The Man Behind the Mask

1936 British film

Jack Byrd (adaptation)
Syd Courtenay
Stanley Haynes
Ian Hay (dialogue)

Based onthe novel The Chase of the Golden Plate
by Jacques FutrelleProduced byJoe RockStarring

Hugh Williams
Jane Baxter
Maurice Schwartz

CinematographyErnest PalmerEdited bySam SimmondsMusic byCyril Ray

Production
company

Joe Rock Productions

Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Release date

24 August 1936 (1936-08-24)

Running time

79 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglish

The Man Behind the Mask is a 1936 British mystery film directed by Michael Powell and starring Hugh Williams, Jane Baxter, Ronald Ward, Maurice Schwartz, George Merritt, Henry Oscar and Peter Gawthorne.^[1] A man assaults and switches places with another at a masked ball, and then attempts a major theft – casting suspicion on the original man.^[2]

The Man Behind the Mask was produced by Joe Rock, for Joe Rock Productions. It was made at Rock Studios, Elstree.^[3]

The Man Behind the Mask was missing from the BFI National Archive, and was one of three Powell films included on the British Film Institute's "75 Most Wanted" list of lost films.^[4] It is the last of Powell's "quota quickies".^[4]

A print of the American release, titled Behind the Mask, has been found, but it is a cut version of the original UK film.^[5]

Cast

Hugh Williams as Nick Barclay
Jane Baxter as Lady June Slade
Ronald Ward as Jimmy Slade
Maurice Schwartz as The Master (Paul Melchior)
George Merritt as Det. Insp. Mallory
Henry Oscar as Interpol Detective ("Voltaire")
Donald Calthrop as Dr. Harold E. Walpole
Kitty Kelly as Marian Weeks
Wilfrid Caithness as Raines - the butler
Peter Gawthorne as Lord Slade
Gerald Fielding as Harrah
Reginald Tate as Allan Hayden
Moyra Fagan as Nada
Ivor Barnard as Hewitt
Barbara Everest as Lady Slade
Hal Gordon as Sergeant
Syd Crossley as Policeman
Henry Caine as Beetson - Nick's Butler
Esma Cannon as Waitress
Cameron Hall

References

^ The Man Behind the Mask at IMDb
^ The Man Behind the Mask at the British Film Institute^{[better source needed]}
^ Wood p.91
^ ^a ^b "The Man Behind the Mask / BFI Most Wanted". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012.
^ "Crown v. Stevens (1936)". BFI Screenonline. His following assignment, The Man Behind The Mask (which does exist, but in a much truncated form with a private collector) was released only three weeks after Crown ...