Nearly a decade after his haunting turn as a deranged murderer in Fritz Lang’s M, Peter Lorre lent his incomparable aura of insanity to another tense thriller, once again playing a mentally disturbed man who is convinced that the world has it in for him, and is irresistibly compelled to carry out heinous and violent acts.
Unlike his starring role in M, however, Lorre’s work here is limited to a few short scenes, the bulk of the tale dominated by the tribulations of a reporter named Mike Ward. After witnessing a murder, Mike helps land the accused man in jail. However, once a second murder occurs, again with Ward as the only witness, the police turn their suspicions on Mike, and force him to find a way to prove his innocence.
Though the wrongfully accused man thriller has been infused with greater suspense (Hitchcock’s terrific The 39 Steps, for one, was released five years earlier), Stranger incorporates some unique narrative touches, including a disturbing nightmare montage of the American legal system gone belly up (replete with sleeping jurors, an impatient-to-convict judge, and an apathetic defense attorney), and an extended interior monologue detailing just how paranoid Mike has become.
Above all, though, and despite his limited screen time, it is the presence of Peter Lorre that recommends this film—his disarmingly calm voice laced with madness; his lolling and asymmetrical eyes peering warily at new acquaintances—injecting a sinister, unnerving element to the proceedings.
by Thomas Scalzo | Source: TCM Broadcast
02 Jul 2008 8:43 AM | Submit Comment