• Source: The Mask of Diijon

The Mask of Diijon is a 1946 American black-and-white horror noir suspense film released from PRC Studios, directed by Lew Landers and featuring Erich von Stroheim, Jeanne Bates and William Wright.




Plot


Diijon, a tired magician, gives up his act to study the power of the mind. His wife Victoria, once supportive, now is struggling to pay bills. She urges her stubborn and older husband to return to the magic field where Diijon was considered one of the greats. He refuses but does reluctantly agree to do a hypnotism nightclub act at Victoria's urging. The act goes bad and he's laughed off the stage. He's convinced this is the handiwork of Victoria's ex-lover Tony Holliday. Later, Diijon finds that he does indeed have the power to control men's minds and begins to take revenge on the people he felt made him look like a fool. He hypnotizes his young wife to kill the man. Unfortunately for Diijon, things go horribly wrong.
The opening of the film features a memorable scene depicting a woman being beheaded, with a guillotine—then revealed to be a magic trick.




Cast


Erich von Stroheim as Diijon
Jeanne Bates as Victoria
William Wright as Tony Holiday
Denise Vernac as Denise
Edward Van Sloan as Sheffield
Hope Landin as Mrs. McGaffey
Mauritz Hugo as Danton




Reception


TV Guide rated it 1/4 stars and wrote, "Except for von Stroheim, the acting was barely adequate." Writing in Horror Noir, author Paul Meehan said the film "manages to transcend its humble origins primarily through the star power of von Stroheim".




References






External links


The Mask of Diijon at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
The Mask of Diijon at IMDb
The Mask of Diijon at AllMovie
The Mask of Diijon at the TCM Movie Database

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Producers Releasing Corporation
• The Mask of Diijon
• Jeanne Bates
• Horror noir
• Edward Van Sloan
• List of fictional hypnotists
• List of film noir titles
• List of horror films of the 1940s
• List of films: M
• John Zacherle
• Erich von Stroheim