L'uomo senza volto

Rod Larocque is starring in the sound remake of one of the studio's great silent pictures. The original starred Conway Tearle and his wife, Gail Patrick, and was directed by Ian Keith. Tearle was bound for superstardom, but an accident claimed his looks, and shortly afterwards, another his life. The remake likewise stars Miss Patrick and her second husband, Mr. Keith, directs

However, Larocque has been getting threatening notes that he won't live to see the new picture. When he dies during the premiere, it turns out to be poison... and then, during the production of her next picture, a prop gun aimed at Miss Patrick turns out to hold real bullets.

It's a pretty good murder mystery, directed by Robert Florey, showing off the Paramount studio using a lot of Dutch angles. Florey spent his career as a good journeyman director, always trying out interesting shots, so much so that they dominated his pictures... and he never got much higher than the programmers. Paramount's wealth of talent, in front of and behind the camera helped make this a very watchable movie, with Karl Struss as DP, and a cast that includes Reginald Denny, George Barbier, Thomas Jackson and a wealth of faded but still skilled performers. Had this been a production at Fox or RKO or one of the minors, this would have been a top-grade A picture. At Paramount, it was just another interesting release.