The Mask of Dimitrios

Tremendous beginning, but then it bogs down a bit in the middle and becomes awfully talky. Good cast, although Lorre does get rather shticky in places with his comic touches. Greenstreet and Scott are superb (the latter's lurking malevolence reaching Lee Van Cleef proportions).

Lorre and Greenstreet are awesome actors but the uninteresting plotting threatens to make the film a bit of a dud. It just never grabbed me.... which is probably for the best, as I would have found that highly inappropriate.

Melds a Citizen Kanian structure (writer trying to find out more about a dead man by interviewing people he knew before he died) with a thriller/noir plot. I was attracted to it by Lorre and Greenstreet, who I really like (especially Lorre), but Lorre's role in this (as a normal leading man) doesn't work. He's just much better as a villain or playing a weird, unsettling character. They also largely fail to build up Dimitrios as the Keyser Soze-esque legend of the underworld they are trying to.

The film uses a Citizen Kane-like structure to uncover the mystique surrounding a famous criminal, but Dimitrios himself is nothing more than a cheap hood willing to betray anyone at the drop of a hat, and thus his story never has the weight to prop up the surrounding narrative. The dialogue is flat and Zachary Scott is weak in his film debut, while Lorre and Greenstreet just suffer from playing bland characters with unconvincing motivations.

An absolutely fantastic proto-noir. It's Citizen Kane like storytelling with dual running plots flowing together for a satisfying reveal at the end. It's a very witty film thanks to Lorre and Greenstreet's chemistry. It's not as gritty as I typically like my noirs, but it is perfectly executed for what it is. If I must nitpick, it's noticeably filmed on the studio backlot and its story requires jet setting/train hopping. This contributes to the setting being less of a character and more of a b

"There is not enough kindness in the world." The The Maltese Falcon (1941) legacy continues with Peter Lorre & Sydney Greenstreet teaming again for The Mask of Dimitrios (1944). The story grew on me, but honestly, it took a while, which is why I didn't love it as much as many do. A little too slow in it's build-up. The duo was great, though. And the introduction of Zachary Scott was nicely done. Cool idea.

A little too convoluted but still interesting enough.

The framing device and the flashbacks never really fit together, the linking device being mostly idle curiosity on Lorre's part. The third, long flashback is a good story, but before it's hard to see why someone would be so interested in Dimitrios before that. It's probably a modern view, but I was waiting for a bigger twist and instead the film just sort of rode straight towards the ending.

When the film is all about Greenstreet and Lorre it is excellent. Even with Lorre a bit more subdued than usual, the two have good chemistry and it's a pleasure to watch them spar. Unfortunately the majority of the film isn't that, but rather a series of flashbacks Dimitrios. They're still good, though, a handful of short little stories about a scoundrel. Some of them are better than others but they're all entertaining and it builds up to a pretty good finale.

Okay thriller based on a great novel. Hamfisted direction and dated in some respects but carried by some very good acting from Greenstreet and Scott. Lorre, however seems miscast.

Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet are both fun to watch and have an enjoyable back-and-forth, Zachary Scott is fine, the situations are generally interesting, the film has a good aura of mystery to it. I don't have any complaints (the third act "reveal" is extremely obvious from the get-go, but so what?). It just didn't grab me that much. It's a pleasant way to pass some time, but I doubt any of it will linger with me and I feel no burning desire to see it again.