WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: The Face Behind the Mask 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:06.760 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:13.039 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:15.840 This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:19.560 In today's episode of Weird House Cinema. We're getting in 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:23.920 on the Noir November festivities. If you're not familiar with this, 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:28.360 this is a yearly, month long celebration of noir cinema, 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:32.720 a concept introduced in twenty ten by film critic Maria E. 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:33.320 Gates. 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:36.519 Film noir is, of course, a turn that covers a 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:39.479 lot of ground and bleeds into a number of different 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:44.640 subgenres and adjacent genres. I mean it ultimately becomes just 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:48.760 sort of a shade, you know, and a stylistic flourish 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:51.720 that may be employed even just in key scenes in 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:56.440 a particular picture. But in its arguably truest form, we're 0:00:56.440 --> 0:01:01.120 talking about black and white old Hollywood. I'm dramas full 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:07.200 of cynicism, amoral characters and style, heavy dash of German expressionism, 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:11.399 plenty of cigarette smoke. Throw all that in and you're 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:14.280 good to go. There's also much to be said about 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.720 this genre emerging out of the Great Depression. Lots of 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:21.120 moving parts, so you can identify noir in everything from 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.000 such films as The Maltese Falcon from nineteen forty one 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:28.600 nineteen forty two's Casablanca to stuff like nineteen eighty two's 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:33.320 Blade Runner and multiple neo noir films from the likes 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:37.559 of the Cohen Brothers and David Lynch. And we haven't 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:40.240 really gotten in on this Noirvember thing before. You know, 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.960 I've seen it. I've seen it celebrated at Videodrome, the 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.280 rental store here in Atlanta, I've seen it celebrated online 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:50.960 in various places, and you know, it feels right. November 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:53.480 is a really choice month for all of this, because 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:57.600 wordplay aside, it's a month of continued descent through fall 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:01.240 and into winter. It's a month often deified by things 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:05.640 like elections or corporate layoffs. It's a bleak time for 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:10.120 bleak hearts. So what better time than now to dive 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:13.560 into the black and white world of private detectives and 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:17.040 professional criminals. So what is today's movie? It is nineteen 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.320 forty one's The Face Behind the Mask, And yeah, it 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:25.040 actually comes out nine months before The Maltese Falcon, which 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.080 is sometimes considered the first big film noir picture. But 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:30.079 it also ultimately depends on how you slice it. You 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:32.920 can also reach back into the thirties for possible examples 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.240 of forerunners in the genre. And also, this is a 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:38.760 picture that I'm to understand wasn't actually viewed a lot 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:41.720 after its initial release. It's kind of built up a 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:42.800 following over time. 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:46.840 Yeah, so your selection this week got me really thinking 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:50.160 about what is it that makes a movie film noir. 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:55.040 I don't really know exactly what the primary criteria are. 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:57.760 It's one of those things where it's defined by a 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:02.560 number of different sort of plot conventions and stylistic conventions. 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.560 And if a movie has a critical mass, if it 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:08.480 has enough of these different things in it, then it 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:10.680 starts to feel like noir. But I don't know what 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:13.679 the core things are though you mentioned a minute ago 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:17.679 the Maltese Falcon, the Humphrey Bogart movie, and I feel 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.720 like that's kind of the prototype film noir, right, Like 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:22.639 that's or the archetype. I don't know which is the 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:26.160 right term there. It's like it's the type example that 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:29.640 you think of, or at least that I think of 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:32.600 for film noir. So it has a tough, cynical detective, 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.200 it has a lot of people running around chasing after money. 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:41.880 It has cynical crime themes. It has a maybe somewhat 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:46.160 gloomy outlook on human nature, but also has a sense 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.160 of humor, a kind of dark sense of humor. And 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:53.840 in fact, it has an actor in common with the 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:56.600 movie we're going to be talking about today, because a 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.960 major character actor in The Maltese Falcon is Peter Laura 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:04.280 in the role of Joel Cairo, who is the main 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:06.920 character in the face behind the mask. So I would say, 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.000 almost to the same extent that I associate Humphrey Bogart 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.840 with noir, I also associate Peter Laurie with it. 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:13.560 That's right. 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:17.279 If you're cooking film noir, either during this time period 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:22.240 or in later decades, Peter Lourie, or at least the 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:24.360 ghost of Peter Laurie, is very much on the spice rack, 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:27.960 as is Humphrey Bogart, as are various other elements. Like 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:29.920 you can also throw in things that are not president 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.960 in this picture, such as the fem fatale is very 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:37.520 often employed to some degree in a noir picture. So 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:39.640 there are yea all these different things that may or 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.040 may not be added to the finished product. But when 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.200 you taste the soup, you know, Ah, this is film noir. 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:52.120 Yeah, cigarettes, fried eggs, black coffee, revolvers, Fedoras, trench coats. 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:54.480 That's what's going on here, and Peter Laurie is part 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:55.000 of the mix. 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:56.039 Yeah. 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.400 So as far as weird house cinema selections go, it's 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:01.679 notable that this is our This is only our fourth 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:05.919 selection from the nineteen forties, following Doctor Cyclops, The Beast 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:09.440 with Five Fingers, and The Devil Bat. It's our second 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:15.360 picture directed by Robert Florey and our third Peter Lorii picture. 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:18.560 It's also one of our infrequent picks to not feature 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.960 a speculative element, though I would say it's weird enough 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:24.600 in its own way for our purposes. I also want 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:28.839 to stress that this film is also very strongly a melodrama, 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:32.080 so it's not subtle in its manipulation of the heart strings. 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:32.400 You know. 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.760 It's a bit of a morality play as well. So 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:40.000 it's Yeah, it's a good picture. I was really pleased with. 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:41.720 It's one that's kind of been on my short list 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:44.800 for a long time. Often held up as one of 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:48.480 Laurie's best performances, a picture where he is the lead 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.039 and gets to bust out a number of his tools, 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:54.240 and you know, not just be the villain or a 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:57.200 side villain or a side quirky character. He is the 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:57.960 main event here. 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.480 This really is a look at my range movie for 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.800 Peter Lourie. There are some scenes where he is so 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:11.560 wholesome and so precious, He's just cute, adorable, wonderful, other 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.320 scenes where he is the creepiest creep and he gets 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.040 to do both in the same film. 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.960 Yeah, so for like an absolute Peter LORII picture, it's 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.720 like this and Mad Love or I think Neck and Neck. 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.880 They don't, but each film hit slightly different notes. You know, 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.599 you don't get the same array of Peter Lourie in 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.520 both films, but added together, I mean, you get to 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:34.240 see so many different colors from him. 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:37.200 But you're also right in saying that this is not 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.040 a subtle film. I mean, this is not a film 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:43.160 where the drama takes place reading between the lines. It's 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:47.680 all on the lines here. So there are extremely overt 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:51.400 monologues in which the themes of the film are pretty 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:56.240 explicitly stated, and we get like swelling music while they're delivered, 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.719 and they're delivered in almost kind of a stage performance way, 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:04.039 characters kind of borderline shout their lines and they're full 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:07.680 of overt passion. But if you know, if you know 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:10.000 that's what you're in for, it's not really a bad thing. 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:12.080 It's just a different way to tell a story. 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:12.640 Yeah. 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:15.680 Another point about this picture we'll keep coming back to 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:18.840 is that it's a pretty fast ride. This film's only 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:21.840 sixty nine minutes long, and I think it's the rare 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.360 weird house cinema selection where I have to say I 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.080 don't think it is long enough. I feel like I 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:28.920 needed a little bit more from it. I mean, what 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:32.160 we have is tremendous, but you know, I wanted to 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:35.200 see scenes that are alluded to but not shown to us. 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:38.880 And yeah, it doesn't have a lot of time to 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:43.480 even necessarily further explore some of the ideas that it 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:45.680 brings up, which you know isn't necessarily a bad thing. 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:49.080 Many of the most pivotal scenes in the plot happen 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.680 off screen. They're like the big turning points are like 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:54.440 you see what's leading up to it, and then you 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:56.840 see the characters talking about it afterwards, but you don't 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:57.840 see the thing itself. 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:00.800 Yeah, but you know, so it's like Frank Herbert would 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:02.960 dig that. But it's like, it's not battle scenes that 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:05.320 are left out, you know, it's not like big budget 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.080 things that I don't know, you know, maybe it was 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.200 a budgetary decision to not show someone like the key 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:16.120 heists that become important later on, but you know, they 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.000 make a lot out of the time they have here. 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:22.040 Do you think they left out the safe cracking scene? Like, 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:24.520 was it cut for content that was just like too 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:26.360 spicy for audiences at the time. 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:28.920 I don't know, I really yeah, we'll talk about when 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:30.200 we get to that point in the plot, but yeah, 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:34.120 I really wanted to see this first big heist that 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:36.839 that Janosh is involved in. But more on that in 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:37.160 a bit. 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:38.080 Now. 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:40.400 I am, by no means an expert in film noir, 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:44.840 but I associate several different plot types with this genre. 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:48.560 The most common, I would say is the private detective story. 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.080 You know, somebody shows up with a strange case for 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:54.680 a private detective and the detective goes down the rabbit hole, 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.000 you know, figuring out all the twists and turns and 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:00.080 all that. Multice falcon is of that sort. But if 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.600 there is a second type of plot structure I most 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:05.600 associate with film noir. It is the plot that we 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:08.160 get in the face behind the mask, which is an 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:12.600 originally good hearted person is lured or forced into a 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:13.480 life of crime. 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:18.040 Yeah, fallen angel, breaking bad, Yes, you know. 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:19.040 Yeah. 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.720 And one of the interesting things about it is that 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.240 this is of course also an immigrant story. And so 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:29.200 the good person at the heart of this is someone 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:33.640 who is entering America for the first time and has 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.440 all these big ideas and all these dreams, dreams that 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:40.520 he has absorbed, you know, from afar, the American dream, 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:45.960 and so his fall is also about realizing the flaws 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:49.480 in the American dream and the things that you know, 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:51.160 that he had built up in his head that just 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:53.199 aren't part of the reality. 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:56.520 Yeah, that his hopes are sort of crash against the 0:09:56.600 --> 0:10:01.280 rocks of reality and of circumstances beyond his control. And 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.160 that just happens over and over until he is forced 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:07.679 into becoming the gang story that he once feared. 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:09.040 Yeah. 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:11.280 All right, Now I don't have any trailer audio for 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:13.000 this one, but if you want a little dash of 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:16.200 the trailer audio, look up Joe Dante's Trailers from Hell 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:18.840 feature on it. It's pretty fun. It's just you know, 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:22.640 Joe Dante talking a little bit about this picture and 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:26.559 then sharing some audio and video from the trailer. But 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:28.760 I couldn't find that trailer anywhere else for us to sample, 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:30.280 so I'll just say go ahead and check out what 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:34.440 Joe Dante has to share about that trailer. Now you 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:36.440 might be wondering at this point, Hey, I haven't seen 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.000 Face Behind the Mask. I'd like to before continuing on 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:44.880 with the episode. Well, fair enough. I support that. This one, however, 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:48.320 is not, to my knowledge, currently available in the US 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.640 on disc, but it is currently part of the streaming 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:55.280 options over at the Criterion Channel. That's the streaming platform 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.320 and app brought to you by the Criterion Collection. The 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:00.960 Face behind the Mask is currently featured as part of 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:05.240 their Noir November Essentials collection. We don't champion a lot 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:07.120 of streaming options on stuff to blow your mind, but 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.440 the Criterion Channel is, in my unpaid four opinion, here 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:13.160 a great streaming option for film fans. So you can 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:14.640 try it for free for a week, you know that 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:17.000 sort of thing. But you can watch everything from Brida 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:21.360 Frankenstein and Scanners to the story of Ricky and Raising Arizona, 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:25.200 and they have some really tantalizing playlists of films, including 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:27.040 I was just looking at it this morning. There's one 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:30.480 that's just synth scores, so all sorts of cool electronic 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:34.440 scores for the pictures selected. And then they have one 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:36.920 that's just hopping vampires. So it's like, I think it's 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:39.520 all just mister Vampire pictures. And of course we talked 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:43.360 about the first Mister Vampire film on the show a 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:44.000 while back. 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.679 Yes, also, in my unpaid for opinion, I greatly enjoyed 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:51.480 the Criterion Channel, though I should issue a warning to 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.160 people because I was confused by this at first. You 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:58.199 can't assume just because a movie has a Criterion collection 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:01.679 release that it will be featured streaming on the Criterion Channel. 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:05.120 Some movies have a disc from Criterion, but they're not 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:06.880 on there. But it's still a good channel. 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:09.000 Right, And likewise, there are plenty of pictures on there 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:11.800 that I don't think have discs on Criterion. But it's 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:14.080 just it's a great selection, and a number of weird 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.720 house cinema pictures are in there as of this recording. 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:29.079 All right, let's run through some of the people involved here. 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.880 The director is, of course Robert Florey, who have nineteen 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:38.000 hundred through nineteen seventy nine. Industrial strength French American director 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:41.000 who worked from the twenties through the sixties, amassing one 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:43.880 hundred and eighteen credits and just really cranking out pictures 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:48.560 during the nineteen thirties. His early career was apparently more 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:52.320 avant garde expressionism, but he became one of these kind 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:55.920 of like cinematic workhorse types of guys. From a purely 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:58.880 horror standpoint. He's perhaps best known for directing Murders in 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:01.800 the Room Morgue nineteen thirty two, based on the Edgar 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:06.320 Allen post story and starring Hungarian American film legend Lagosi, 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:11.080 as well as ape suit legend Charles Gomora. Also of 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:15.080 note was the noir film Daughter of Shanghai from thirty seven. 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:17.720 That one featured a female Chinese American elite in the 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:21.360 form of Anime Wong, another legendary name from a lot 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:25.800 of noir pictures, as well as Korean American actor Philip 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:30.360 an Flori is also noted for having been the initial 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:35.000 director on nineteen thirty one's Frankenstein, with Lugosi attached to 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:39.240 play the monster during those early stages, before Legosi like 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:41.440 leaving the picture because he didn't want to play like this. 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:43.920 You know, what we might think of is just like 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:47.440 a killing machine Frankenstein monster, and you know, of course 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.520 Flores ends up being replaced by James Whale, and we'd 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.120 get the nineteen thirty one Frankenstein that we all know 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:56.760 and love. Flori later directed a lot of TV, and 0:13:56.800 --> 0:14:00.640 his last film credit as an episode. Our TV credit 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:04.439 is an episode of the original Outer Limits series titled Moonstone. 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:08.120 He also did three Twilight Zone episodes. All right, now, 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.360 as far as the story and screenplay here goes, there 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:13.160 are four different names, some of which I don't have 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:17.880 a lot of information on. Apparently the story is based 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:21.600 on a radio play called Interim by Thomas Edward O'Connell, 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.840 who live nineteen fifteen through nineteen sixty one. I couldn't 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:28.120 find out much about this. The screenplay for the film, however, 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.040 was apparently very much put together with Peter Lourie in 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:35.360 mind for the lead. Let's see, author Levinson has a 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.800 story credit note relation obviously to I think there's a 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:43.760 contemporary author Levinson who's involved with like Apple computers or 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:44.680 something different. 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:44.960 Guy. 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.520 There's Alan Vincent who has a screenplay credit, who lived 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:51.840 nineteen oh three through nineteen seventy nine actor and screenwriter 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:54.760 who appeared in such films as nineteen thirty three's Mystery 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.160 of the Wax Museum. This is his first screenplay credit, 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:00.600 and then we also have a screen play credit for 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:05.360 Paul Jericho, who lived nineteen fifteen through nineteen ninety seven. 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:09.560 Oscar nominated American screenwriter here for nineteen forty two's Tom 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:13.120 Dick and Harry, who was later blacklisted during the McCarthy 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:16.200 era for his ties to the Communist Party and alleged 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:20.400 subversive content. During this time, though, he produced the nineteen 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.240 fifty four film Salt of the Earth, which was a 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:26.800 project that entailed a handful of other blacklisted filmmakers and 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:29.400 was well received, and I think it continues to be 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:33.680 well received. Often worked uncredited or under a pseudonym. His 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:36.720 other credits also include nineteen sixty twos All Night Long, 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:42.080 All Right, but of course our star playing Janosh Johnny Zabo. 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:45.880 We have Peter Lourie Yeah, nineteen oh four through nineteen 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:49.600 sixty four, Austro Hungarian actor of Jewish descent who made 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:52.480 it big in Fritz Lung's im Back in thirty one, 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.240 sometimes singled out as an early noir picture are certainly 0:15:56.280 --> 0:16:00.480 very influential on noir films to follow, before he ended 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.480 up fleeing the rise of anti Semitism under the Nazi regime. 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.840 A legendary character actor who of course appeared in one 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:10.320 of our first Weird House Cinema episodes, covering nineteen thirty 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:14.320 five's Mad Love, he is best remembered for his various 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:19.400 roles in such noir mainstays as Casablanca, Maltese falcon thrillers 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.160 like nineteen thirty four's The Man Who Knew Too Much, 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.320 as well as such horror films as nineteen sixty three's 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:28.200 The Raven and even such big budget productions as nineteen 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:30.920 fifty four to twenty thousand Leagues under the Sea. He 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:33.720 wrote and directed a single film, nineteen fifty one's The 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:37.520 Lost One, and he was technically the first actor to 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.200 play a Bond villain, appearing in the nineteen fifty four 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:42.360 TV adaptation of Casino Royale. 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:45.520 This is the Thing That was an adaptation of Casino 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:50.480 Royale that had Barry Nelson as James Bond. Barry Nelson 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.360 is the guy who plays the hotel manager at the 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:56.760 beginning of the Shining. He's like the guy hiring Jack Nicholson. 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.640 This is back when James Bond was played by an 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.280 America and present it as an American character. 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:05.480 Oh that's so good. 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.600 But man, I would watch Peter Laurie as La Chief 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:09.440 that that'd be good. 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:11.440 Yeah, yeah, I'm whatever else is. 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:15.520 Going on, Yeah yeah, I mean Peter Laurie is such 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:19.560 an intriguing icon, you know, like iconic in ways that 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:23.359 are hard to overstress, you know, like he becomes this 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:25.440 like you go ack and you watch old Bugs Bunny 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:29.160 cartoons and they'll have a Peter Lourie character. I think 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:32.800 plenty of people still like doing, Like if you have 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:35.320 I have a Dungeons and Dragon's character that uses a 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.600 Peter Loriie voice. I feel like a lot of other 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.639 people haven't leave. Even dungeon masters have probably done some 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:43.280 version of a Peter Lourie voice at some point. You know, 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:45.399 he's just he's that iconic. 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:49.240 Yeah, he's so iconic that my Christoph Lambert voice is 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:50.760 actually a Peter Lorrie voice. 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:55.399 Yeah yeah, I mean, he's just tremendous, you know, And 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:58.560 he was. He was frequently typecast the Sinister Foreigners, and 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:02.879 his career has some real ups and downs absolutely, but 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.680 especially during his prime here, he's always there's always something 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:08.520 about his performance. 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:09.480 It's a treat. 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:12.480 And this is a film much like Madlove, where we 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:14.760 get to enjoy him as the star of the picture. 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:17.080 He gets to play a lot of different notes in 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:21.280 his performance that we don't otherwise get to experience. I 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:23.359 want to point out too, that he was thirty six 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:27.119 when they filmed this, and he looks thirty six. But 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:29.680 there are different points where they would call him like kid. 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:32.600 Are they talking about him as if he's like this 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:35.359 young boy who just arrived in America. It's like he's 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:40.280 clearly a grown man, but fair enough. 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:43.000 Oh yeah, I don't know. Early in the film, he's 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.240 so full of hope. He almost has a kind of 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:46.360 newborn quality. 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:47.160 Yeah. 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:50.480 I mean he is totally bought into the American mythology 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:54.280 that he's been presented with. And yeah, it's just overflowing 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.719 with optimism and it is a bit naive, as we'll discuss, 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:00.760 all right. So that's Peter Laurie more his performance as 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:04.800 we proceed. The love interest here, the eventual blind love 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:09.159 interest for our protagonist is the character Helen Williams played 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.600 by Evelyn Keys, who lived nineteen sixteen through two thousand 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:15.800 and eight. She was an American actress who played supporting 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:18.520 roles in some pretty big films, including nineteen thirty nine's 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:21.520 Gone with the Wind and nineteen fifty five's The Seven 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:25.000 Year Itch. Other credits include nineteen fifty one's The Prowler 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:29.000 and then much later in her career, Larry Cohen's A 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:31.520 Return to Salem's Lot in nineteen eighty seven. 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:34.600 So we were just mentioning there's a part of the 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:39.120 movie where where Peter Lourie is full of hope and optimism, 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:42.840 but the character of Helen appears later in the film 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:45.520 after all of Peter Laurie's hope and optimism is gone, 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:49.040 and she's sort of like the energy beat. She's like 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:53.639 an energy weapon of happiness just blasting into the film 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:57.880 from orbit, and you know what it's like. She really 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:01.160 does completely change the tone of the movie when she appears. 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:03.520 But of course, you know, this is film noir, so 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:06.119 they're going to have to play this romance for tragedy ultimately. 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:06.720 Yeah. 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:10.119 Yeah, I mean, she's she's great in this. She's delightful, 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:15.560 you know, totally buy into this this light of optimism. 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:19.160 You know that she brings, but also like obviously she's 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:23.120 a doomed angel, you know, like, yeah, you know where. 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:26.240 This is going? Too good for this world? All right. 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:30.920 We also have Don Bedo playing Lieutenant James Jim O'Hara. 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:34.760 He lived nineteen oh three through nineteen ninety one. Yeah, 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:37.680 he's a sympathetic New York police officer who helps jan 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:41.280 o'sher early on. Played by an American character actor whose 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:43.359 credits include nineteen fifty five is the Night of the 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:46.280 Hunter and nineteen forty six is the Best Years of 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:50.040 Our Lives. He performed on Broadway prior to this movie 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:55.000 and prior to his going into film and television. According 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:57.360 to Joe Dante, he's an actor known for a lot 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:00.320 of milk toast roles, but he thinks this is one 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:03.320 of his best performances. And then we have the character 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:03.840 of Dinky. 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:05.119 Dinky. 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:08.240 This is the character that really surprised me because I 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:11.520 came into this expecting a great Peter Lorrie performance, but 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:16.199 I really think George E. Stone is terrific here as Dinky, 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.080 the criminal with a heart of gold. 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:22.359 He's the guy who he just can't he can't stop 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:25.080 doing crime, but he's actually a really nice guy. 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:28.320 Yeah, he doesn't want to do crimes, but like, things 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:31.199 keep happening and he keeps falling back down the ladder, 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:33.240 and then he has no choice, you know. 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:34.840