Máscara Oriental

the first time i saw this movie was when I was about 8 years old and even after all these years i still remembered the movie even though I couldn't at times remember who the stars were and it wasn't until I was looking through an old movie book that had all of the 1940s movies in it did I see a brief review and several pictures of it And found out who the stars were.And quite recently at a movie memorabilia show in NYC I asked about the movie and was able to find out that it was on DVD.But the man didn't have a copy of it but told me would bring it to the next show.And he did and of course I purchased it and watching it again made me recall how good it was.The stars were Lee Tracy,Nancy Kelly,Regis Toomey and my favorite Japanese villain of all time Richard Loo ,If you see it anywhere my advice is pick it-up regardless of the cost.

Lee Tracy reminds of a fit WC Fields; he looks and talks like him, acts like, but is nowhere nearly as funny. How a woman like Kelly would fall for a guy like him really stretches the limits of believability. Philip Ahn plays Kato, a role that will be revived by another actor alongside of Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther series. Other than that, this film has no socially redeeming value whatsoever, especially the fake news at the beginning and end by the exploitative Drew Pearson, an overpuffed newspaper reporter. This jingoistic kaka is fine to raise money for war bonds, but the war is over. By the way, in real life, the American hero wouldnt last thrity seconds with a real Eastern martial arts fighter. Not recommended.

Made at the End of WWII but Set before Pearl Harbor, this B-Movie is one of those Yellow Peril Types that Actually has more Japanese Actors than Americans and They are All Up to No Good. They are Sneaky, Barbarous, and have a lot of Cash to Pay Americans if Only They would Betray Their Country.

Lee Tracy, a Second Rater and Hardly Anything Approaching Handsome is Given the Lead Romantic Role and the Love Angle in this Chock Full of Jap Bashing Film is Anything but Believable.

There are Some Striking Scenes of Torture and Surprising Deaths and the Plot Moves at a Rapid Pace with Hidden Surveillance and a Climactic Fight Scene that is Impressive.

Overall it is Worth a Watch as a Timepiece. It is Bookended with Real Life Journalist Drew Pearson Staring at the Camera and Delivering a "This can never happen again" Warning.

Note...Don't fail to miss the opening Title Card with a drawing of a Sinister Jap with Werewolf fangs.

Inspired from actual events, this William Berke's film is very unusual and interesting. It shows that in America, you have born Americans - white, not Asian - who could work for the Rising Sun evil empire. What a shock for me...I thought that only Americans from Japanese descent could, for obvious reasons. Thats' for this reason, I guess, they were all sent to camp such as Manzamar.... So, yes, what a gem this RKO movie, revealing astounding matters. Philip Ahn is of course i the cast. I am deadly sure that he played in every forties decade war film involving the Pacific front, not the European of course !!!

The most surprising thing about Betrayal From The East is that Drew Pearson put his time to it. In post war America Pearson was one of the earliest and most consistent critics of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the brand of right wing conspiracies he was peddling. It shocked me that he would lend his name to this kind of propaganda claptrap.

Lend it he did to this film which has the Japanese contacting former army guy Lee Tracy now a carnival barker to see if he could get the plans for the Panama Canal defense. Presumably Tracy's efforts in foiling the Japanese designs on the canal are the reason it was not a casualty of war.

I'm still trying to figure out why American agent Nancy Kelly who Tracy sees killed in San Francisco winds up in the Canal Zone on another assignment on the same case where Tracy is now. What were the writers thinking with?

The film is a cheap imitation of one of Humphrey Bogart's and John Huston's lesser films Across The Pacific. This makes that one look like Gone With The Wind.