#an unoffensive bawdy approach to life

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Peter Lorre had a cameo in They Met in Bombay (1941) as Captain Chang, a mercenary freight skipper who double-crosses jewel thieves played by Clark Gable and Rosalind Russell.

I can't resist posting this homemade slo-mo clip that is entirely low budget (I held my phone up to the TV) but - that look he gives at the end before the cutaway! Also my phone shot in a blue tint for some reason and I just left it as such 'cause it looked neat.

The movie isn't so bad - the first half is quite entertaining even as I was waiting the whole time for the Lorre part to come up.

After he was off-screen, I lost interest (alas) even with such great actors as Gable and Russell. The war era made for a predictable ending.

Speaking of eras...

This time period (late 30s-early 40s) wasn't all roses for Lorre, who was put in a bunch of movies he didn't altogether enjoy, much as we might enjoy his performances. Hollywood typecasting of him as a villain, whether campy or erroneous horror, was taking its toll:

"Lorre wanted out, but he had nowhere to go. He feared betraying himself and his future by acquiescing to public expectations and studio obligations, but he gave nothing less than his creative best—sometimes in spite of himself.

"By taking his assignments one at a time, he kept his perspective and his sense of humor, which 'was wicked, frequently obscene, but always in good taste. His was a wonderfully wry humorous touch, well salted with the comical scatological rejoinders. He had a rare bawdy approach to life that was never offensive that swept you along with his realistic appreciation of the "lovelies" who were never outraged by the tongue-in-cheek forthrightness of his glistening-eye approach.'" - actor Don Beddoe.

From The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre.