NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Imprint Blu-ray (June 2021): Imprint have transferred Robert Florey's The Face Behind the Mask to Blu-ray. It is cited as being a "debut in stunning HD". It looks marvelous; plenty of grain, surprisingly tight visuals with only a few inordinately soft sequences. There are speckles and surface marks but overall this has reasonably rich black levels and a highly pleasing appearance in 1080P. There are even instances of depth - overall it far exceeds expectations on a dual-layered disc with a very high bitrate. Columbia prints are usually in excellent condition and this is no exception.

NOTE: We have added 76 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Imprint use a linear PCM dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. It authentically flat with only the apartment fire and airplane sequences carrying any depth. There is an uncredited score by Sidney Cutner (Those Redheads From Seattle, and part of the music department for Gun Crazy and Rear Window) sounding dramatic and subtle in the appropriate moments. Imprint offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Imprint Blu-ray offers a new (2021) commentary by Alan K. Rode  - a consistent Noir commentarists who has written biographies of Michael Curtiz and Charles McGraw. He is always well-prepared and exports stories and anecdotes involving Peter Lorre (drug addiction), Evelyn Keyes (marital issues), Robert Florey (missing out on Frankenstein), the censorship issues, and more. Rode posits the questions is The Face Behind the Mask a melodrama?, film noir?, horror? or all three. He reads excerpts from reviews and bios and always has interesting details to relate. He discusses how this often recalls 1990's Darkman (Liam Neeson) and makes extraneous connections to many other films with the cast, crew and more. It is, predictably, excellent. There is also, from Rode, a new Peter Lorre: An Appreciation 24-minute interview with the film historian discussing the highly interesting career of the, iconic, incomparable character actor. This wouldn't be complete with a 20-minute Kim Newman interview on The Face Behind the Mask providing his own interesting take on this 1941 gem. He is golden. The package has a limited edition slipcase.   

Peter Lorre's The Face Behind the Mask is, in many ways, a perfect genre-mix film. Perhaps a personal preference - but I love these short, economical, vintage efforts especially involving a corrupted protagonist, obvious but effective melodrama and an especially visually-censored horror element... that has a magnificent Peter Lorre and blind-girl next-door Evelyn Keyes!  Vintage film fans should be chomping-at-the-bit over this essential, re-watchable Imprint Blu-ray with it valued new commentary and two video extras. Abso-posa-lutely recommended!

Gary Tooze