Mr. Moto’s Last Warning (1939) on Friday, Sept. 1, 2017.

The film will begin at 10:45 pm in the Main Screening Room.

The Movie Expo runs from Friday, Sept. 1, to Monday, Sept. 4, 2016.

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

Admission includes two 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 Hilton Garden Inn Buffalo Airport, located at 4201 Genesee Street, across from Buffalo Niagara Airport (BUF) in Cheektowaga, New York – and 10 miles from downtown Buffalo. 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 Hilton Garden Inn. Parking is free for both hotel guests and Expo attendees not staying at the hotel.

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 Norman Foster, who directed six of the eight Moto films; and Harvey Parry, veteran stuntman who doubled for Peter in the series, as well as Peter’s stint at Warner Bros.

Initially excited about playing the enigmatic Japanese character, Peter soon became bored as the series wore on, and 20th Century-Fox cast him in no other movies. As a guest on radio shows during 1937 to 1939, he was introduced as “Mr. Moto” and appeared in “Mr. Moto” sketches. He was soon heard to say, “I didn’t run away from home to become Mr. Moto.”

Long in public domain, Mr. Moto’s Last Warning was remastered, along with the other seven films, and released in two box-sets with many extra features, such as documentaries on the Moto series participants and original film trailers. Both box-sets are available to purchase through Amazon links on the website for The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre.

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

Labor Day with Lorre at the Stanford Theatre

The historic Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto, California, salutes classic films of the Warner Bros. studio, including the Peter Lorre double-feature of The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Casablanca (1942) over Labor Day weekend, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, Sept. 2, 3, and 4, 2017.

The Maltese Falcon will be shown at 5:40 pm and 9:30 pm on all three days.

Casablanca will be shown at these times ~

• Saturday, Sept. 2 – 3:40 pm and 7:30 pm
• Sunday, Sept. 3 – 3:40 pm and 7:30 pm
• Monday, Sept. 4 – 7:30 pm only

The Warner Bros. film fest runs from Sunday, July 2, to Monday, Oct. 2, 2017. The complete schedule is available on the cinema’s website.

Before and after the 7:30 pm showing of Casablanca, one of the Stanford’s “Masters of the Mighty Wurlitzer” will play the Wurlitzer theater organ during the intermission.

Admission is $7 for adults, and $5 for youth (18 and under) and seniors (65 and over). Tickets may be purchased at the box office on the day of the show.

The Stanford Theatre is located at 221 University Avenue in Palo Alto, California. Look for the cinema’s large neon marquee – a landmark along University Avenue in the downtown area.

Parking is available at meters along the street in front of the cinema, as well as two parking garages within two blocks of the Stanford. The Bryant / Lytton Parking Garage is located at 445 Bryant Avenue, one block north of University Avenue. The High Street Parking Garage is located at 528 High Street, one block south of University Avenue.

For more information, please call the Stanford Theatre at 650-324-3700.

Opening in 1925, the Stanford Theatre was Palo Alto’s premier movie theater. Most of the classic films the cinema now plays – including many Lorre movies – appeared in this cinema on their initial run, when the program changed two or three times a week. On the venue’s website are the original weekly schedules from 1925 through to 1961. The Maltese Falcon opened at the Stanford on Jan. 29, 1942, for a 3-day run from Thursday to Saturday, on a double-bill with Design for Scandal.

Casablanca opened at the Stanford on Feb. 24, 1943, for a 4-day run from Thursday to Saturday, on a double-bill with The Hidden Hand, plus the Donald Duck cartoon, “Spirit of ‘43”.

In 1987, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation purchased and restored the cinema. Now owned by the Stanford Theatre Foundation, the cinema presents classic Hollywood movies.

Casablanca at the Central Texas Film Society

On Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, the Central Texas Film Society will present a free showing of Casablanca (1942) at the Azalee Marshall Cultural Activities Center, in Temple, Texas. One Sunday every month, the Central Texas Film Society presents a free showing of a classic, best-loved movie at 2 pm.

The movie will be shown in the Frank W. Mayborn Auditorium, located in the Cultural Activities Center.

The program begins at 2 pm with commentary and historical content about Casablanca. The program ends with notes about the filming of Casablanca.

Admission is free for everyone. Refreshments will be available for purchase before the movie – popcorn for $2 a bag, and bottles of water and soda for $1 each.

The Azalee Marshall Cultural Activities Center is located at 3011 North 3rd Street, in Temple, Texas. Directions are available on the venue’s website.

Parking is available in the lot in front of the Cultural Activities Center.

For more information, please call the venue at 254-773-9926.

Fall into Fall With Lorre on TV

As the days grow shorter and summer moves into fall, Peter Lorre fans can find many Lorre movies on television and Turner Classic Movies.

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.

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August, 2017

August means “Summer Under the Stars” on the Turner Classic Movies channel, but this year, only one actor in the spotlight includes Lorre movies.

Aug. 9 (Wed), 4:30 am, Movies! Network channel – Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938). An early entry in the popular movies series.

Aug. 17 (Thurs), 1:30 pm, TCM – They Met in Bombay (1941). Today is Rosalind Russell Day, and the Russell films today include the only movie she made with Peter.

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September, 2017

A handful of Lorre movies continues this month on the Turner Classic Movies channel.

Sept. 1 (Fri), 10 pm, TCM – Muscle Beach Party (1964). TCM throws an "End of Summer Beach Party' as summer unofficially ends and fall begins. Peter Lorre’s only appearance in American International Pictures’ successful "Beach Party" movie series was playing in theaters at the time newspapers were running Peter’s obituary on his passing at age 59 on March 23, 1964, and his funeral two days later.

Sept. 3 (Sun), 5 am, Movies! Network – Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939).

Sept. 12 (Tues), 3:45 am, TCM – Beat the Devil (1954). TCM salutes Jennifer Jones as September's "Star of the Month" with this comic take-off on The Maltese Falcon (1941). Jones takes the Mary Astor role, a woman who tends to lie rather than tell the truth – until the very end.

Sept. 12 (Tues), 4 am, Movies! Network – Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939).

Sept. 13 (Sun), 4:30 am, Movies! Network – Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939).

Sept. 14 (Thurs), 6:15 am, TCM – Casablanca (1942). TCM's daytime theme is "A Good Cry" – and Lorre fans may well feel like a good cry as his character Ugarte is dragged from Rick's cafe, under arrest for murder.

Sept. 18 (Mon), 4 am, MeTV – 77 Sunset Strip, "5" (originally broadcast Sept. 20, 1963). The 1963 season of this mystery adventure series opened with a 5-part episode titled "5" and featured many top stars as guests. Peter Lorre appeared in Part 1, as "The Gypsy". MeTV will broadcast all five episodes this week – Part 2, Sept. 19 (Tues); Part 3, Sept. 20 (Wed); Part 4, Sept. 21 (Thurs), and Part 5, Sept. 22 (Fri), each at 4 am.

Sept. 19 (Tues), 1 am, MeTV – Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "Man from the South" (originally broadcast Mar. 13, 1960).

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October, 2017

October brings Halloween, and Halloween brings Peter’s first horror movie in the United States.

Oct. 2 (Mon), 2 pm, TCM – The Constant Nymph (1943). The daytime theme is "Joan Monday", with a day of films starring or featuring an actress named "Joan", including Joan Fontaine in her first film with Peter Lorre. Years later, the two would work together in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961).

Oct. 9 (Mon), 2 pm, TCM – Silk Stockings (1957). TCM's daytime theme "Cole Porter" includes this musical remake of Ninotchka (1939), with a singing and dancing role for Peter Lorre, as one of a trio of Soviet commissars seduced by the charms of Paris.

Oct. 12 (Thurs), 7 am, TCM – Hotel Berlin (1945). TCM's daytime theme "Hotel Happenings" begins with this Warner Bros. film set in a fine hotel in Berlin in the final days of World War II.

Oct. 17 (Tues), 4 pm, THIS TV channel – Tales of Terror (1962). Peter Lorre appears in "The Black Cat", the second of three stories adapted from Poe, and each starring Vincent Price.

Oct. 21 (Sat), 8:30 am, GetTV – Peter Lorre: The Master of Menace (1996). Originally shown on the Arts and Entertainment channel's series Biography, this one-hour documentary features interviews with Stephen D. Youngkin, author of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre (2005), and many actors and directors who worked with Peter throughout his career.

Oct. 22 (Sun), 4 pm, TCM – All Through the Night (1942).

Oct. 25 (Wed), 8 am, TCM – The Constant Nymph (1943). TCM's daytime theme is "Joan Fontaine".

Oct. 29 (Sun), 2 pm, THIS TV channel – The Comedy of Terrors (1964).

Oct. 29 (Sun), 12 midnight, THIS TV channel – Tales of Terror (1962).

Oct. 31 (Tues), 10 am, TCM – Mad Love (1935). Happy Halloween! TCM celebrates Halloween with a full day of horror movies. MGM introduced Peter Lorre to American audiences in 1935 in this horror film about a brilliant Parisian doctor (Lorre) whose love for actress Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake) leads him to perform a daring operation to save her concert pianist husband Stephen’s (Colin Clive) hands – with disastrous results.

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Many of these and other Lorre movies 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.

Purchase The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre from Amazon.

Happy viewing!