The Face Behind the Mask (1941) - If ever there was a pulp comic bought to life this movie is it. Peter Lorre is an impossibly nice optimistic immigrant who gets horribly burned. Next thing you know he's a criminal mastermind courting impossibly saintly blind girl (future vixen Evelyn Keyes). Some of the acting here is hammier than a swine farm (check out gangsters Jeff and Dinky - oh boy!) and the plot is beyond ludicrous and yet... Who can resist Lorre in a skin tight rubber mask, glowering, flitting in the shadows and, of course, going full tonto at the end. Great fun way to spend 70 mins.
Quick tip - I found this site narkoverelusivemovies.com - it's where I got this film - some holy tgrails there, I snapped up Loseys version of M, One Way Street and Allotment Wives - DVDs beautifully presented in proper cases, picture quality amazing so far. Not bad at 4 pound a pop.
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