(1946)
3
Bruce Eder
Not that this is saying much, but Behind the Mask is one of the handsomest-looking movies ever to come out of Monogram Pictures, with a large supporting and background cast (of familiar screen faces) and surprisingly opulent sets. That isn't as important as the breezy pacing essential to a B-thriller of this type, but when you combine that pacing, a delightfully twist-laden plot (that freely careens between suspense and comic relief), and a look this good and a cast this solid, you've got B-movie gold. The mix of comedy and mystery in Behind the Mask owes a lot to the Falcon movies starring George Sanders and Tom Conway, and while nothing here is as well done as those movies -- and one comic relief scene involving a piece of furniture moving around a room, is downright stupid -- it's all easy to take and enjoy on a totally non-serious, escapist level. Director Phil Karlson, who would later be known for his violent crime thrillers, shows a much more deft touch here -- Behind the Mask is of a piece with his work in Bowery Bombshell, featuring the Bowery Boys, rather than The Phenix City Story or Walking Tall. Set against a background of nightclubs, bookie joints, and elegant parties, often with a swing band score playing in the background -- except when the familiar organ theme accompanying the Shadow's disappearing act comes into play -- Behind the Mask is thick with '40s atmosphere; the ambience is a fine distillation of radio crime melodrama, translated to the screen with a careful (and generally effective) balance of mystery twists and laughs, easy on the mind and the eye and just funny and complicated enough to be diverting 60 years later.
cast-crew for Behind the Mask on AllMovie
Behind the Mask (1946)
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