i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

1932's "Behind the Mask" was the earliest Columbia title included in the hugely successful SON OF SHOCK television package of the late 1950s, reteaming Boris Karloff and Edward Van Sloan following the just-completed "Frankenstein" (shooting wrapped Nov 21 1931). Headlining is the studio's top workhorse, Jack Holt (father of Tim), playing an undercover FBI agent posing as a convict, pumping information from Jim Henderson (Karloff), part of the dope smuggling ring run by a mysterious 'Mr. X.' The somewhat dim Henderson hardly taxes Boris, who virtually disappears at the midway point (we later learn of his offscreen capture); the real revelation is seeing Edward Van Sloan in dual roles- he looks like himself in two scenes as Dr. Alec Munsell, involved in the FBI investigation, but is unrecognizable in heavy beard and glasses as Dr. August Steiner, chewing the scenery with great relish. It's a juicy, scene stealing villain, sounding very much like an evil Van Helsing, able to lawfully dispose of enemies through surgery on the operating table, rather than wielding a knife in the street, which would only attract attention. Lovely Constance Cummings finishes her third film opposite Karloff, following "The Criminal Code" and "The Guilty Generation," while Thomas Jackson, shortly after his successful pursuit of Edward G. Robinson's "Little Caesar," surprisingly comes to a bad end. Jack Holt went on to work with Bela Lugosi in a later Columbia, 1935's "The Best Man Wins" (and with John Carradine in 1942's MGM "Northwest Rangers"). Many viewers, particularly Karloff fans, grouse that it's not really a horror film, but there's certainly enough horrific touches to qualify for SON OF SHOCK, a solid pre-code melding of crime and chills. "Behind the Mask" made one appearance on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, July 8 1967 (followed by 1961's Mexican "Bring Me The Vampire").

Jack Holt, at this time, was Columbia's top star, helping, along with Frank Capra, to catapult the studio into the "almost" big time with films like "Submarine", "Flight" and "Dirigible". He was also their workhorse and a funny running gag in the biography "King Cohn" had various male stars going to Harry Cohn for a raise, of which he would agree provided they "don't tell Jack Holt". Holt started work on his latest action film "In the Secret Service" in November 1931 but when "Frankenstein" proved such a big hit, the story was changed to incorporate some gruesome scenes to justify it's publicity as a horror film and given the more ambiguous title of "Behind the Mask".This has a definite feel of a cliffhanger serial condensed into an tight hour and is a terrific little movie. At the film's start Jack Holt, as Jack Hart is in prison and has made a confidante of Henderson (Boris Karloff). Hart is planning a breakout that night and Henderson, who is due to be released in the lawful way, is suitably impressed and thinks his organisation could use him. But Hart is a secret service man who is on the trail of the elusive Dr. X, whose identity is hidden even from his own gang members. He is given a job as a chauffeur to Arnold (Claude King), a gang member who is having second thoughts about his own involvement - not so his daughter, Julie (Constance Cummings) who makes a friend of Hart and tries to help him in every way. Ruling the house is the dreaded Edwards (Bertha Mann in her last film), the right hand woman of Dr. X, who, when people get too hard to handle, books them into Eastlake Hospital for an "operation". This opens up the film for some pretty grizzly scenes - dithering Arnold has already been taken to the hospital but is dead by the time Jack and Julie arrive. Julie is then rushed to hospital for an emergency appendectomy where she amazingly overpowers her captors and rushes to save Hart when he is just about to undergo an operation without the use of anesthetic!!! "It is only when I begin to cut on the inside that you will realise an experience. To me it will be ecstasy"!! - fiendish is not too strong a word for Dr. Steiner (Edward Van Sloane), whose evil characterization was up there with Dr. Fu Manchu and the crazed doctor in "The Mystery of the Wax Museum".A lot of action is packed into the hour, which again gives it a Saturday morning serial feel - an operative (Thomas Jackson, from "Little Caesar") walks off to his death, Hart's duplicity is discovered and Henderson arranges an "accident" at sea and Arnold's body is dug up, only to find his coffin is filled with drugs. Beautiful Constance Cummings was an asset to any movie, she had real intelligence and was not just a pretty face. She gives a lot more to her role than was originally there and really fleshes out her part.Highly Recommended.

Although the film has Boris Karloff in it, he is not the star. Jack Holt stars in the movie though today few would recognize this star of the 1920s and 1930s. He died relatively young and his son, Tim, is more well known today.The film begins with Holt and Karloff in prison and they are talking about getting out--Holt is planning on breaking out and Karloff says he has some friends who will get him out, but is a bit evasive about what this means. A bit later, you see Holt pretending to escape--he apparently is some sort of government agent. Here is the crazy part--to make it look more realistic, he actually shoots himself in the arm in a scene that is a bit hard to watch. A short time later, Holt is able to insinuate himself into a criminal gang, as they buy his story about the escape. It seems that Holt's job is to infiltrate the gang headed by the mysterious 'Mr. X'! For the most part, this is a mindless sort of adventure film--the sort that makes no sense but has one crazy cliff-hanger sort of scene after another. It makes for a brainless but interesting sort of movie--the sort that kids at the time would have liked and parents would have tolerated (or at least tried). When seen today, however, I can't see anyone particularly enjoying this tripe--especially since Karloff lovers like myself just won't get enough of the actor's performance to make it worth our time. Cheap and silly--with little to recommend it.

This is real Saturday matinée serial stuff, the nonsense plot complete with a drug-running gang of baddies in thrall to a nameless boss that they contact by leaving a message on a primitive Dictaphone's answering machine. Holt is pathetic as a secret service man supposedly infiltrating the gang. Van Sloan plays a villainous M.D. who, for no reason that's apparent, spends his spare time hovering in a room with flashing lights and a Jacob's ladder. His make-up and accent have a distinctly Semitic (or anti-Semitic) shade, but his is the only performance of much interest in the film. The finale does have a nice moment. As Van Sloan prepares to perform a fatal operation on Holt, without anesthesia, he says, "You will be able to bear the pain as I cut through your skin" (demonstrating long cut with finger). "It is only when I cut into your inner parts that you will realize that you are HAVING AN EXPERIENCE!" He then quotes Nietzsche on unbearable pain, and says, "We will find out if this is merely an aphorism." In a intentionally cute switch, it is the girl who saves the nearly nude man bound to the operating table. (That's about all the talented Constance Cummings is given to do in this film.) The explanation of her sudden appearance–"How did you get here?" "His gun dropped to the floor and I grabbed it."–is about as perfunctory as the rest of the film. Is the leader of the Citizens Reform Committee secretly the head of the gang? What do YOU think?