NOTW 8/15/10 THE MASK OF DIMITRIOS by Rand

THE MASK OF DIMITRIOS

1944/USA



Director: Jean Negulesco
Screenplay by Frank Gruber from the novel A COFFIN FOR DIMITRIOS by Eic Ambler
Cinematographer: Arthur Edeson
Lead actors: Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson
Supporting actors: Victor Fracen, Steven Geray, Eduardo Ciannelli, Florence Bates

A noir of international intrigue, The Mask of Dimitrios launched the film career of Zachary Scott, and featured noir stalwarts Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Faye Emerson, Victor Francen, Steven Geray, and Eduardo Ciannelli. Jean Negulesco directed Frank Gruber's screenplay adapted from Eric Ambler's novel, with cinematography by Arthur Edeson.

Gruber's screenplay is remarkably faithful to Ambler's novel, with Lorre's portrayal of thriller author Cornelius Leyden as a slightly befuddled naif coalescing nicely with Greenstreet's alternately warm and solicitous, then cold, hard and greedy Mr. Peters, seeking vengeance on his former partner, Scott's Dimitrios. Emerson is the slatternly madame done wrong by Dimitrios, and the others are various functionaries who help Leyden on his quest for the former fig packer's story. Starting in Istanbul with the discovery of Dimitrios Makropoulos' body, Leyden alternates between blunders and cleverness in tracing Dimitrios across the Balkans, from Turkey to Greece to Bulgaria and finally to where all good pre-WWII intrigues end up, Paris.

Edeson's photography is strikingly evocative, much more so than the somewhat bland look of his work on The Maltese Falcon. His work here is informed more by the darker style Hal Wallis encouraged him to use on Casablanca.

There are no heroes in The Mask of Dimitrios. The officials who help guide Leyden on his quest reveal themselves to be venal, pompous, and corrupt, and, in one instance, easily corrupted by Dimitrios. Scott demonstrates the cool but sleazy womanizer character he would make his trademark in subsequent films noirs. From simple theft to robbery and murder, Dimitrios climbs the criminal staircase to political assassin and kingmaker, but with missteps and loss of fortune along the way. From vicious, snarling conniver to weaselly supplicant, Dimitrios seems always to survive to gain another day in the maelstrom that was, and is, the Balkans.

Leyden's and Peters' quest to find the truth of the fig packer's end leads to a rendezvous in an abandoned hotel that brings the story full circle to a bloody dénouement.

For sophisticated intrigue and conspiracy, The Mask of Dimitrios does not disappoint. The ensemble cast could hardly be improved on, with both Lorre and Scott doing perhaps their finest film work. This is one to watch and you might check out Ambler's roman noir as well. Both are worth the effort.