The Face Behind the Mask

John Nesbitt narrates this short subject, a "historical mystery" about 'The Man In The Iron Mask.' Made famous by Dumas novel, this short accepts the Dumas myth; in truth, the man who spent a lifetime in prison wore a mask of black velvet. The iron mask was promulgated by Voltaire, who never let accuracy get in the way of a good story. Neither did Nesbitt, nor Jacques Tourneur, the director of this MGM short.

Like most of the shorts which he was associated with, Nesbitt tells the story while the actors perform without speaking. He rose to celebrity as a radio man, narrating "The Passing Parade" from 1937 through 1949, and also a series of shorts with the same title for MGM. Tourneur was the son of Maurice Tourneur, a prominent director of the silent era, who started in France, went to America about 1914, and returned to France with the coming of sound. Jacques served as an assistant to his father on several movies, and made his bones as a feature director in France in 1930, then returned to the US. There he became a shorts director for MGM. He returned to directing features in 1939, almost always programmers, but always made them superior examples. His career tailed off in the 1960s ad he died in 1977, aged 73, in his native France.