The Lost One Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The Lost One Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 21, 2025

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the World Noir Vol. 3 set from Radiance Films.

Radiance has been aggregating some interesting examples of "global noir" for a few years now, starting with late 2023's World Noir Vol. 1 (which I was not sent to review) and then World Noir Vol. 2 several months later in August of 2024. Now around a year after their "sophomore" offering, the label is releasing this rather interesting trio of films, one which includes Peter Lorre's only directorial credit, a somewhat Sirkian (or perhaps more appropriately Todd Haynes-ian) take on a supposedly secret "alternative lifestyle", and a final effort featuring a star turn by the inimitable Michel Simon. As with the previous set I've personally reviewed, this set also offers some very worthwhile supplemental material. It may be of interest to some that as of the writing of this review, there is already a World Noir Vol. 4 on tap from Radiance in just a few more months.

There has been a lot of newsprint and/or bandwidth expended explaining how going to the movies used to offer an "escape" of sorts from what were from, say, the 1930s until at least the mid-forties (and perhaps just a bit beyond) years of absolute tumult and turmoil. If American filmgoers flocked to theaters to forget the Great Depression and, later, World War II, German audiences may have been in a somewhat peculiar "predicament" after World War II came to and end, and all of those Utopian propagandistic outings fostered by Josef Goebbels had collided with the hardscrabble, bomb ridden forces of reality. Ironically, then, the German film industry kind of continued to offer audiences an "alternate reality" of sorts courtesy of what is often termed Heimatfilme, rosy colored (if often in black and white) accounts of what German life either was or at least could be like. Perhaps that one central reason this dark and dour film both starring and directed by Peter Lorre crashed and burned when it was released, as it looks pretty squarely at the Nazi era and its devastating effects on one man.

Lorre portrays Dr. Rothe (Peter Lorre), a scientist firmly in the Nazi camp during the war, to the point that when he finds out a loved one is selling secrets to the Allies, he engages in a bit of murder to keep his work under wraps. That might seem to make this film something of an analog to Not Guilty, in that a focal "doctor" kills someone and then has to deal with the consequences, though here instead of becoming a self appointed Übermensch (as the doctor portrayed by Michel Simon in the other film does), Rothe becomes subsumed with guilt after the war, when someone involved in his earlier "adventures" shows up after the war, after Rothe has assumed a new identity (in more ways than one). The result is a sometimes devastating examination of the corrosive effects of both belief and guilt, and it features one of Lorre's most interesting performances.

The Lost One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Lost One is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Radiance sent a check disc for purposes of this review, and so I'm not privy to any verbiage about the transfer in an insert booklet, but their website states that this is a "high definition digital transfer presented on Blu-ray for the first time with English subtitles". It's perhaps salient to note that this is the sole film this collection without any prefatory cards detailing a restoration (there's a German Film Institute masthead, but without any restoration verbiage), and considering the film's troubled reputation, it simply may not have been curated very carefully, as this is the least pleasing looking transfer in the set. There's some noticeable image instability throughout the opening credits, something that does quiet down, but the presentation is afflicted with quite a bit of damage, including some at times very noticeable scratches (see screenshot 9). Densities and contrast can also waver from time to time, both of which can at least slightly affect detail levels. On the whole, though, in close-ups where sufficient lighting is employed can offer rather nice fine detail levels on all the practical elements like costume fabrics and patterns on sets and props. There is observable grain throughout, but I frankly wondered if the condition of the element necessitated some kind of "grain management", as it's not quite as noticeable as I might have expected.

The Lost One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Lost One features LPCM 2.0 Mono audio in the original German. As with the other films in this set, the opening music can show unmistakable signs of distortion and breakup, and later once the film kicks in, background hiss and occasional other signs of age related wear and tear like pops and such can be heard, but on the whole the track doesn't really offer many obstacles to overcome. This is by and large a dialogue driven enterprise, and all spoken material is delivered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Lost One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Tony Rayns


• Pamela Hutchinson (HD; 23:41) offers an interesting overview of Peter Lorre's life and career.


• Margaret Deriaz (HD; 18:44) features the German cinema expert looking at German noir.


• Trailer (HD; 2:24)

The Lost One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Lost One was actually a pretty brave move on Lorre's part at the time, and if it wasn't completely appreciated back in 1951, it certainly deserves wider recognition today. Technical merits are improvable but not overly problematic, and the supplements very enjoyable and informative. Recommended.