Der Verlorene

After eighteen years in exile Peter Lorre returned to the land of his birth for his one and only stab at directing. Based upon a newspaper article about a doctor who had killed his assistant and then stepped in front of a train, Lorre has fashioned a screenplay with the help of novelist Benno Vigny and esteemed director Helmut Kautner.

Like so many actors who take up directing he is very generous to his players and in particular allows his five actresses to shine. Individual scenes are extremely effective but these alas are achieved at the expense of overall structure. Despite oodles of atmosphere from superlative lighting cameraman Vaclav Vich, the film is weakened by a verbose script and an intrusive, over-orchestrated score. Suffice to say Lorre is riveting as Dr. Rothe but the entire enterprise required a firmer hand at the helm.

This is a film that Lorre evidently felt compelled to make but this bleak allegory of Germany's fatal flirtation with National Socialism and the nation's collective guilt in the person of a serial murderer was hardly likey to be welcomed by audiences of the time and such proved to be case.

That it has a haunting quality is undeniable and remains, in the words of David Thomson, "a direct imprint of a very troubled soul."