Editing Peter Lorre (section)

=== First years in Hollywood (1935–1940) ===
Lorre settled in Hollywood and was soon under contract to [[Columbia Pictures]], which had difficulty finding parts suitable for him. After some months of research, Lorre decided on ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'' by [[Dostoevsky]] as a suitable project with himself in the central role. Columbia's head [[Harry Cohn]] agreed to make the film adaptation on the condition that he could lend Lorre to [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]], possibly as a means of recouping the cost of Lorre not appearing in any of his films.<ref>Sarah Thomas [https://books.google.com/books?id=2zQuleUmBXQC&pg=PA56 ''Peter Lorre, Face Maker: Stardom and Performance Between Hollywood and Europe''], Berghahn Books, 2012, p. 56</ref>

For MGM's ''[[Mad Love (1935 film)|Mad Love]]'' (1935), set in Paris and directed by [[Karl Freund]], Lorre's head was shaved for the role of Dr. Gogol, a demented surgeon who replaces the wrecked hands of a concert pianist with those of an executed knife murderer. An actress who works at the nearby [[Grand Guignol]] theater, who happens to be the pianist's wife, is the subject of Gogol's unwelcome infatuation.<ref>Bartłomiej Paszylk [https://books.google.com/books?id=SWCx_jpxkdwC&pg=PA34 ''The Pleasure and Pain of Cult Horror Films: An Historical Survey''], Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009, pp. 34–36</ref> "Lorre triumphs superbly in a characterization that is sheer horror", ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' commented. "There is perhaps no one who can be so repulsive and so utterly wicked. No one who can smile so disarmingly and still sneer. His face is his fortune".<ref>Gregory William Mank [https://books.google.com/books?id=Zyyf9E7OAlkC&pg=PA147 ''Hollywood Cauldron: Thirteen Horror Films from the Genre's Golden Age''], Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1994 [2001], p. 147</ref>
[[File:Crime and Punishment (film) 1935. Josef von Sternberg, director. L to R Edward Arnold, Peter Lorre.jpg|left|thumb|upright|[[Edward Arnold (actor)|Edward Arnold]] and Lorre in ''[[Crime and Punishment (1935 American film)|Crime and Punishment]]'' (1935)]]
Lorre followed ''Mad Love'' with the lead role in ''[[Crime and Punishment (1935 American film)|Crime and Punishment]]'' (also 1935) directed by [[Josef von Sternberg]]. "Although Peter Lorre is occasionally able to give the film a frightening pathological significance," wrote [[Andre Sennwald]] in ''[[The New York Times]]'' on the film's release, "this is scarcely Dostoievsky's drama of a tortured brain drifting into madness with a terrible secret."<ref>John Baxter [https://books.google.com/books?id=nuSpdN_zj5YC&pg=PA197 ''Von Sternberg''], Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2010, p. 197</ref> Columbia offered him a five-year contract at $1,000 a week ({{Inflation|US|1000|1935|r=0|fmt=eq}}), but he declined.<ref name="ShipmanGMS2">David Shipman ''The Great Movie Stars: 2, The International Years'', London: Macdonald, 1989, pp. 336–38</ref>

Returning from England after appearing in a second Hitchcock picture (''[[Secret Agent (1936 film)|Secret Agent]]'', 1936), he was offered and accepted a 3-year contract with [[20th Century Fox]].<ref name="ShipmanGMS2" /> Starring in a series of [[Mr. Moto]] movies, Lorre played [[John P. Marquand]]'s character, a Japanese detective and spy. Initially positive about the films, he soon grew frustrated. "The role is childish," he said, and eventually tended to dismiss the films entirely.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|pp=156–57}} He twisted his shoulder during a stunt in ''[[Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation]]'' (1939),{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=156}} the penultimate entry of the series. In 1939, he attended a lunch at the request of some visiting Japanese officials; Lorre wore a badge that read "Boycott Japanese goods."<ref>Leonard Lyons. "The New Yorker". ''The Washington Post'' (1923–1954) [Washington, D.C.] July 1, 1939, p. 6</ref>
[[File:Think Fast, Mr. Moto trailer.png|thumb|right|With [[Sig Ruman]] in ''[[Think Fast, Mr. Moto]]'' (1937)]]
Late in 1938, [[Universal Pictures]] wanted to borrow Lorre from Fox for the top-billed titular role ultimately performed by [[Basil Rathbone]] in ''[[Son of Frankenstein]]'' (1939) starring [[Boris Karloff]] as [[Frankenstein's monster]] and [[Bela Lugosi]] as [[Igor (character)|Ygor]]. Lorre declined the role because he thought his menacing parts were now behind him, although he was ill at this time.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=164}} He had tested successfully in 1937 for the role of [[Quasimodo]] in an aborted MGM version of ''[[The Hunchback of Notre-Dame]]'', according to a Fox publicist one of two roles Lorre most wanted to play (the other was [[Napoleon]]).{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=163}} Frustrated by broken promises from Fox, Lorre managed to end his contract.

After a brief period as a freelance, he signed for two pictures at [[RKO]] in May 1940.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|pp=164–68}} In the first of these, Lorre appeared as the anonymous lead in the B-picture ''[[Stranger on the Third Floor]]'' (1940), reputedly the first [[film noir]].<ref>Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward ''Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style'', New York & WoodstocK: Overlook Press, 1992, p. 269</ref> The second RKO film, also in 1940, was ''[[You'll Find Out]]'', a musical comedy mystery vehicle for bandleader [[Kay Kyser]] in which Lorre spoofed his sinister image alongside horror stars Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=170}}