La máscara de fuego

In the same year Peter Lorre did The Maltese Falcon over at Warner Brothers, Columbia Pictures had him starring in The Face Behind The Mask. In his career Lorre was far better known for the supporting parts he played to big Hollywood marquee names. After his starring roles in German cinema in Fritz Lang's M and as Mr. Moto, Lorre was rarely the lead name in the cast. This interesting B film, The Face Behind The Mask is a glorious exception.

It's too bad that Columbia didn't put more production values into this film because Lorre has one interesting part. The film is a combination of Phantom Of The Opera and Little Caesar. Lorre first appears to us as an eager immigrant from Hungary, one of the few times he played his own nationality. He's looking to get his piece of the American dream as so many were back in the day. On a tip from friendly policeman Don Beddoe, Lorre takes lodging in a cheap rooming house and that very first night the place catches on fire and his face is burned horribly.

Disfigured as he is Lorre can't find legitimate work, but he's got certain skills that the criminal profession can use and with the aid of a temporary mask he takes charge like Edward G. Robinson did of an existing criminal gang. George E. Stone plays the same kind of role in The Face Behind The Mask as he did in Little Caesar.

Lorre also in maybe the only time in his film career gets a leading lady of sorts in the person of Evelyn Keyes. Evelyn plays a blind girl who can't see his disfigurement and she falls for him. It all ends badly, but not through any doing of Lorre's.

The Face Behind The Mask is a routine B programmer without a lot of production values invested, but the idea behind the film is an interesting one and Lorre pulls it off beautifully in his acting.

And who would ever have Peter Lorre would get the girl in any film, even temporarily.

The Face Behind The Mask is directed by Robert Florey and collectively written by Paul Jarrico, Arthur Levinson and Allen Vincent. It stars Peter Lorre, Evelyn Keyes, Don Beddoe and George E. Stone. Music is by Sidney Cutner and cinematography by Franz Planer.

Hungarian immigrant Janos Szaby (Lorre) arrives in New York City full of hope for the future. Unfortunately he is trapped in a hotel fire which leaves his face severely disfigured. Even though he is a skilled craftsman he is refused employment by many on account of his looks. At his lowest ebb he turns to crime to fund the making of a face mask to hide his disfigurement, while soon enough he is running a little league crime outfit when he happens upon blind Helen Williams (Keyes) and finds a new meaning to life…

The sands of time plays the death rattle.

Lorre dismissed it as a bit of guff, but The Face Behind The Mask showcases one of his greatest performances. It's a film that beats a black heart, where fatalism is dripped over proceedings, the core of the narrative is the shattering of the American dream, and the makers here are not shy to put forward an uncaring society. After a breezy beginning the narrative becomes relentlessly bleak, right up to, and including, a no holds barred chilling finale that's preceded by a monstrous twist.

Florey (also doing some of his best work) and Planer add stark imagery and scene setting that belies the B budget and quick turnover of the production (less than two weeks). A bleak harbour sequence is tonally adroit, the face mask surgery with faces adorning the walls is deliciously macabre, there's torture, too, and oblique backgrounds and shadow play. The dialogue may sometimes be too weak for the haunting story, but the film rises above it because of skills of the cast (Stone and Keyes excellent support for Lorre) and makers alike.

Part noir, part horror and part social drama, it's a film of differing attributes. It's not one for anyone looking to be cheered up, but for those who like to lurk in the shadows and succumb to the dark underbelly of cinema; this is a treat. 8/10

The question is: Is it possible to make Peter Lorre look weirder than he did naturally? This movie answers that question, and the answer is "yes."

"The Face Behind the Mask" gives off major Universal monster movie vibes. The mask in question covers Lorre's face after he suffers severe burns and doesn't have enough money for plastic surgery. No worries though -- he falls in love with a blind woman, played by Evelyn Keyes, who only sees the beauty within. They marry and live happily ever after, and everything is right with the world.

Ok, so that's not how things go. I saw this movie as part of the Noir City film festival at the Music Box Theater in Chicago. And though this doesn't feel like a true noir to me, just by virtue of being on the program you know things can't go quite so smoothly for our protagonist as all that. Lorre goes from meek and idealistic immigrant to crime gang heavy in the space of about two minutes, and this has some definite repercussions on his domestic affairs.

Lorre is one of those actors like Edward G. Robinson who's just so cool to watch on screen that any material is better because he's delivering it. Keyes is absolutely lovely in this, and does a pretty passable impression of someone who can't see. If I hadn't been in the mood to see an old-fashioned noir I might have had a more generous reaction to this movie, but as it is I still had fun with it. You could watch this movie in the amount of time it would take you to binge watch two or three episodes of your favorite Netflix show of the moment, so it's not like it's a huge commitment.

And it's interesting to see a movie about the immigrant experience in 1941, when people would have been fleeing Europe in droves for places like the U. S. When virtually every movie at the time, regardless of genre, felt some obligation to keep up war morale, it doesn't pass notice that this movie has a rather cynical attitude about America being a land of opportunity for those not born in it.

Face Behind the Mask, The (1941)

*** (out of 4)

Peter Lorre's excellent performance highlights this entertaining, if predictable, melodrama from Columbia and director Florey. In the film Lorre plays Janos Szabo, a immigrant who comes to America to earn enough money to bring the woman he loves over so that they can be married. Soon after his arrival his face is horrible disfigured in a hotel fire and he gets to see the ugly side of the country because no one will give him a job or even look at him. He eventually meets a friend (George E. Stone) who talks him into a life of crime so that he can raise enough money to get a new face but soon he meets a blind woman (Evelyn Keyes) who might make him think differently. There's a lot of plot going on in this film but there's no denying that Lorre gives an incredible performance and it makes this thing worth viewing no matter how predictable the screenplay is. There's really nothing here that will come out of left field as we get Lorre's character built up as such a great guy and then we get the accident and then we get the crime and of course he'd just happen to meet a blind girl, which itself turns into a couple more predictable moments. One doesn't mind this as the film does have some very good moments including the actual fire sequence as well as the aftermath when Lorre finally sees his new face. As for Lorre, there's no question this here is one of his strongest performances as we believe him as the good guy getting off the ship and we can also believe him and the anger of what has happened to him. I think the film would have benefited from his bad side behind a lot darker than the film allows but I'm sure this was watered down so that the romance side of things could flourish. Keyes is also very good in his role as the blind girl and Stone, best known for his Boston Blackie films, is very good as well. Don Beddoe adds nice support as the cop who helps Lorre and James Seay is nice as the rival. Florey's direction is very good throughout and especially during some of the darker moments right after the accident. The director does a pretty good job at handling the various aspects of this film and pulls everything together well enough to keep the film going. This is a good film but not a classic one. I think with a little tinkering of the script we could have had something even better but as is, it's great to see Lorre in a role he can do so much with.

Exceptional B movie from Columbia, directed by Robert Florey and starring Peter Lorre as a hopeful, innocent Hungarian immigrant whose face is burned in a fire on his first day in New York. His horrible disfigurement makes it hard for him to get work so he turns to a life of crime. Eventually he's leading his own gang and makes enough money to pay for a realistic mask to hide his burns. When he falls in love with a blind woman (Evelyn Keyes) and wants to go straight, his gang turns on him.

There are no bells and whistles here, just fine acting, a decent script, and nice direction. Sensitive, brilliant performance from Peter Lorre that is far better than you would expect to find in a quickie that was filmed in less than a month. The often underrated Evelyn Keyes is terrific in this. Solid support from Don Beddoe and George E. Stone. Robert Florey's noirish direction is a major plus. He would re-team with Lorre later for the classic The Beast with Five Fingers. It's a very good film that's a sort of blend of gangster and horror pictures. If nothing else, see it for one of Peter Lorre's best starring roles.