Island of Doomed Men

Nachdem er seinen Fox-Vertrag als populärer Mr. Moto los war, schlüpfte Peter Lorre in die Rolle des sadistischen Leiters einer abgeschiedenen Strafkolonie. Mit ISLAND OF DOOMED MEN verstieß Columbia hart gegen den Hays Code: Die perversen kriminellen Aktivitäten von Lorres psychopathischem Tyrann werden in suggestiven, unauslöschlichen Bilder brutaler Gewalt geschildert. Regisseur Charles Barton lässt Lorres ausschweifende Leinwandpräsenz dominieren, was alle anderen Charaktere in die zweite Reihe verbannt (einschließlich Starlet Rochelle Hudson).

Mit FACE BEHIND THE MASK

Freed from his Fox contract as the popular Mr. Moto, Peter Lorre leapt to Columbia to release his darkest demons into this stand-out performance as the sadistic owner of a remote penal colony o the Florida coast, a white slaver who delights in delivering ruthlessly equal punishment on his prisoner subjects and poor domestic pets, while reserving stranger psycho-sexual torture for his long suffering wife. With ISLAND OF DOOMED MEN Columbia pushed hard against the Hays Code with a seedy and deliberately perverse portrait of criminal injustice embodied by Lorre’s twisted despot and highlighted by suggestive yet indelible images of savage violence. Abbott and Costello director Charles Barton gives free reign to Lorre’s unhinged screen presence which almost overwhelms the film, relegating all other characters to second tier including Thirties starlet Rochelle Hudson in the difficult role of a fragile Beauty held in the grip of Lorre’s suavely menacing Beast. (Haden Guest)

With FACE BEHIND THE MASK