Peter Lorre is "Janos", an enthusiastic, honest, watch-maker who has arrived in New York from Europe hoping to make his way and bring his beloved "Marie" to join him. He alights on the kindly policeman "O'Hara" (Don Beddoe) who recommends lodgings for him and off he goes. Tragedy strikes though as one of his fellow residents is doing a bit of illicit cooking and "Janos" awakens, disfigured and unable to find a job. It's now that he encounters "Dinky" (George E. Stone) and soon formulates a plan to raise the money needed to have surgery on his face - and a life of petty crime beckons. It's all proving surprisingly easy for him and his accomplices until he, quite literally, bumps into "Helen" (Evelyn Keyes), a blind lady to whom he takes a shine - she cannot see his scarring and isn't going to judge him as so many others have. It's when he realises that he will have to wait fifteen years for the corrective surgery to (maybe) work that he decides to cease his life of crime and relocate to a quiet country cottage with "Helen". His erstwhile colleagues are less than impressed with that solution and it all builds to a duplicitous denouement that works really effectively. The production is all a bit basic, but that doesn't really matter - the story and the characterisation from Lorre are both solid and engaging. This isn't seen very often these days, but really is well worth an hour of your time.
Review of The Face Behind the Mask
