James has now taken over the Greatest Scenes feature, in a hope that it can get back to being a weekly feature. It will probably run every Sunday again but to get us back in the groove, I thought I would put this up today…

To purely remember Peter Lorre as a sinister-looking supporting actor - an unsavoury opposite to Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon, or as the comic bumbler in the ‘Triumvirate of Terror’ alongside Vincent Price and Boris Karloff - would be doing the man a great disservice. Far from being a one-dimensional pudgy thug, Lorre was an immensely expressive actor who could convey not only scintillating creepiness but considerable character depth as well.

Take his role, perhaps his greatest, in M where plays a whistling child murderer. In this scene, Lorre’s Hans Beckert finds himself caight in a warehouse cellar, pleading his case before the vengeful mob that’s baying for his blood…

Are we creeped out or sympaphetic towards Lorre?

Can we really feel empathy for someone who was so unnervingly introduced as a twisted loner preying on innocent youngsters? As the on-trial Beckert mournfully tries to explain his compulsive psychological illness and the assembled vigilante court expose their own hypocrisy and reactionary fervour which are reflective to us on our own thoughts on morality, crime and punishment. All of this is achieved by Lorre’s outstanding acting and Fritz Lang’s fantastic direction and sublime editing sensibilities.

It’s amazing to think that such a bold film could come out of the 1930s, especially in light of the unstable political climate of Germany at the time (which eventually, with the rise of the Nazis, would see Lang and Lorre flee to America). Thought-provoking and unforgettable, the trial sequence towards the end of M resonates as the most potent part of this influential Expressionist movie.

Categories: Greatest Scenes, M