The Man Behind the Mask

For the Alice Cooper song, see He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask).

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
U.S. campaign book
Directed by	Michael Powell
Written by	Jack Byrd (adaptation) Syd Courtenay Stanley Haynes Ian Hay (dialogue)
Based on	the novel The Chase of the Golden Plate by Jacques Futrelle
Produced by	Joe Rock
Starring	Hugh Williams Jane Baxter Maurice Schwartz
Cinematography	Ernest Palmer
Edited by	Sam Simmonds
Music by	Cyril Ray
Production company	Joe Rock Productions
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	24 August 1936 (1936-08-24)
Running time	79 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

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

1. The Man Behind the Mask at IMDb
2. The Man Behind the Mask at the British Film Institute^{[better source needed]}
3. Wood p.91
4. "The Man Behind the Mask / BFI Most Wanted". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012.
5. "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 ...

Bibliography

• Low, Rachael. Filmmaking in 1930s Britain. George Allen & Unwin, 1985.
• Wood, Linda. British Films, 1927-1939. British Film Institute, 1986.

External links

• BFI 75 Most Wanted entry, with extensive notes
• The Man Behind the Mask at IMDb