If you are like me, before you buy a book about film stars or filmmakers, you scan the Amazon reviews to see if readers think the author did serious research with first-hand interviews or simply cobbled the whole thing together from other people’s work or online material.
Have no fear with “The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre” by Stephen D. Youngkin. This is one of the most meticulously researched biographies I’ve read with interviews with just about anyone still living who knew Lorre. I could say we almost get too much information, but that would be unfair. This is a thoroughly edited work with none of those gob-smacking errors of spelling and grammar that detract from many movie star biographies (Charles Tranberg’s Robert Taylor anyone?)
The author traces Lorre’s early life and his impressive career on the pre-WW2 German stage. Almost his first film was Fritz Lang’s “M”, a role that defined his career in the same way Anthony Perkin’s was defined by “Psycho”.
Lorre, who was born a Jew, underwent a great change when he left Nazi persecution in Germany to go to America and Hollywood. I was surprised to learn that although he became well known, he had a patchy career in film in Hollywood, and never felt the sense of artistic achievement he enjoyed in Germany.
He was a small man, but was athletic in his younger days and surprisingly strong. “The Lost One” lets us know Lorre from the inside out. He had a drug habit, and brought his addiction with him to Hollywood.
He married three beautiful women, and broke up with each one, but remained friends – a fascinating man.
Lorre’s mentors in Germany, Fritz Lang and Berthold Brecht, also fled to the US. Brecht in particular seemed to have a moral hold over Lorre. This is dealt with at some length in the book, but Brecht leaves an impression of an embittered man who accepted the sanctuary of America and Hollywood, but never stopped complaining about what he thought were the lowbrow standards of the culture. He felt that Lorre had sold out.
Lorre seemed to be the opposite, although he decried his typecasting, he nonetheless embraced America.
I bought this book because of a fondness for Lorre’s films with Sydney Greenstreet, however other works are discussed at greater length, especially “The Lost One (Der Verlorene)”, his one and only directorial effort in post war Germany.
Although Youngkin’s scholarship is beyond reproach, one needs to be prepared for detailed analysis of Lorre's work in Germany and lots of Berthold Brecht. Lorre’s dissatisfaction with his career (making faces) is covered in what could only be described as exhausting detail.
As far as a portrait of the actor is concerned, this is no loose sketch; it’s more the equivalent of a large-scale work of photorealism. If you ever wondered what made Peter Lorre such an intriguing screen presence, this is the book that answers the question.
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at only 59 but looked much older due to poor health. A great
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2017Denise
Spannende Biographie eines fast schon vergessenen Schauspielers
Reviewed in Germany on June 4, 2013
