Mask Of Dimitrios, The

A Gem of a Film Noir
It wasn't often that Peter Lorre was cast in a hero roll. That alone makes this a memorable movie. Add Sidney Greenstreet to the mix along with Zachary Scott as the very wicked and creepy Dimitrios and you've got a film noir classic. Peter Lorre plays a mystery writer who stumbles upon what he thinks is the ending of a story worth writing about, only to discover that the story isn't really over and that the ending might just include his death.

Peter L. and Sydney G. together again
A mystery writer traveling through Turkey gets caught up in the discovery of a floating corpse said to be that of the infamous Dimitrios.
The story of Dimitrios is told by Sydney Greenstreet among others to writer Peter Lorre through flashbacks . The mystery writer shows great interest and begins to research who Dimitrios was (is) and so begins a remarkable tale.
Zachary Scott plays the suave, slimmy thief and spy for hire. You do need to ask yourself why does Sydney keep showing up? Is the corpse really Dimitrios? A trail to find out begins with Lorre leading the way .
This movie was aka "A coffin for Dimitrios" in book form and translates into a great movie.
This film has just recently been released in dvd format but has bern shown on tv and cable for years. If anybody is interested its been available as vhs for years.
Heres a chance to see the wonderful Peter Lorre wearing the white hat as he did in "The Verdict". Also starring the great Sydney...

Lorre & Greenstreet at their best
This is a solid movie that I have waited for years to appear on DVD. I recently ordered it through the Warner Archive website (Sorry Amazon, but the day I ordered it, I checked, and it was still not cataloged here).

Generally the film quality was excellent. There were a few scenes where the light shifted to a darker image, then back to normal illumination - but this was the cleanest version I have ever scene. So I am pleased.

There was a trailer included. This was in a bit rougher shape, but it had the original Greenstreet narration. Many years ago I saw a trailer with an obvious announcer over-dub with assorted scenes from the movie. Pretty obviously done for either revival theaters or maybe the TV market. It was nice to see in the original style.

And yes, if they ever Blu-Ray it, I'll buy it again!

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