The Face Behind the Mask

Saw this at a special showing. Great performance from Peter Lorrie as a sweet immigrant who turns to a life of crime after his face is disfigured in a fire. Director Robert Flory uses a variety of wild film techniques to tell this colorful story. A shame it is not available on video.

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.

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.

Peter Lorre is "The Man Behind the Mask" in this 1941 film from Columbia Pictures. The film also stars Evelyn Keyes, Don Beddoe, and George E. Stone.

Lorre plays Janos, a friendly, sweet, and idealistic immigrant who comes to New York City in search of the American dream. A police detective (Beddoe) directs him to a place where he can get a room, and he finds a job in the adjoining café washing dishes.

One night, the residential hotel bursts into flames, and Janos is badly burned. When the bandages come off his face, he screams in horror. His face is horribly disfigured. He finds that people are afraid of him, and he can't find work anywhere.

He meets a helpful thief, Dinky (George E. Stone) who leads him into the life of a thief, and it turns out he's a master at it.

The he encounters a blind woman, Evelyn Keyes, and they fall in love and plan a life together.

Really good film with Lorre giving a marvelous performance. How one guy could come off as so evil in one film and so warm and charming in another is really an achievement. His range was remarkable.

For this role, he needed control over his facial muscles, and he had to simulate a mask that was just white powder and tape. The special lighting helped the mask appearance, but Lorre showed all of his expression in his eyes and kept his face quite still.

Because of his unhappiness with the role and the quick schedule, Lorre was having a 90 proof liquid breakfast, to such an extent that the director had to do as many of Lorre's scenes as he could in the morning.

Despite what Lorre believed, I thought this film had great characters and a good story, and it was a terrific role for him.

The director, Robert Florey, employs all sorts of film techniques to good advantage and had a very expressionistic bend.

Well worth seeing.

1941's "The Face Behind the Mask" was among the 11 Columbia titles included in the SON OF SHOCK television package issued in the late 50s, garnering a growing cult that continues to build even today. A solid 'B' offering a rare starring role for the unique talents of Peter Lorre (who cavalierly dismissed it in its day), as Hungarian immigrant Janos Szabo, arriving in New York full of boundless enthusiasm as he seeks to make his home in the New World and bring over his fiancée Maria. Tragedy strikes as his hotel burns down, leaving his face scarred beyond repair, a pariah in society despite his skills at watchmaking and aviation. With no work and no future prospects, Janos finds it easier to turn to a life of crime, his mastery at eluding detection without leaving any clues baffling the police. Only when he meets a sweet blind girl does he find his heart stirring again, except his gang won't allow him to quit without repercussions. For an actor who dismissed his profession as 'making faces,' it's remarkable that Lorre's performance shows none of the disdain he may have felt; surely a part that juggles naïve optimism with despairing pessimism, going from criminal mastermind to humanity restored, just doesn't come along every day, and it's a testament to his overall talent that he never lets the film down. George E. Stone tries out his role as 'The Runt' in the upcoming 'Boston Blackie' series at Columbia, and Evelyn Keyes, as the blind Helen, had just played Boris Karloff's daughter in "Before I Hang." Other memorable turns come from James Seay, Al Hill, Mary Currier, and the ubiquitous Frank Reicher, as a sympathetic plastic surgeon. Like all of the SON OF SHOCK titles, "The Face Behind the Mask" appeared on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater on three occasions (only Boris Karloff's "The Black Room" aired four times).