WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: The Face Behind the Mask 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:08.160 Hey, you welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind, it is November, 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:12.080 so we are celebrating November like a lot of film 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.520 fans out there. So this is our newar November episode 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.800 from last year. It is the nineteen forty one Peter 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:23.280 Lorie film The Face Behind the Mask. Let's jump right in. 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:33.600 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:39.440 Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:43.360 Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. In today's episode of 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:48.080 Weird House Cinema. We're getting in on the Near November festivities. 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.040 If you're not familiar with this, this is a yearly, 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:56.000 month long celebration of near cinema, a concept introduced in 0:00:56.040 --> 0:01:00.880 twenty ten by film critic Maria E. Gates. Film noir is, 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:03.160 of course, a turn that covers a lot of ground 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:07.760 and bleeds into a number of different subgenres and adjacent genres. 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.600 I mean it ultimately becomes just sort of a shade, 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:15.640 you know, and a stylistic flourish that may be employed 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:19.840 even just in key scenes in a particular picture, but 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:24.080 in its arguably truest form, we're talking about black and 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:29.840 white old Hollywood crime dramas, full of cynicism, amoral characters 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:34.680 and style, heavy dash of German expressionism, plenty of cigarette smoke. 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:38.800 Throw all that in and you're good to go. There's 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:41.399 also much to be said about this genre emerging out 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.959 of the Great Depression. Lots of moving parts, so you 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:47.720 can identify noir in everything from such films as The 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:52.400 Maltese Falcon from nineteen forty one nineteen forty two's Casablanca 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.560 to stuff like nineteen eighty twos Blade Runner and multiple 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:59.360 you know, neo noir films from the likes of the 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:03.840 Cohen Brothers and David Lynch. And we haven't really gotten 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.640 in on this Noirvember thing before. You know, I've seen it. 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:11.000 I've seen it celebrated at Videodrome, the rental store here 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:14.519 in Atlanta, I've seen it celebrated online in various places, 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.360 and you know, it feels right. November is a really 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:21.240 choice month for all of this, because wordplay aside, it's 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:24.200 a month of continued descent through fall and into winter. 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:28.840 It's a month often typified by things like elections or 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:32.720 corporate layoffs. It's a bleak time for bleak hearts, so 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:37.000 what better time than now to dive into the black 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:41.200 and white world of private detectives and professional criminals. So 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:43.960 what is today's movie? It is nineteen forty one's The 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:47.000 Face Behind the Mask, And yeah, it actually comes out 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:51.760 nine months before The Maltese Falcon, which is sometimes considered 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:54.760 the first big film noir picture, but it also ultimately 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:56.760 depends on how you slice it. You can also reach 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:59.520 back into the thirties for possible examples of forerunners in 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:01.840 the genre. And also, this is a picture that I'm 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:06.320 to understand wasn't actually viewed a lot after its initial release. 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:08.600 It's kind of built up a following over time. 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:12.680 Yeah, so your selection this week got me really thinking 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:16.000 about what is it that makes a movie film noir. 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:20.880 I don't really know exactly what the primary criteria are. 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:23.600 It's one of those things where it's defined by a 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:28.440 number of different sort of plot conventions and stylistic conventions. 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:31.400 And if a movie has a critical mass, if it 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:34.320 has enough of these different things in it, then it 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:36.560 starts to feel like noir. But I don't know what 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:39.520 the core things are. Though you mentioned a minute ago 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:43.560 The Maltese Falcon, the Humphrey Bogart movie and I feel 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.560 like that's kind of the prototype film noir, right, Like 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:48.480 that's or the archetype. I don't know which is the 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:52.000 right term there. It's like it's the type example that 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:55.480 you think of, or at least that I think of 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.440 for film noir. So it has a tough, cynical detective. 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:02.040 It has a lot of people running around chasing after money, 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:07.720 It has cynical crime themes. It has a maybe somewhat 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:12.000 gloomy outlook on human nature, but also has a sense 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:15.000 of humor, a kind of dark sense of humor. And 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:19.680 in fact, it has an actor in common with the 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.440 movie we're going to be talking about today, because a 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:26.080 major character actor in the Maltese Falcon is Peter Lourie 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:30.120 in the role of Joel Cairo, who is the main 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:32.760 character in the face behind the mask. So I would say, 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:35.839 almost to the same extent that I associate Humphrey Bogart 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.680 with noir, I also associate Peter Lourie with it. 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.280 That's right. If you're cooking film noir, either during this 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:47.839 time period or in later decades, Peter Lourie, or at 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:49.520 least the ghost of Peter Laurie, is very much on 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:53.000 the spice Rack, as is Humphrey Bogart, as are various 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.000 other elements. Like you can also throw in things that 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.039 are not president in this picture, such as the fem fatale. 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:02.359 It's very often an employed to some degree in a 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:05.000 noir picture. So there are, yeah, all these different things 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.640 that may or may not be added to the finished product. 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.279 But when you taste the soup, you know, ah, this 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:11.039 is film noir. 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:17.960 Yeah, cigarettes, fried eggs, black coffee, revolvers, Fedoras, trench coats. 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:20.360 That's what's going on here. And Peter Lourie is part 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:20.839 of the mix. 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.960 Yeah. So as far as weird House cinema selections go, 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:27.040 it's notable that this is our This is only our 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:31.400 fourth selection from the nineteen forties, following Doctor Cyclops, The 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.800 Beast with Five Fingers, and The Devil Bad. It's our 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:40.320 second picture directed by Robert Florey, and our third Peter 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.640 Lori picture. It's also one of our infrequent picks to 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:47.320 not feature a speculative element, though I would say it's 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:50.040 weird enough in its own way for our purposes. I 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:52.479 also want to stress that this film is also very 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:56.800 strongly a melodrama, so it's not subtle in its manipulation 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:58.800 of the heart strings. You know, it's a bit of 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:03.200 a morality play. Well, so it's yeah, it's a it's 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.080 a good picture. I was really pleased with. It is 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:07.640 one that's kind of been on my short list for 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:11.200 a long time. Often held up as one of Laurie's 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.800 best performances. A picture where he is the lead and 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.080 gets to bust out a number of his tools and 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:20.440 you know, not just be the villain or a side 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.240 villain or a side quirky character. He is the main 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:23.800 event here. 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.240 This, this really is a look at my range movie 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.200 for Peter Loriie. There are some scenes where he is 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:36.400 so wholesome and so precious, He's just cute, adorable, wonderful, 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.880 other scenes where he is the creepiest creep and he 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:41.920 gets to do both in the same film. 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:45.800 Yeah, So for like an absolute Peter Lourie picture, it's 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:48.560 like this and Mad Love or I think Neck and Neck. 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.200 You don't, they don't, But each film hit slightly different notes. 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:54.799 You know, you don't get the same array of Peter 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.080 Lourie in both films, but added together, I mean you 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:00.000 get to see so many different colors from him. 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:03.039 But you're also right in saying that this is not 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:05.919 a subtle film. I mean, this is not a film 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.000 where the drama takes place reading between the lines. It's 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:13.560 all on the lines here. So there are extremely overt 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:17.240 monologues in which the themes of the film are pretty 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:22.080 explicitly stated, and we get like swelling music while they're delivered, 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:25.600 and they're delivered in almost kind of a stage performance way. 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:29.160 You know, characters kind of borderline shout their lines and 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:33.160 they're full of overt passion. But if you know, if 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.080 you know that's what you're in for, it's not really 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:37.360 a bad thing. It's just a different way to tell 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:37.920 a story. 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.400 Yeah. Another point about this picture we'll keep coming back 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:44.480 to is that it's a pretty fast ride. This film's 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.280 only sixty nine minutes long, and I think it's the 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:50.080 rare weird house cinema selection where I have to say 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:52.040 I don't think it is long enough. I feel like 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:54.600 I needed a little bit more from it. I mean, 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:57.960 what we have is tremendous, but you know, I wanted 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:00.600 to see scenes that are alluded to but not shown 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:04.360 to us. And yeah, it doesn't have a lot of 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:09.080 time to even necessarily further explore some of the ideas 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:11.120 that it brings up, which you know isn't necessarily a 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:11.520 bad thing. 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:14.920 Many of the most pivotal scenes in the plot happen 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:18.520 off screen. They're like the big turning points are like 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:20.280 you see what's leading up to it, and then you 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:22.680 see the characters talking about it afterwards, but you don't 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:23.680 see the thing itself. 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:26.680 Yeah, but you know, so it's like Frank Herbert would 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:28.800 dig that. But it's like, it's not battle scenes that 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.160 are left out, you know, it's not like big budget 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.920 things that I don't know, you know, maybe it was 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:36.719 a budgetary decision to not show some of like the 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.640 key heists that become important later on, but you know, 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.840 they make a lot out of the time they have here. 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.720 Do you think they left out the safe cracking scene? 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:49.920 Like it was it cut for content that was just 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.199 like too spicy for audiences at the time. 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:54.760 I don't know, I really Yeah, we'll talk about when 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:56.040 we get to that point in the plot, but yeah, 0:08:56.040 --> 0:09:00.040 I really wanted to see this first big heist that 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.720 that Jagosh is involved in. But more on that in 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:03.920 a bit. Now. 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:06.240 I am, by no means an expert in film noir, 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:10.679 but I associate several different plot types with this genre. 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.400 The most common, I would say, is the private detective story. 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:16.920 You know, somebody shows up with a strange case for 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.520 a private detective, and the detective goes down the rabbit hole, 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:22.839 you know, figuring out all the twists and turns and 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.880 all that. Maltese Falcon is of that sort. But if 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.440 there is a second type of plot structure I most 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.440 associate with film noir, it is the plot that we 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.000 get in the face behind the mask, which is an 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:38.440 originally good hearted person is lured or forced into a 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:39.320 life of crime. 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:46.040 Yeah, fallen angel, breaking bad, yes, you know. Yeah. And 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:47.680 one of the interesting things about it is that this 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:52.199 is of course also an immigrant story, and so the 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.320 good person at the heart of this is someone who 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:59.640 is entering America for the first time and has all 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:03.960 these ideas and all these dreams, dreams that he has absorbed, 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:07.960 you know, from Afar, the American dream, and so his 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:12.440 fall is also about realizing the flaws and the American 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.720 dream and the things that you know, that he had 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.280 built up in his head that just aren't part of 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:19.040 the reality. 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:22.360 Yeah, that his hopes are sort of crash against the 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:27.120 rocks of reality and of circumstances beyond his control, and 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:30.000 that just happens over and over until he is forced 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:33.520 into becoming the gang story that he once feared. 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:37.000 Yeah, all right, Now, I don't have any trailer audio 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:38.760 for this one, but if you want a little dash 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:41.839 of the trailer audio, look up Joe Dante's Trailers from 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:44.640 Hell feature on it. It's pretty fun. It's just, you know, 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:48.480 Joe Dante talking a little bit about this picture and 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:52.400 then sharing some audio and video from the trailer. But 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:54.600 I couldn't find that trailer anywhere else for us to sample, 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:56.120 so I'll just say go ahead and check out what 0:10:56.240 --> 0:11:00.280 Joe Dante has to share about that trailer. Now you 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.280 might be wondering at this point, Hey, I haven't seen 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.840 Face behind the Mask. I'd like to before continuing on 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:10.720 with the episode. Well, fair enough. I support that. This one, however, 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:14.160 is not, to my knowledge, currently available in the US 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:17.480 on disc, but it is currently part of the streaming 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:21.160 options over at the Criterion channel. That's the streaming platform 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:24.200 and app brought to you by the Criterion Collection. The 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.800 Face behind the Mask is currently featured as part of 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:31.080 their Noir November Essentials collection. We don't champion a lot 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:32.960 of streaming options on stuff to blow your mind. But 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:36.280 the Criterion Channel is, in my unpaid four opinion, here 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.199 a great streaming option for film fans. You can try 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:40.800 it for free for a week, you know that sort 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:43.600 of thing. But you can watch everything from Brida Frankenstein 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:47.200 and Scanners to the Story of Ricky and Raising Arizona. 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:51.040 And they have some really tantalizing playlists of films, including 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:52.880 I was just looking at it this morning. There's one 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:56.320 that's just synth scores, so all sorts of cool electronic 0:11:56.360 --> 0:12:00.280 scores for the pictures selected. And then they have one 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.760 that's just hopping vampires, so it's like, I think it's 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.360 all just mister Vampire pictures. And of course we talked 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:09.200 about the first Mister Vampire film on the show a 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:09.800 while back. 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:13.520 Yes, also in my unpaid for opinion, I greatly enjoyed 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:17.319 the Criterion Channel, though I should issue a warning to 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:20.000 people because I was confused by this at first. You 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:24.040 can't assume just because a movie has a Criterion Collection 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:27.520 release that it will be featured streaming on the Criterion Channel. 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:30.960 Some movies have a disc from Criterion, but they're not 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:32.720 on there. But it's still a good channel. 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:34.839 Right, and likewise, there are plenty of pictures on there 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:37.640 that I don't think have discs on Criterion, but it's 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:39.920 just it's a great selection, and a number of weird 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.560 house cinema pictures are in there as of this recording. 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:54.840 All right, let's run through some of the people involved here. 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.720 The director is, of course Robert Florey, who lived nineteen 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:03.840 hundred through nineteen seventy nine. Industrial strength French American director 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:06.880 who worked from the twenties through the sixties, amassing one 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:09.720 hundred and eighteen credits and just really cranking out pictures 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:14.400 during the nineteen thirties. His early career was apparently more 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:18.160 avant garde expressionism, but he became one of these kind 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:21.760 of like cinematic workhorse types of guys from a purely 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.719 horror standpoint. He's perhaps best known for directing Murders in 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:27.319 the Rue Morgue in nineteen thirty two, based on the 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:32.160 Edgar Allen post story and starring Hungarian American film legend Lagosi, 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:36.960 as well as ape suit legend Charles Goemora. Also of 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:40.920 note was the noir film Daughter of Shanghai from thirty seven. 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:43.560 That one featured a female Chinese American elite in the 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:47.200 form of Anime Wong, another legendary name from a lot 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:51.760 of noir pictures, as well as Korean American actor Philip An. 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:56.720 Flori is also noted for having been the initial director 0:13:56.760 --> 0:14:00.760 on nineteen thirty one's Frankenstein with Lego we see attached 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:04.840 to play the monster during those early stages before Legosi 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:07.040 like leaving the picture because he didn't want to play 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.440 like this. You know what we might think of is 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:12.960 just like a killing machine Frankenstein monster. And you know, 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:15.720 of course Flories ends up being replaced by James Whale, 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.680 and we get the nineteen thirty one Frankenstein that we 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.040 all know and love. Florie later directed a lot of 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.760 TV and his last film credit is an episode film 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:27.960 or TV credit is an episode of the original Outer 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:32.560 Limits series titled Moonstone. He also did three Twilight Zone episodes. 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:35.640 All right, now, as far as the story and screenplay 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:38.680 here goes, there are four different names, some of which 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:42.400 I don't have a lot of information on. Apparently the 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:46.200 story is based on a radio play called Interim by 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.760 Thomas Edward O'Connell who lived nineteen fifteen through nineteen sixty one. 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.240 I couldn't find out much about this. The screenplay for 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:55.840 the film, however, was apparently very much put together with 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:59.320 Peter Lourie in mind for the lead. Let's see author 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:04.120 Levinson has a story credit note relation obviously to I 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:07.880 think there's a contemporary author Levinson who's involved with like 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:13.080 Apple computers or something different. Guy. There's Alan Vincent who 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:15.120 has a screenplay credit, who lived nineteen oh three through 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:18.880 nineteen seventy nine, actor and screenwriter who appeared in such 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:21.560 films as nineteen thirty three's Mystery of the Wax Museum. 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:25.280 This is his first screenplay credit. And then we also 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.840 have a screenplay credit for Paul Jericho, who lived nineteen 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:33.560 fifteen through nineteen ninety seven. OSCAR nominated American screenwriter here 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:36.920 for nineteen forty two's Tom Dick and Harry, who was 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:40.280 later blacklisted during the McCarthy era for his ties to 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:45.240 the Communist Party and alleged subversive content. During this time, though, 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.080 he produced the nineteen fifty four film Salt of the Earth, 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:50.840 which was a project that entailed a handful of other 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:54.280 blacklisted filmmakers and was well received and I think it 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.400 continues to be well received. Often worked uncredited or under 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:01.480 a pseudonym his other and it's also included nineteen sixty 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:04.360 two's All Night Long, All Right, But of course our 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:10.400 star playing Janosh Johnny Zabo, we have Peter Lorii. Yeah, 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:14.120 nineteen oh four through nineteen sixty four. Austro Hungarian actor 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:16.720 of Jewish descent who made it big in Fritz Lung's 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:20.440 Im Back in thirty one, sometimes singled out as an 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:23.920 early noir picture, are certainly very influential on noir films 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.400 to follow, before he ended up fleeing the rise of 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:31.360 anti Semitism under the Nazi regime. A legendary character actor who, 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:33.920 of course appeared in one of our first Weird House 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:38.760 Cinema episodes covering nineteen thirty five's Mad Love. He is 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:41.960 best remembered for his various roles in such noir mainstays 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:46.920 as Casablanca, Maltese Falcon thrillers like nineteen thirty four's The 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:49.560 Man Who Knew Too Much, as well as such horror 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:52.280 films as nineteen sixty three as The Raven, and even 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:54.800 such big budget productions as nineteen fifty four to twenty 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.680 thousand Leagues under the Sea. He wrote and directed a 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:01.440 single film, nineteen fifty one's the Lost One, and he 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:04.320 was technically the first actor to play a Bond villain, 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:08.160 appearing in the nineteen fifty four TV adaptation of Casino Royale. 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:11.360 This is the Thing that was an adaptation of Casino 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:16.320 Royale that had Barry Nelson as James Bond. Barry Nelson 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.199 is the guy who plays the hotel manager at the 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:22.600 beginning of the shining. He's like the guy hiring Jack Nicholson. 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:25.520 This is back when James Bond was played by an 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.120 American and presented as an American character. 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:33.520 Oh that's so good, But man, I would watch Peter 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:35.280 Laurie as La Chief that that'd be good. 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:39.960 Yeah, yeah, I'm whatever else is going on, Yeah yeah, 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.639 I mean Peter Laurie is such an intriguing icon, you know, 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:48.040 like iconic in ways that are hard to overstress, you know, 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.359 like he becomes this like you go ack and you 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:52.880 watch old Bugs Bunny cartoons and they'll have a Peter 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:57.680 louri character. I think plenty of people still like doing 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:00.320 like if you have I have a Dungeons and Waggin's 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:02.840 character that uses a Peter Lorrie voice. I feel like 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:05.320 a lot of other people haven't leave even Dungeon Masters 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.320 have probably done some version of a Peter Lourie voice 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.240 at some point. You know, he's just he's that iconic. 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:15.080 Yeah, he's so iconic that my Christoph Lambert voice is 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:16.639 actually a Peter Lorrie voice. 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:21.240 Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he's just tremendous, you know. And 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:25.479 he was frequently typecast as sinister foreigners, and his career 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:30.359 has some real ups and downs, absolutely, but especially during 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:34.320 his prime here, he's always there's always something about his performance. 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.720 It's a treat. And this is a film much like Madlove, 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:40.119 where we get to enjoy him as the star of 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:42.160 the picture. He gets to play a lot of different 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:45.679 notes in his performance that we don't otherwise get to experience. 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:48.960 I want to point out too, that he was thirty 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:52.520 six when they filmed this, and he looks thirty six. 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:55.120 But there are different points where they would call him 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:57.959 like kid or are they talking about him as if 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:00.840 he's like this young boy who just in America. It's 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:06.119 like he's clearly a grown man, but fair enough. 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:08.880 Oh yeah, I don't know. Early in the film, he's 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:11.119 so full of hope. He almost has a kind of 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:12.200 newborn quality. 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:15.680 Yeah, I mean, he is totally bought into the American 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:19.000 mythology that he's been presented with, and yeah, it's just 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:23.000 overflowing with optimism and it is a bit naive, as 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:25.800 we'll discuss, all right. So that's Peter Laurie. More on 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:29.399 his performance as we proceed. The love interest here, the 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:33.840 eventual blind love interest for our protagonist is the character 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.760 Helen Williams, played by Evelyn Keyes who lived nineteen sixteen 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:40.560 through two thousand and eight. She was an American actress 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:43.439 who played supporting roles in some pretty big films, including 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:46.560 nineteen thirty nine's Gone with the Wind and nineteen fifty 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:50.000 five's The Seven Year Itch. Other credits include nineteen fifty 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:53.439 one's The Prowler and then much later in her career, 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:57.359 Larry Cohen's A Return to Salem's Lot in nineteen eighty seven. 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:00.480 So we were just mentioning there's a part of the 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:04.960 movie where where Peter Lourie is full of hope and optimism, 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:08.679 but the character of Helen appears later in the film 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:11.359 after all of Peter Laurie's hope and optimism is gone, 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.879 and she's sort of like the energy beat. She's like 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:19.520 an energy weapon of happiness, just blasting into the film 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:23.720 from orbit, and you know what it's like. She really 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:26.960 does completely change the tone of the movie when she appears. 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:29.359 But of course, you know, this is film noir, so 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:31.960 they're gonna have to play this romance for tragedy ultimately. 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:36.040 Yeah. Yeah, I mean she's great in this. She's delightful, 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:41.400 you know, totally buy into this, this light of optimism 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:45.000 you know that she brings. But also like obviously she's 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:48.760 a doomed angel, you know, like, yeah, you know where 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:52.080 this is going. Too good for this world, all right. 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:56.760 We also have Don Beto playing Lieutenant James Jim O'Hara. 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:00.600 He lived nineteen oh three through nineteen ninety one. Yeah, 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:03.840 he's a sympathetic New York police officer who helps Janosher 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:07.440 early on. Played by an American character actor whose credits 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:09.560 include nineteen fifty five Is the Night of the Hunter 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.760 and nineteen forty six is The Best Years of Our Lives. 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:17.159 He performed on Broadway prior to this movie and prior 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:21.640 to his going into film and television. According to Joe Dante, 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:24.280 he's an actor known for a lot of milk toast rolls, 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:27.520 but he thinks this is one of his best performances, 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:32.200 and then we have the character of Dinky. Dinky. This 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:34.320 is the character that really surprised me because I came 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:37.600 into this expecting the great Peter Lorrie performance. But I 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:42.040 really think George E. Stone is terrific here as Dinky, 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:44.919 the criminal with a heart of gold. 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:48.200 He's the guy who he just can't he can't stop 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:50.920 doing crime, but he's actually a really nice guy. 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:54.159 Yeah, he didn't want to do crimes, but like, things 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:57.040 keep happening and he keeps falling back down the ladder, 0:21:57.400 --> 0:22:01.040 and then he has no choice, you know. Yeah. Stone 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:03.920 lived nineteen oh three through nineteen sixty seven. Published born 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:08.159 American actor of vaudeville, Broadway, film, and TV. Played a 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:12.560 lot of scrappy Prohibition era New York characters often described 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:16.200 as runyon esque. This is not really terminology I was 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:19.320 familiar with, but this is a reference to the writings 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:23.360 of author Damon Runyon, who invoked a lot of colorful 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:25.560 New York City slang in his writings. 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:28.560 Oh yeah, so like when we very first meet Dinky, 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:31.119 he comes out of the shadows to pick up the 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.560 wallet that was dropped by like a wealthy you know, 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:38.320