Movie Review: M (1931)

Genre: Crime Drama  

Director: Fritz Lang  

Starring: Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke, Gustaf Gründgens  

Running Time: 111 minutes  

Synopsis: A German city is terrorized by an elusive assailant (Peter Lorre) who abducts and murders school-aged girls. After yet another girl is killed, Inspector Karl Lohmann (Otto Wernicke) intensifies a police crackdown on all illegal dens. The heightened enforcement disrupts the business of organized crime syndicates, and their leader Der Schränker (Gustaf Gründgens) orders his members to find and capture the murderer using a network of street beggars for surveillance. Former psychiatric patient Hans Beckert is finally identified as the prime suspect, and he is pursued by both gang members and police officers.

What Works Well: Director and co-writer Fritz Lang creates the template for follow-the-evidence police procedurals, and adds innovations in sound, camerawork, and storytelling maturity. Deploying a less-is-more approach to the new sound technology, Lang prioritizes the mood and details of a city gripped by fear. The thematic strength of pathological urges conflicting with crime as a cold business is propelled by the irony of organized syndicates working in common cause with the police to rid the city of an unwelcome scourge. Several epic scenes leave a deep impression, including a girl's missing ball, a balloon against power lines, the dueling meetings of gangsters and police officers developing strategies for catching a killer, and a roomful of criminals acting as vengeful jurors. Peter Lorre's provocative appeal for mercy is a revelatory look into a killer's tortured psychology. 

What Does Not Work As Well: Several scenes slip into minutiae, unnecessarily extending the running time. 

Key Quote:

Hans Beckert: Who knows what it's like to be me?



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Movie Review: All Through The Night (1942)

A jaunty thriller, All Through The Night mixes laughs with action in a story of a New York gambler tangling with a Nazi terrorist cell.

"Gloves" Donahue (Humphrey Bogart) is prodded by his Ma (Jane Darwell) to investigate the murder of popular cheesecake maker Mr. Miller. Along with his sidekicks Sunshine (William Demarest), Barney (Frank McHugh), and Starchy (Jackie Gleason), Gloves starts to investigate Miller's mysterious customer, the alluring singer Leda Hamilton (Kaaren Verne). Soon another murder is committed, and this time Gloves is falsely implicated, forcing him to delve deeper into the plot to try and clear his name.

Gloves: [Breaking into a building] Personally, I'd feel more comfortable if I had a rod.
Sunshine: Here lies Sunshine under the sod. That's not odd. He had no rod.
Gloves: You know, there are times when I wonder about you.

His pursuit of Hamilton leads him to an auction house used as a front by a Nazi terrorist cell commanded by Ebbing (Conrad Veidt) and assisted by Madame (Judith Anderson) and their enforcer Pepi (Peter Lorre).With the cops on his tail, Gloves has to infiltrate the terrorists before they can launch their latest elaborate bombing plan, all while deciding which side Leda is really on.

Ebbing: You're not afraid to die, are you?
Gloves: I don't mind dying, but I hate to be divided up into small pieces.

Any wartime film that tries to add levity to a raging conflict where the outcome is still in doubt is bravely walking a tightrope above the abyss of bad taste. All Through The Night pulls it off, barely, thanks to a smart script filled with really sharp zingers courtesy of Gloves' collection of dubious friends.

[Sunshine knocks out a Nazi with an ax handle]
Gloves: Very good. Joe DiMaggio couldn't have done better.
Sunshine: I used to bat .320 at reform school.

The central character is good natured and only a bit shady, Gloves apparently a Broadway promoter of some sort but mostly interested in gambling scams. His background gives director Vincent Sherman and co-writers Leonard Spigelgass and Edwin Gilbert license to surround Gloves with wisecracking friends who provide a continuous stream of witty commentary on the evolving mess. A running gag features Barney marrying his girl Annabelle at the start of the evening, but unable to spend any time with the new bride because of the events of the wild night.

Barney: Say, chief, can't I get away just long enough to give my girl a quick hello?
Gloves: No, stick around, will ya?
Starchie: What are you so nervous about? She'll keep!
Barney: That's what you think. I can't take a chance. The fleet's in and she's defense-minded!

On a more serious note, the film makes mention of the Dachau concentration camp, perhaps one of the earliest references in a Hollywood film to the Nazis' worst atrocities. And while the plot contains a large number of holes as the Nazis oscillate between dangerous and dimwitted, Sherman maintains brisk pacing on the cheap, limiting the action to a few sets and several hide-and-seek set-pieces with conventional gunplay and fisticuffs.

Barney: I don't get it. I marry Annabelle and I spend my honeymoon with you.
Sunshine: Well, I can cook.

With Bogart injecting his confident swagger into every scene, this time emboldened by unscrupulous tendencies rather than personally-defined principles, All Through The Night is never less than watchable. Kaaren Verne is more than adequate as the damsel in distress who may or may not be part of the terrorist cell, and Conrad Veidt is as oily as bad guys come. The film features a large gathering of the Warner Bros. company of character actors, with Peter Lorre prominent as the the most cold-hearted plotter.

Leda [speaking to gathered reporters]: Well, I also feel it's about time someone knocked the Axis back on its heels.
Gloves: Excuse me, baby. What she means is, it's about time somebody knocked those heels back on their axis!

Any film that gets away with that line deserves some recognition.

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The Movies Of Peter Lorre

All movies starring Peter Lorre and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

M (1931)

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

All Through The Night (1942)

Casablanca (1942)

The Constant Nymph (1943)

Passage To Marseille (1944)

Beat The Devil (1953)

Silk Stockings (1957)

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Movie Review: Beat The Devil (1953)

A small story of greed and lust among a group of unsavoury characters, Beat The Devil sits out in the sun for too long, but is made tolerable by the presence of enough talent in the cast to overcome a sense of drift.

Four adventurers wait at a small Italian port town for a steamer to be repaired, so that they can travel to British East Africa. Through questionable means and using inside contacts, they plan to seize control of land rich in uranium. Three of the men appear to have shady pasts and criminal backgrounds: the fat leader Peterson (Robert Morley); the nervous O'Hara (Peter Lorre) and the thuggish Major Ross (Ivor Barnard). The fourth man is Billy Dannreuther (Humphrey Bogart), and he is the group's outsider, not friendly with the others but essential to the plan since he controls the corrupt official who will enable the land transaction. Billy's wife Maria (Gina Lollobrigida) is with him, but generally bored with her husband's antics.

Also at the port waiting for the same ship are the British husband and wife team of Harry and Gwendolen Chelm (Edward Underdown and Jennifer Jones). Maria is quickly enamoured by Harry, while Gwendolen falls hard for Billy. Peterson, O'Hara, and Ross don't like Billy getting involved with a new woman, and grow wary of the Chelms. Their suspicions are fed by Gwendolen's wild and ever-changing stories about Harry's background and the purpose of their trip. Eventually all six get on the steamer for a slow journey to Africa, and nothing on the trip goes as planned.

Peterson: You mean Mrs. Chelm is an unqualified liar?
Billy: Well, let's say she uses her imagination rather than her memory.

With a script apparently written on-set and day-by-day by director John Huston and Truman Capote, Beat The Devil emits the slightly off-putting whiff of a movie thrown together at the last minute, trading on star names and hoping for the best. The generally uninteresting characters sit around waiting for something to happen, as does the film. Stuck somewhere between a second-rate travelogue, an unconvincing romance, a clumsy comedy and an awkward attempt at recreating elements of The Maltese Falcon, Beat The Devil is a curiosity despite itself.

Gwendolyn: Harry, we must beware of these men. They are desperate characters.
Harry: What makes you say that ?
Gwendolyn: Not one of them looked at my legs!

After the initial six characters are set, which requires all of 15 minutes, Beat The Devil struggles through a solid hour of icky dalliances and amateurish scheming, burning time and money as everyone waits for the boat to be fixed. The slow-moving climax moves from sea to shipwreck to shore, with a painfully unfunny (was it meant to be?) excursion into an unnamed Arab country where all the characters get to experience local heavy-handed gendarme hospitality. Huston simply does not find any magic moments to brighten the film, his directing surprisingly bland, given the cast and the potential.

Billy (to Harry): The only thing standing between you and a watery grave is your wits, and that's not my idea of adequate protection.

But all is not lost. Beat The Devil boasts an admirable number of memorable lines, zingers delivered straight, perhaps intended as social commentary or outright comedy, but either way they help to keep the film watchable through the dead patches. The best lines may have little to do with the weak plot, but at least they keep a modicum of energy pumping against the prevailing lethargy.

Billy: I've got to have money. Doctor's orders are that I must have a lot of money, otherwise I become dull, listless and have trouble with my complexion.
Gwendolyn: But you're not like that now, and you haven't any money.
Billy: It's my expectations that hold me together.

And any movie boasting Bogart, Jones, Lollobrigida and Lorre is worth a look. Bogart tries hard to call on the ghosts of glorious roles from past movies, but his caustic charm flickers rather than shines. Jones is almost too perky, her character playing for comedy and almost leaning towards a plea for institutionalization, but she is plain fun to watch. Lollobrigida is the expected sultry European and Lorre is the typical nervous man with more to hide than his face is capable of concealing. Robert Morley lends heavy weight in support, the character of Peterson trying all too hard to reincarnate the fat man from The Maltese Falcon.

Beat The Devil is neither a hidden gem nor a lost classic, but survives as an odd film that could have been much better, but settles for not too bad.

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Movie Review: Passage To Marseille (1944)

Passage To Marseille is a heartfelt salute to the men and women of France fighting under the Free French banner against the Nazis during World War Two.

The movie engages with a unique and courageous and potentially disorenting flashback within a flashback within a flashback technique to essentially recount four linked stories. The film's style and structure prevent any of the chapters from being totally absorbing, but there is enough going on with the dedicated cast to maintain momentum, both backwards and forwards.

The main story is set at a camouflaged military air base in the English countryside, where Captain Freycinet (Claude Rains) oversees a Free French bomber squadron flying night missions to hit German targets. Jean Matrac (Humphrey Bogart) is a machine gunners on one of the bombers, and on the return flights he drops steel tubes containing messages to his wife and son, who live under occupation in the French countryside. Freycinet recounts Matrac's story to a visiting journalist.

In the first flashback, Freycinet is sailing on-board the Ville de Nancy, a small French merchant boat heading from Central America to Marseille, with the war just having started. Also on board is pompous French veteran Major Duval (Sydney Greenstreet), who wrongly believes that the Maginot line will stop any German attack on France. On the journey, the Ville de Nancy picks up five men spotted drifting on a ramshackle raft, including Matrac, Marius (Peter Lorre) and Petit (George Tobias).

The rescued men initially claim to be miners from Venezuela, but Duval suspects that they are convicts, and he is right. In a story told through the second flashback, the five men eventually admit to Freycinet they are escapees from the notorious French Guiana penal colony. Despite being convicted prisoners deported for life, they wish to return home and fight for France against the Germans, and are helped by a patriotic old timer to plan and execute their escape from the unforgiving jungle colony.

As the escape from French Guiana is unfolding, the third flashback reveals Matrac's pre-war background: he was an anti-establishment journalist writing for a small newspaper, highly critical of French politicians trying to appease Hitler. With the authorities wanting him silenced, he is framed and convicted of a murder he did not commit. Before his capture, he marries his sweetheart Paula (Michele Morgan), the woman who now receives the messages he drops from the sky.

Passage To Marseille does suffer from an uncharacteristically disinterested Bogart performance, and the movie does not even try to explain his lack of an attempt at a French accent. The romantic sub-plot between Matrac and Paula is sincere and well-intentioned, but is free of tension and occupies a limited amount of screen time, robbing Bogart of the relationship spark that he so effectively translates into rich drama in many of his best movies.

But Passage To Marseille is an otherwise powerful World War Two film. Produced when France was still under the Nazi boot, the story is a reminder that many Frenchmen kept up the fight and did not give up on securing freedom for their country. While the internal French resistance network has often been celebrated, French soldiers who fought a more traditional war with the Allied armies have featured less frequently on film.

The four stories are compact, and the transitions between them are handled seamlessly. Director Michael Curtiz keeps the time shifts linear, moving one step at a time sequentially backwards and then again forwards, the rational progression between timelines effective in maintaining coherence. The segment on the Ville de Nancy emerges as the core of the movie, bringing together all sides of France.

While Matrac and his fellow escapees are risking everything to take the fight to the Germans, Major Duval represents both the clueless officers underestimating the enemy and then the surrenderists all too quick to align themselves with the puppet Vichy government. When shooting erupts on the boat and a German fighter plane attacks, Matrac shows no mercy, in a scene deleted from some earlier versions of the film for its rather astonishing but honest brutality.

The reconvening of Curtiz, Bogart, Rains, Lorre and Greenstreet, as well as the use of flashbacks, forces a mention of Casablanca, but Passage To Marseille is a different kind of film, grittier, less romantic, and more concerned with the mechanics of war and the motivations of the men who decide to fight. Rather than the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Passage To Marseille is about the fierce patriotism most needed in the days of darkest oppression.

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Movie Review: Silk Stockings (1957)

Fred Astaire's final musical is a befitting exclamation mark to his film dancing career. A musical remake of Ninotchka (1939), Silk Stockings has humour, romance, colourful secondary characters, enough of a story to provide weight, and a luminous Cyd Charisse to help Astaire shine one last time.

In Paris, American film producer Steve Canfield (Astaire) has recruited Soviet music composer Peter Boroff (Wim Sonnefeld) to score his latest movie. This causes panic in the Soviet Union, where Boroff is perceived as a national treasure not to be associated with enemy Western influences. The authorities quickly dispatch three agents, Comrades Brankov (Peter Lorre), Bibinski and Ivanov to bring Boroff back home. But Canfield smoothly convinces the three agents to enjoy the Parisian life, corrupting them into a prolonged stay at a luxury hotel.

The horrified Soviets counter by sending their best operative, the incorruptible no-nonsense agent Nina Yoschenko (Charisse) to Paris, to retrieve Boroff and the three bungling Comrades. But Canfield is not to be easily dissuaded from his plans, and sets about the difficult task of seducing Nina, romancing her with his chivalry and the charming beauty of Paris.

Silk Stocking forgoes any of the special effects or camera tricks that had crept into popular musicals earlier in the 1950s, and just focuses on showcasing two magnificent dancers. Rouben Mamoulian gives both Astaire and Charisse plenty of opportunities to sparkle to the music of Cole Porter, and they reward him with performances of the highest calibre.

Charisse is at her prime in Silk Stockings, and once she enters the fray, she elevates the movie with a series of lusciously fluid performances. In her title tune ballet dance, Charisse no less than makes love to the camera, in a sensual awakening of what it means to be a woman rather than a comrade. In All Of You with Astaire, she demonstrates remarkably flowing movements in the plainest of communist dresses, and she matches him stride for stride (or is he matching her?) in the light hearted Fated To Be Mated. Back in Russia, Red Blues finds her leading a high energy number to bring life to grim housing compound.

At 58 years old, Astaire holds his own with dancing that is more smooth and supportive of Charisse than dynamic, but saves his best till last. The Ritz Roll and Rock simultaneously satirizes and acknowledges a seismic shift in the musical landscape with the emergence of something called Rock 'n Roll, Astaire recognizing that his type of music was coming to an end, and gracefully bowing out.

In support, Peter Lorre is the funniest of the three Soviet agents who quickly succumb to the elegant luxuries of Paris, and his other two cohorts (played by Jules Munshin and Joseph Buloff) bring robust and grizzled relief while contributing to the resolution of the romance across the Iron Curtain.

Silk Stockings marked the end of an era. The grand, light-hearted, gentlemanly and suave song and dance screen musical had run its course. If there had to be an end, Silk Stockings proved to be a fine denouement and final salute to one of Hollywood's golden genres.

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Movie Review: Casablanca (1942)

Casablanca may or may not be the best movie ever made, but it probably is the most perfect. Filled with memorable characters, rich scenes, an elaborate central locale, and sharp dialogue, and centred on a doomed love story set amidst a world war, Casablanca effortlessly delivers the pure magic of the movies.

With World War Two raging, Casablanca is a hot transit point for anyone traveling in or out of the conflict zone, and nominally ruled by the Vichy French government as represented by Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains). Nazi officials keep a close eye on everything and everyone, and exit visas to a safe haven are the most coveted prize.

Jaded Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) runs Rick's Café Américain, the place to mingle, illegally gamble and swing deals. He competes with the Blue Parrot cafe, run by his rival Signor Ferrari (Sydney Greenstreet). Two visas fortuitously fall into Rick's hands, just as his former love Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) enters his joint with husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), who is an essential leader of the underground movement fighting the Nazis. Passion reignites between Rick and Ilsa, but she is torn between helping her husband escape to fight another day, or pursuing the true love of her life.

A small movie made in a hurry with limited sets and a cast of Warner Bros regulars, Casablanca catches lightning in a bottle. A mix of wartime intrigue, soulful romance and thriller stocked with desperation and no shortage of danger, the film oozes eloquent magic in every scene. Against a backdrop of a global conflict blanketing the city with a thick fog of mistrust, director Michael Curtiz cleverly exploits the ambience and uses an economy of scenes to package the film into a breezy 102 minutes, all the important threads tied up, but many others left to the rich imagination of another day.

One of the most perfect casts ever assembled brings the unforgettable characters to life. Bogart excels as Rick, the owner of the busiest cafe in Casablanca, emotionally hiding out and pretending not to care for the duration of the war, but inexorably drawn into it when the lost love of his life suddenly re-emerges.

Yvonne (Rick's casual floozy): Where were you last night?
Rick: That's so long ago, I don't remember.
Yvonne: Will I see you tonight?
Rick: I never make plans that far ahead.

Bergman is simply luminous as Ilsa, torn between her past and present lovers, having to decide between two men, and between her personal passion and her life's most important duty. And finally Rains as Captain Renault, charming his way through the tightrope of maintaining the peace and doling out favours in a nest of supposedly neutral chaos, and waiting to see which side will emerge victorious from the ruins of war. Rains also gets to participate in many of the best dialogue exchanges in the movie.

Renault: And what in Heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?
Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Renault: The waters? What waters? We're in the desert.
Rick: I was misinformed.

Paul Henreid as Laszlo, Ilsa's husband and a leader of the French underground resistance, is billed along with Bogart and Bergman and ahead of Rains, but unfortunately, he is the weakest link in Casablanca. Whether due to the limitations of the role or the actor, Henreid almost comes across as more suitable for a silent movie. His wooden performance is not in the same league as the other three leading stars.

The depth of memorable secondary characters is part of Casablanca's enduring charm. Conrad Veidt as Major Strasser; Sydney Greenstreet as Signor Ferrari; Peter Lorre as Signor Ugarte; Dooley Wilson as Sam the pianist; and Joy Page as Annina, the Bulgaria refugee. None have too much screen time; nevertheless they all shine and make a deep and lasting impression in their few featured moments.

Renault (about Ugarte): I'm making out the report now. We haven't quite decided whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape.

Even further down the list, minor characters such as the waiters in Rick's Cafe, the pickpocket, and the assortment of desperate figures populating the corners of Casablanca linger in the memory.

In terms of locations, Rick's Cafe Americain is one of the most interesting places in movie history. Something is happening in every corner, and there is intrigue at every table, all the time. And if the main room of the cafe is not enough, the gambling den in the back is just as busy and even more entertaining. Adding depth to the exotic locations, Signor Ferrari's Blue Parrot cafe, Rick's main competition, is just as interesting, and much more ramshackle.

Renault: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.
Employee of Rick's: [hands Renault money] Your winnings, sir.

The script by Julius and Philip Epstein and Howard Koch is a masterpiece. Sharp, economical and funny, there is a classic line around every corner. The more famous lines are legendary. What is remarkable is that some of the less famous lines are just as good.

Michael Curtiz may have been the main Warner Bros. go-to guy to get the job done, and this proved to be a perfect fit for Casablanca. The flashback scenes with Rick and Ilsa in Paris are weak, but in the Casablanca locales, Curtiz adds clever and artistic touches without ever taking away from the urgency of the unfolding drama.

Renault (to the gathering police officers): Major Strasser has been shot.
[pause]
Renault: Round up the usual suspects.

A classic landmark in the history of movie-making, often imitated but rarely matched, Casablanca just gets better as time goes by.

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Movie Review: The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Dashiell Hammett's book reads like a screenplay, and director John Huston knew better than to tamper with brilliance. This movie version of The Maltese Falcon is a skillfully faithful adaptation of the story featuring a colourful group of ruthless back-stabbing crooks in pursuit of a precious treasure.

Detective Sam Spade finds himself in the middle of the muddle, and has to sort through the mess while keeping himself off the growing list of murder victims.

The strengths of the book are effectively translated to the screen. In a star-making role, Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade defines the 1940's private detective role, all cool under increasing pressure, manipulating diverse characters and cascading events to his advantage despite a shortage of complete information and an even more disadvantageous shortage of guns.

The core of the film is Spade matching wits with Kasper Gutman. Sydney Greenstreet creates one of the most memorable villains of the screen, a combination of faux-intellect, cold-blooded evil, and a really large stomach. Surrounding, complementing, and counterbalancing Greenstreet are the effeminate Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) and the too-tough-for-his-own-good Wilmer (Elisha Cook Jr.). They both add immeasurable depth to the texture of the film.

The weak spot of the movie, much as in the book, is Mary Astor as Brigid O'Shaughnessy. Astor, with her weird hair style and wide open eyes, cannot bring any depth or darkness to the unconvincing O'Shaughnessy as created by Hammett, and is simply not believable neither as a villainess nor as a seductress.

With a lot of the actual action and murder happening off-screen, and most of the character interaction taking place indoors and through sharp conversation, John Huston creates tightning tension and dynamic movement with his camera angles and framing. There is menace, danger and hidden intent behind every line of dialogue, and Huston, working from his own script, captures it all perfectly.

The Maltese Falcon movie, much like the bird at the centre of everyone's attention, is indeed the stuff that dreams are made of.

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