The Mask of Dimitrious

Original title: The Mask of Dimitrios

1944
PG
1h 35m

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

4.1K

YOUR RATING

Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Faye Emerson, and Zachary Scott in The Mask of Dimitrious (1944)

Mystery writer Cornelius Leyden becomes intrigued when the murdered body of a vicious career criminal washes up in the Bosphorus.

Play trailer2:19

1 Video

28 Photos

Film Noir Crime Drama Mystery

Mystery writer Cornelius Leyden becomes intrigued after the murdered body of a vicious career criminal washes up in the Bosphorus.Mystery writer Cornelius Leyden becomes intrigued after the murdered body of a vicious career criminal washes up in the Bosphorus.Mystery writer Cornelius Leyden becomes intrigued after the murdered body of a vicious career criminal washes up in the Bosphorus.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

4.1K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 2:19

Official Trailer

Photos28

+ 22

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Storyline

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Trivia
The poor little bureaucrat Herr Bulic is tricked into gambling by Dimitrios. Herr Bulic buys his beautiful wife an evening dress to wear to the Casino. The dress is a two-piece with a long black skirt and a long sleeve top covered in bugle beads. Except for a black velvet bow at the cleavage, it is identical to the one worn by Yvonne in "Casablanca" where she tells Rick "What a fool I was to fall for a man like you!"

Goofs
When Professor Leyden is in the cafe with the journalist inquiring about Dimitrios to the proprietress, at one point the band plays an instrumental version of the song Perfidia. This scene in the story takes place in 1938 as evidenced by the recent invitation to a party sent by Madame Chavez a few days before. The song, however, was published in 1939 and it became a hit in 1940, Therefore, the band is playing a song that didn't exist yet.

Quotes
Colonel Haki: But to me the most important thing to know about an assassination is not who fired a shot - but who paid for the bullet!

Crazy credits
Foreword: For money, some men will allow the innocent to hang. They will turn traitor....they will lie, cheat, steal...they will kill. They appear brilliant, charming, generous! But they are deadly. Such a man was Dimitrios.

Alternate versions
Also available in a computer colorized version.

Connections
Featured in Frightful Movie: The Mask of Dimitrios (1968)

Soundtracks
Waltz
(uncredited)
from "Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48"
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Played by the chamber orchestra during the party

User reviews74

Review

Featured review

holds up well after 58 years: suspense and intrigue

I saw this movie 3 times in blackout conditions in 1944 on the German front just before the Battle of the Bulge. That was 3 separate times and apparently it was the only movie on the whole front. I just viewed it again today, 2002, and showed not a bit of age. It is exciting though it is 75% talk and 25% action. But what talk: Greenstreet and Lorre!! All the parts are finely chosen and hand polished until they fit the space perfectly. They don't make them like this anymore. Put it with Casablanca, Maltese Falcon (Bogart one), Key Largo, etc. If you like these, you'll love the Mask. And Col. Haki is great and in a previous movie was played by Orson Wells, i.e., another Eric Ambler movie. It is the Balkans in 1938 and background shots are exciting. If you don't know Faye Emerson, you will wish you did. Rush out and rent it.