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.