The Mask of Diijon

The Mask of Diijon is a 1946 American black-and-white film noir suspense film released from PRC Studios, directed by Lew Landers and featuring Erich von Stroheim, Jeanne Bates and William Wright.[1]

The Mask of Diijon
Theatrical release poster
Directed byLew Landers
Produced byMax Alexander
Alfred Stern
Screenplay by
  • Griffin Jay
  • Arthur St. Claire
Story byArthur St. Claire
Starring
Music byKarl Hajos
CinematographyJack Greenhalgh
Edited byRoy V. Livingston
Production
company
Distributed byProducers Releasing Corporation
Release date
  • March 7, 1946 (1946-03-07) (United States)
Running time
73 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Diijon, a tired magician, gives up his act to study the power of the mind. His wife Victoria, once supportive, now is struggling to pay bills. She urges her stubborn and older husband to return to the magic field where Diijon was considered one of the greats. He refuses but does reluctantly agree to do a hypnotism nightclub act at Victoria's urging. The act goes bad and he's laughed off the stage. He's convinced this is the handiwork of Victoria's ex-lover Tony Holliday. Later, Diijon finds that he does indeed have the power to control men's minds and begins to take revenge on the people he felt made him look like a fool. He hypnotizes his young wife to kill the man. Unfortunately for Diijon, things go horribly wrong.

The opening of the film features a memorable scene depicting a woman being beheaded, with a guillotine—then revealed to be a magic trick.

Cast

Reception

TV Guide rated it 1/4 stars and wrote, "Except for von Stroheim, the acting was barely adequate."[2] Writing in Horror Noir, author Paul Meehan said the film "manages to transcend its humble origins primarily through the star power of von Stroheim".[3]

gollark: I mean, they're an artist for it, who knows what crazy data collection Google has.
gollark: What thing isn't?
gollark: Quite high, since google spies on your preferred thingies.
gollark: I mean, if you want to sort them that way, that is.
gollark: If you must, just switch to "small sprite"/"big sprite".

References
  1. The Mask of Diijon at the American Film Institute Catalog.
  2. "The Mask Of Diijon". TV Guide. Retrieved 2015-04-07.
  3. Meehan, Paul (2010). Horror Noir: Where Cinema's Dark Sisters Meet. McFarland & Company. pp. 111–112. ISBN 9780786462193.
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