In 1923, the four Warner brothers – Albert, Sam, Jack, and Harry – established a motion picture studio they called Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc.
In 2023, the Turner Classic Movies channel, beloved by fans of classic film, salutes Warner Bros. with a celebration featuring the work of their directors and contract players, from the silent days of the 1920s, through the Golden Age of the 1930s and 1940s, to the movies of the 1950s and later years. Documentaries about the Warners and their studio. plus cartoons and short subjects, are also on the schedule.
Throughout the month of April, 2023, Lorre fans can enjoy a number of Peter’s Warner Bros. movies and cartoons featuring his likeness, including ~
April 1, Saturday ~
Primetime theme – “How It Started and the Dawn of Sound”
8 pm – Hollywood Steps Out (1941) – In this Warner Bros. cartoon, an animated Peter Lorre joins other stars at a popular nightspot.
April 2, Sunday ~
Daytime theme – “Warner Joins a Gang”
4 pm – Key Largo (1948) and Racketeer Rabbit (1946) – The Warner Bros. cartoon follows the Bogart, Bacall, and Edward G. Robinson classic. Bugs Bunny encounters an animated Robinson and Peter Lorre, on the run from the police.
April 8, Saturday ~
Primetime theme – “Warner at War”
8 pm – Carrotblanca (1995) and Casablanca (1942) – TCM salutes the wartime movies made by Warner Bros, beginning with an animated version of Casablanca, with Tweety taking the role of Ugarte, followed by the classic romance between an ex-patriot American (Humphrey Bogart) and the woman (Ingrid Bergman) he loved in Paris set in the North African city filled with desperate refugees in search of passage to America.
April 10, Monday ~
Daytime theme – “Produced by Hammer, Distributed by Warner”
2:45 pm – Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1970) and Hair-Raising Hare (1946) – Following the horror classic, Bugs Bunny encounters an animated Peter Lorre and his monster henchman in an eerie castle.
April 11, Tuesday ~
Daytime theme – “Studio Contract Players”
10:15 am – Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) – TCM salutes Priscilla Lane, who as Mortimer Brewster’s (Cary Grant) new bride Elaine Harper, is kept in the dark about the bodies buried in the cellar of Mortimer’s aunts’ house.
April 12, Wednesday ~
Daytime theme – “Studio Contract Players”
3:15 pm – Passage to Marseille (1944) – TCM salutes Claude Rains, who as Capt. Freycinet, finds out the truth about the five men (Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Philip Dorn, George Tobias, and Helmut Dantine) picked up by the tramp steamer bound for Marseille, France.
April 12, Wednesday ~
Theme continues – “Studio Contract Players”
6:45 am – Background to Danger (1943) TCM salutes George Raft, who as Joe Barton encounters Nazi agent Sydney Greenstreet and Russian operative Peter Lorre in war-time Ankara, Turkey.
April 17, Monday ~
Primetime theme – “Great Directors at Warner Brothers”
5 am – All Through the Night (1942) – TCM salutes Vincent Sherman, who directed Peter Lorre, Humphrey Bogart, Kaaren Verne, and a cast of Warners stock players in a comedy-drama about Nazi spies working in New York City.
April 19, Wednesday ~
Daytime theme – “Studio Contract Players”
TCM salutes Sydney Greenstreet, who worked with Peter in nine movies from 1941 to 1946, including these ~
8 am – The Mask of Dimitrios (1944) – A mystery writer (Lorre) researching the life of a dead international criminal (Zachary Scott) encounters several people who also crossed the criminal’s path, including a drug smuggler turned blackmailer (Greenstreet).
10 am – Three Strangers (1945) – Two men (Lorre and Greenstreet) become partners with a woman (Geraldine Fitzgerald) on a sweepstakes ticket, with tragic results.
April 19, Wednesday ~
Primetime theme – “Studio Contract Players”
10 pm – The Maltese Falcon (1941) – TCM salutes Humphrey Bogart, on-screen and off-screen pal of Peter Lorre’s, with this showing of their first movie together: the classic mystery about the hard-boiled detective (Bogart) and the valuable statuette coveted by many nefarious characters (Lorre, Greenstreet, and Mary Astor).
April 19, Wednesday ~
Primetime theme – “Studio Contract Players”
TCM salutes Peter Lorre, who appeared in many mystery and suspense films between 1941 and 1946, including these ~
4:30 am – The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) – A meek librarian (Lorre) to a reclusive concert pianist (Victor Francen) is slowly driven mad in the pianist’s Italian villa by a hand that only he can see.
6 am – The Verdict (1946) – Best friends and neighbors (Lorre and Greenstreet) team up to solve a murder committed in a locked room.
April 22, Saturday ~
Daytime theme – “Warner Seeks Adventure”
2:45 pm – Around the World in 80 Days (1956) – TCM salutes a day of adventure at the cinema, including this all-star extravaganza about the proper British Victorian gentleman (David Niven) who makes a bet with his club members that he can travel around the world in eighty days.
In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen D. Youngkin discusses the years Peter Lorre worked at Warner Bros, the studio he is most associated with, as well as the classic films he appeared in, including The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, and Arsenic and Old Lace.
Warners first hired Peter on a picture-to-picture basis in 1941, beginning with The Maltese Falcon (1941), where he met and became best friends with Humphrey Bogart, and continuing through Arsenic and Old Lace (filmed in 1941, released in 1944), All Through the Night (1942), and Casablanca (1942). In 1943, Peter was put under contract with yearly options.
According to the many directors and actors who worked with him, Peter was “happily unhappy” at Warner Bros. Happy to be under contract, which meant regular paychecks and regular work. Unhappy with the types of parts he was assigned and the quality of the movies he appeared in.
The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre may be purchased from many brick-and-mortar shops, as well as these online merchants ~ Happy 100th birthday, Warner Brothers!
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