On M List of Movie Reviews
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The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
6/15
6/15:
The Mask of Dimitrios marks the fifth film (out of eight) that Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet had starred in together.
As much as they throw their star power around, the movie isn't good. The problem lies in the imbalance of
the storytelling. There's too much attention on the two aforementioned stars but not enough on Dimitrios, who's played by
Zachary Scott in his motion picture debut, although he's never compelling enough to grab my attention.
Sidney Greenstreet's character, just like in The Maltese Falcon, talks too much, dragging down the pace,
while the oft sad-looking Peter Lorre, who seems to be miscast, is forced to put up with his loquaciousness.
The only interesting part during one of the flashbacks is when Dimitrios conned a Yugoslavic government official to obtain the
classified map charts of the minefields and then pulled a fast one on his employer. That's the problem with
the film: not enough of it.
The last ten minutes gives credence to the picture as a film noir, but there's hardly any shown in the first 85 minutes,
making it a weak addition to the said genre. The twist, which comes almost at the end, is predictable and thus not surprising.
All in all, The Mask of Dimitrios is an uneven suspenseful picture with boring dialogues that are occasionally
broken up by much appreciated flashbacks.