May 7
Island of Doomed Men (1940)
"I've been away for a long time. You should be very glad to see me."
"I hate the sight of you!"
"I know that. Lorraine, you have been in Mr. Smith's arms. Nothing like that must ever happen again. It embarrasses me. You're my wife and he's a murderer."
"And what are you?"
"I'm your husband."
#island of doomed men#1940#american cinema#charles barton#robert hardy andrews#peter lorre#rochelle hudson#robert wilcox#don beddoe#george e. stone#kenneth macdonald#charles middleton#stanley brown#earl gunn#trevor bardette#addison richards#bruce bennett#bernie breakston#richard fiske#a hokey crime thriller masquerading as a horror picture‚ with a very rapid set up and introduction to our hero‚ and a similarly rushed#feeling wrap up for the very ending. aside from a general nastiness in tone (complimentary) this would be an entirely forgettable b picture#that disappeared into the mass of cheap horror pictures every major studio was pumping out in this era (in some ways truly the golden age of#the genre‚ at least in terms of sheer volume); it would be forgettable‚ I say‚ were it not for one thing: Peter goddamn Lorre. an absolute#masterclass performance here in a film which surely didn't deserve it. his choices here are fascinating; there aren't many actors‚ and#certainly none of the other major horror stars of the era‚ that would have chosen to play the villainous diamond miner Danel the way Lorre#does. the obvious choice would be to go sneering and wicked; perhaps some might have gone for twisted sickly charm to juxtapose the evil#but Lorre does something brilliant and plays him utterly flat. an impassive‚ disinterested monster; a man so accustomed to the cruelty he#inflicts that it means nothing to him anymore. rolling his feline eyes and quietly delivering his lines without emotion‚ he wanders among#his prisoners and begs the viewer to wonder why they fear this non entity so much. but it works! it creates this mesmerising idea of a man#truly inhabiting the idea of the banality of evil. a chill little guy who has done unspeakable things. prime Peter L
