The Masquerader

The Masquerader (1933) is a Pre-Code beguiling mix of suspense, romance and humor. Ronald Colman is at his best in a dual role as member of Parliament (with a drug addiction) who asks his look-alike cousin (a political journalist) to fill in for him both professionally and domestically. Elissa Landi, as the wife, offers her unique persona and natural nuance in a captivating portrayal. The multi-gifted actress composed and played the lilting Sonata in F Minor for the film. The performances are complimented by the exquisite deep-focus camerawork of Gregg Toland, and director Richard Wallace's ability to make the fantastic seem probable.

There's no question but that "The Masquerader" is dated. This 1933 movie is set in a London contemporaneous with the era in which it was filmed and portrays a highly stratified social milieu that has all but disappeared in the intervening eight decades; one is almost surprised that the constable at the doors of the House of Commons doesn't pull his forelock as he addresses the parliamentarians who emerge. But the movie is nimbly and deftly made and features both good acting in its principal and secondary roles and sure direction by Richard Wallace. Portraying both the dissolute Sir John Chilcote and his identical cousin John Loder, Ronald Colman is afforded the opportunity to display both his louche and noble sides (qualities he was to exploit to greater advantage in "A Tale of Two Cities" made two years later) and Colman makes the most of it. He's ably assisted here by Elissa Landi, Juliette Compton and the ubiquitous Halliwell Hobbes (playing his faithful, if long-suffering manservant, Brock). And, really, it's the acting that makes this movie come to life; in the hands of lesser thespians the much-used plot and only serviceable dialogue would begin to display the threadbare attributes of the cinematically shop-worn. But good acting always has the ability to move us... or it should. The joy that Colman's and Landi's characters feel when the expected but nonetheless surprising ending to "The Masquerader" rolls 'round is palpable and -- in a cool, present-day cinematic era when highly charged emotion is regarded as somewhat suspect -- refreshing.

It is a shame this film is so hard to find. Ronald Coleman does an excellent job in his dual role of Chilcote/Loder. The two characters are quite opposite and I might venture to call his delivery remarkable. It is similar in some ways to the Prisoner of Zenda, which indeed is a good film, but I prefer the ending of this one. Elissa Landi, her usual sweet and serenely beautiful self, is the model of a faithful wife. She did an excellent job as the wronged, but still loving wife who returns to help her husband in a time of need. It is a great shame that she did not make more films and is not better remembered to-day. She almost always played gentle, ladylike, loving, and thoughtful roles and did so very convincingly. Combine that with being very pretty and you have a good actress in my opinion. Try to find this one on ebay!!

...about a drug addicted British MP, who is falling apart, who encounters a lookalike cousin in a London fog, later seeks him out to replace him in the House of Commons the following day when a great speech is expected of him. Not surprisingly for a melodrama of this kind the cousin accepts the offer and carries off the speech with flying colors to the praise of all England. It then becomes difficult for the cousin to extricate himself from his fake ID, however, things becoming even more complicated when the MP's wife returns home from France.

These two cousins are so alike, not only in appearance but voice that nobody, of course, can tell them apart, including the wife as well as the MP's mistress. Despite the silliness and familiarity of the story, once you get past the implausibilities of the plot, The Masquerader is a fun film (impossible to take seriously, of course) thanks to the charm and skill of Ronald Colman in the dual roles of druggie MP and smooth talking imposter cousin. It reminds one of Colman's similar dual turn four years later in The Prisoner of Zenda.

Elissa Landi plays the MP's wife who, after a strained marriage with the MP, falls in love all over again with her imposter husband. Halliwell Hobbes, forever cast as a butler, is in that familiar role once again, only this time he's the only one in the film who actually knows there are two Colmans. The split screen effects, by the way, in which we see Colman sharing the screen with Colman, are expertly achieved, on a par with the similar effects in Zenda a few years later.

The main plot idea in this film is that two cousins are completely alike physically--so much so that when one substitutes for another no one knows! Although this is a familiar film and TV theme (such as in "The Patty Duke Show"), it is rather stupid--cousins don't look THAT close to each other and how could they account for the same voice and mannerisms? My advice is to try to look past this impossibility and just enjoy this wonderful film. And, by the way, that's my same advice for another Ronald Colman film made just a few years later--where, in THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, you are expected to believe that distant cousins are spitting images! Now, provided you can look past all this, the film is actually quite good.

The film begins with Ronald Colman #1. He's a drug-addicted member of the British parliament and his party is disappointed in him again and again because he is almost totally incapacitated by the drug he drinks. They never really say WHAT it is--I assume it's Laudanum. Anyways, when this falling down addict discovers that he's got a long lost and identical cousin (Ronald Colman #2), he begs the cousin to take his place. Unfortunately, things do too well--as the longer the substitute pretends to be the once-great parliamentarian, the bigger his reputation becomes! To make things worse, Ronald Colman #1's estranged wife is now attracted to who she THINKS is her husband and Ronald Colmen #2 is too nice a guy to just sleep with her! The whole thing sounds a bit comedic, but it's not. However, it is a nice drama with romantic overtones.

What makes it so good is the wonderful performances by Colman (he is his usual erudite self) as well as good writing--particularly the ending which is NOT what you'd normally expect and increased my love for this film immensely.