After working as a technical advisor, production assistant and
assistant producer for nearly a decade, Negulesco was finally offered a
chance at directing.
Jack L. Warner wanted his newest series of moderately
budgeted films to be directed by his newest crop of directors. Although
Negulesco received directorial credit for his first film,
Singapore Woman (1941), he
was fired in mid-production. He was also removed from his next
assignment,
Le faucon maltais (1941) after working on that film for 2 months and
replaced by
John Huston as reward for his successful adaptation of
La Grande Évasion (1941).
Dejected, Negulesco's friend, director
Anatole Litvak suggested a book by Eric
Ambler, "The Coffin of Dimitrios" and pitched the story to producer
Henry Blanke. Retitled as
Le masque de Dimitrios (1944), it remains one of the best films ever
made by a novice director.
