The Mask of Diijon

Erich von Stroheim stars in The Mask of Diijon from 1945, directed by Lew Landers.

Diijon is a former magician who is studying the power of the mind, to the dismay of his partner and wife Victoria (Jeanne Bates). She can't find a job, and he refuses to work. When her ex-accompanist Tony (William Wright) shows up, he arranges for them to work at his club. It's a disaster, but Victoria stays on as a singer.

Thoroughly jealous of Tony, Dijjon tries a hypnosis technique out, then hypnotizes Victoria so her song will end in a spectacular manner.

Lousy cheap production but von Stroheim is always effective. And of course learning hypnosis from a book and convincing people tondo all manner of things is ridiculous.

However, as others have pointed out, the finale is not to be missed! Total genius. Splendid performance by Sheba the cat.

Erich von Stroheim's acting career often saw him playing some kind of variety-act performer: in THE GREAT GABBO (1929), which I own but have yet to watch, he was a ventriloquist; in THE GREAT FLAMARION (1945), an expert marksman; and here, as in the French-made L'ALIBI (1937; which I have now acquired), he dabbles in mind-reading (though, in this case, he starts out as a magician who 'trips up' in front of an unforgiving audience and is humiliated – to the consternation of his heavy-set promoter, who has no qualms about receiving guests at home while slumped on a bed in his tank top undershirt!). Incidentally, most sources give the film's title as THE MASK OF DIJON, so that I was surprised to notice the extra "i" in the credits! While the script makes no particular exertion on the star's immense talent, his commanding presence and accented delivery of lines is more than enough for him to create a memorable character nonetheless (making good the publicists' dubbing of the former auteur as "The Man You Love To Hate"!); interestingly, just as he had been flanked by Dwight Frye in THE CRIME OF DR. CRESPI (1935), this time around Edward van Sloan is on hand to evoke that distinct Universal Horror flavor (the director having previously helmed THE RAVEN [1935] for that studio, despite the film under review itself bearing the low-rent PRC logo)! The one other strong point here, in fact, is the atmosphere (aided by alternately odd and menacing camera angles, expressive night-time lighting and even fast cuts during an especially tense and paranoid moment for Stroheim's character). While the remaining supporting cast is weak – fatally, the young leads whose innocuous romance sends the unbalanced yet egomaniacal protagonist off the deep end – it does include Denise Vernac, the star's current real-life partner, as another down-on-her-luck entertainer. Throughout, Stroheim hypnotizes a number of people – among them driving Vernac's associate/husband to suicide and a stick-up man at a diner who immediately returns the dough to the befuddled proprietor – but his efforts to dispose of his amorous rival (again, and much like in the afore-mentioned CRESPI!) ends in disaster, and death for himself…here meted out in unforgettable, and most ironic (given the film's opening sequence), fashion: let me just say it involves a guillotine and a playful kitty and leave it at that!

Deserves a fairly good rating because it has a very skillfully set up and well done ending. Once in a while a golden nugget of movie brilliance can be found lodged within a cheap forgotten film. The ending of this one is such a nugget.

Most of the cast is lively if not memorable and they are better than the film itself. They keep it watchable despite the drabness of the PRC production values and undoubtedly rushed filming schedule. Von Stroheim is his usual menacing self and does a good job in the title role.

Von Stroheim is effective but the hypnotism techniques used in this film are rushed and not well thought out. Despite many such weak elements "The Mask of Diijon" holds together and moves along in a fairly well paced linear b-movie style. Its not a terrible example of the dark 1940's b-movie creepy murder genre, and certainly worth a look.

World famous stage magician Diijon (Erich Von Stroheim) has retired, having performed the greatest trick of his career: getting babe Victoria (Jeanne Bates) to marry him. Diijon now dedicates his time to studying the power of suggestion and hypnotism, but treats his wife like dirt, which leads to the poor woman leaving, becoming a singer and teaming up with dashing musician Tony Holiday (William Wright).

Consumed with jealousy, and having finally perfected his powers of mind control (testing his ability by disarming a stick-up artist and commanding a man to commit suicide), Diijon hypnotises Vickie into shooting Tony in front of an audience at the Romany Gardens restaurant.

A poverty-row B-movie from PRC, The Mask of Diijon is a rather routine potboiler lifted somewhat by a commanding performance by Von Stroheim, who lives up to his nickname 'The Man You Loved to Hate': Diijon is dour, cruel, menacing and thoroughly unlikeable, which makes the film's finalé, in which the miserable mesmerising magician meets a grisly fate, suitably satisfying.

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Erich von Stroheim plays Diijon, a retired stage illusionist who mistreats his young wife. When he attempts a comeback he is over-confident and makes an embarrassing error.

Diijon then learns hypnotism from a how-to book and sets out to avenge himself on those he feels have wronged him, including his now estranged wife and the man who is making a play for her.

There are plot holes galore, but the ending is top stuff.

Well worth a watch.