The Face Behind the Mask

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Audience Member Originally released in 1941, this is an interesting morality play - seemingly isnpired by both mobster & monster movies. Lorre gives the part his usual intensity, including assaulting a tough guy who is nearly a foot taller! As in most Hollywood films Love, Honesty, & Morality eventually win out but not before some serious detours. Also interesting that this film (2 years after war broke out in Europe) depicts an immigrant as an honest, clever, hardworking, if a bit nervous person willing to do any task with vigor and appreciation for any opportunity. It is only extreme hardship -inadvertently created by American citizens looking only skin deep- that the immigrant becomes untrustworthy or dangerous. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member I'm not sure why this is dated 2003, it's 1941 and Lorre is outstanding prior to being completely typecast. Here he plays a kind immigrant forced into a life of crime, something he finds he has a real talent for, and finally finding redemption in an act of cruel vengeance. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review s r Hungarian immigrant sincerely tries for the good life, but due to hardships is forced to compromise his values until he is reminded of them by a beautiful blind woman. It was good, but not great. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Fine low budget early Peter Lorre picture where he plays a watchmaker immigrant who's disfigured in a fire and then dons a creepy mask and sets out on a life of crime. The story then turns more poignant when the love of a good woman (a blind woman) makes him reconsider his criminal ways. It's kind of a gonzo crime melodrama that is at times more goofy in a not so good way than it is macabre in a good Tod Browning sort of way, but Lorre is great and immensely entertaining. Also, the film has some terrifically moody photography from Franz Planer, who'd later photograph classics like "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Caine Mutiny." Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Good sentimental-type movie with sad ending! Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member Honesty doesn't pay. Johnny Szabo arrives in the United States as a foreigner with hopes of earning enough money to pay for his love interest to join him in America. Unfortunately, shortly after moving into an apartment building and obtaining a job, the apartment catches on fire and his face is badly injured. With no money and no hope for a normal life...he is forced into a life of crime. "Heads he jumps. Tails he doesn't. Heads I save him. Tails I don't." Robert Florey, director of Murders in the Rue Morgue, Four Star Playhouse, The Cocoanuts, Death of a Champion, Man from Frisco, and The Vicious Years, delivers The Face Behind the Mask. The storyline for this picture is just okay and could have contained more violence. The character development was solid as was the action. The cast includes Peter Lorre, Evelyn Keyes, Don Beddoe, and George Stone. "You can buy anything with money." "Money can buy me a new face?" I DVR'd this picture off Antenna Television because it starred the great Peter Lorre. I wouldn't say Lorre is an "excellent" actor, but he is very eccentric and unpredictable. I will say I enjoyed this movie and the character portrayal, but the film overall was just okay. I would only recommend seeing this if you are a fan of Lorre. "American police are wonderful." Grade: B- Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Face Behind the Mask

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