Behind the Mask

What must have started life as a pretty ordinary crime picture is dressed up for the box office with some of the popular flourishes of the day such as electronic gadgets and a mysterious criminal mastermind.

Karloff gives excellent value as villain's chief henchman and thankfully gets plenty of screen time.

Although director and cast were all well experienced in pictures, the performances tend to be on the dull side, particularly Jack Holt in the lead. The pace of individual scenes is a little slow too, almost as if everyone concerned were making a conscious effort to hold back from the excesses of the silent days.

No classic, but you could do worse.

Hard boiled Jack Holt escapes from prison. His gangster contacts set him up with a job as chauffeur at the large estate of one of their associates who is getting a little nervous. Holt's job is to keep an eye on said associate - whose attractive daughter Constance Cummings already knows there is something fishy going on.

It doesn't take long before we discover that Holt is not a real crook but an undercover agent hoping to track down the smugglers' big boss, the mysterious Mr. X.

Boris Karloff is fun as the loyal but not too bright henchman who does Mr. X's dirty jobs. Edward Van Sloan is a bit creepy as a suspicious-looking doctor running a very shady hospital. There's also a nurse named Bertha Mann at the house who spies on the family and phones in reports which she leaves on a very cool answering machine in an unknown location.

Constance Cummings has a good role as the daughter who is not content to sit back and let Holt chase the bad guys. Cummings and Holt are an effective pair of heroes in this fast-paced crime drama that offers few surprises but does feature some suspenseful moments, including an exciting climactic scene in the hospital.

Ah, there's nothing like a good old-fashioned creepy & atmospheric horror tale from the early nineteen-thirties starring the almighty Boris Karloff! Be forewarned, however, that this "Behind the Mask" is not really a horror movie and that Karloff in fact only plays a supportive character – albeit quite a menacing one. Does that mean that the film isn't worth checking out? Nope, not at all, because "Behind the Mask" definitely does contain quite a few sinister twists and details in its overall very ambitious and compelling crime/mystery screenplay. A whole bunch of elite federal agents are trying to unravel a large-scaled drug smuggling network led by the nefarious Mr. X. Special agent Jack Hart takes the identity of small thug Quinn and goes undercover in a state prison where he meets Jim Henderson (Karloff); one of Mr. X's principal henchmen. The organization of Mr. X is most certainly evil, as the criminal mastermind also runs an unorthodox clinic where the patients are murdered and their coffins stuffed with narcotics. The script from the hand of Jo Swerling – also the writer of Hitchcock's "Lifeboat" – superficially seems extremely ambitious, but rather many elements are nevertheless tacky (like the forced love-story between the secret agent and one of the minions' daughter) and/or predictable (for example the identity of Mr. X is not really that secretive). Top-billed stars Boris Karloff and Jack Holt are decent enough, but the show is stolen by Edward Van Sloan in a fiendish double role, and by Bertha Mann! She depicts a creepy maid who's strategically put in the house of Dr. X's unreliable collaborators. She closely observes everyone in the house and reports to her employer via a radio installation in her room.

1932's "Behind the Mask" was the earliest Columbia title included in the hugely successful SON OF SHOCK television package of the late 1950s, reteaming Boris Karloff and Edward Van Sloan following the just-completed "Frankenstein" (shooting wrapped Nov 21 1931). Headlining is the studio's top workhorse, Jack Holt (father of Tim), playing an undercover FBI agent posing as a convict, pumping information from Jim Henderson (Karloff), part of the dope smuggling ring run by a mysterious 'Mr. X.' The somewhat dim Henderson hardly taxes Boris, who virtually disappears at the midway point (we later learn of his offscreen capture); the real revelation is seeing Edward Van Sloan in dual roles- he looks like himself in two scenes as Dr. Alec Munsell, involved in the FBI investigation, but is unrecognizable in heavy beard and glasses as Dr. August Steiner, chewing the scenery with great relish. It's a juicy, scene stealing villain, sounding very much like an evil Van Helsing, able to lawfully dispose of enemies through surgery on the operating table, rather than wielding a knife in the street, which would only attract attention. Lovely Constance Cummings finishes her third film opposite Karloff, following "The Criminal Code" and "The Guilty Generation," while Thomas Jackson, shortly after his successful pursuit of Edward G. Robinson's "Little Caesar," surprisingly comes to a bad end. Jack Holt went on to work with Bela Lugosi in a later Columbia, 1935's "The Best Man Wins" (and with John Carradine in 1942's MGM "Northwest Rangers"). Many viewers, particularly Karloff fans, grouse that it's not really a horror film, but there's certainly enough horrific touches to qualify for SON OF SHOCK, a solid pre-code melding of crime and chills. "Behind the Mask" made one appearance on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, July 8 1967 (followed by 1961's Mexican "Bring Me The Vampire").

Jack Holt escapes from prison and follow the advice of his friend Boris Karloff to go see a certain man if he wants to remain free and make lots of money. Holt does so and soon finds himself working for a mysterious Mr X, who is running a large criminal operation. Holt however is no cook, he is instead a federal agent seeking to break a drug ring.

Made prior to the release of Frankenstein this is a film with Boris Karloff in one of his henchmen supporting roles. He's good but a bit over active. The real star here is Jack Holt who was a big star in the silent days and who's career slowly faded once sound came in. I've always liked Holt and felt he was under appreciated by most people who know who he was (The problem is that most people have no idea at all who he was). Holt here is a rugged leading man and a nice man of action. He is in short the perfect hero.

The film itself is quite good. Going from big house, to country house to doctors office, this is a thriller that keeps you guessing and keeps you interested. Its nice to see a movie that isn't so formulaic that you can connect the dots and know who is doing what before you're told. The action when it comes is well done and there is generally a good amount of suspense, especially in the final moments as it is uncertain if or how out hero will escape the villains clutches.

Worth searching out and perfect for a nice double or triple feature on a dark and stormy night.