Best movie of this year hands down!

I'll tell you why so serious

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

More plot holes than a 12 chapter serial, this crime drama is a disappointment because of its massive convoluted attempt at telling a story. Aging hero Jack Holt is a double agent, in prison on an attempt to foil a drug ring. He leads fellow prisoner Boris Karloff into a trap along with crooked doctor Edward Van Sloan. Karloff quickly figures out what Hokt is up to but his attempts at silencing him are quickly prevented by a magical dummy. Pretending to be dead gives Holt a chance to expose the crooked men behind this plot as well as move in on the pretty heroine, Constance Cummings, whose father is an unwilling participant. Made at first to look like a spooky thriller, complete with an imperious nurse who is always lurking, this suffers from very slow pacing and monotone line delivery. One of the least interesting of pre-code crime dramas, this wouldn't even be a curiosity if it wasn't for the presence of Karloff in a supporting role.

Ah, there's nothing like a good old-fashioned creepy & atmospheric horror tale from the early nineteen-thirties starring the almighty Boris Karloff! Be forewarned, however, that this "Behind the Mask" is not really a horror movie and that Karloff in fact only plays a supportive character – albeit quite a menacing one. Does that mean that the film isn't worth checking out? Nope, not at all, because "Behind the Mask" definitely does contain quite a few sinister twists and details in its overall very ambitious and compelling crime/mystery screenplay. A whole bunch of elite federal agents are trying to unravel a large-scaled drug smuggling network led by the nefarious Mr. X. Special agent Jack Hart takes the identity of small thug Quinn and goes undercover in a state prison where he meets Jim Henderson (Karloff); one of Mr. X's principal henchmen. The organization of Mr. X is most certainly evil, as the criminal mastermind also runs an unorthodox clinic where the patients are murdered and their coffins stuffed with narcotics. The script from the hand of Jo Swerling – also the writer of Hitchcock's "Lifeboat" – superficially seems extremely ambitious, but rather many elements are nevertheless tacky (like the forced love-story between the secret agent and one of the minions' daughter) and/or predictable (for example the identity of Mr. X is not really that secretive). Top-billed stars Boris Karloff and Jack Holt are decent enough, but the show is stolen by Edward Van Sloan in a fiendish double role, and by Bertha Mann! She depicts a creepy maid who's strategically put in the house of Dr. X's unreliable collaborators. She closely observes everyone in the house and reports to her employer via a radio installation in her room.

Jack Holt escapes from prison and follow the advice of his friend Boris Karloff to go see a certain man if he wants to remain free and make lots of money. Holt does so and soon finds himself working for a mysterious Mr X, who is running a large criminal operation. Holt however is no cook, he is instead a federal agent seeking to break a drug ring.Made prior to the release of Frankenstein this is a film with Boris Karloff in one of his henchmen supporting roles. He's good but a bit over active. The real star here is Jack Holt who was a big star in the silent days and who's career slowly faded once sound came in. I've always liked Holt and felt he was under appreciated by most people who know who he was (The problem is that most people have no idea at all who he was). Holt here is a rugged leading man and a nice man of action. He is in short the perfect hero.The film itself is quite good. Going from big house, to country house to doctors office, this is a thriller that keeps you guessing and keeps you interested. Its nice to see a movie that isn't so formulaic that you can connect the dots and know who is doing what before you're told. The action when it comes is well done and there is generally a good amount of suspense, especially in the final moments as it is uncertain if or how out hero will escape the villains clutches.Worth searching out and perfect for a nice double or triple feature on a dark and stormy night.

What must have started life as a pretty ordinary crime picture is dressed up for the box office with some of the popular flourishes of the day such as electronic gadgets and a mysterious criminal mastermind.Karloff gives excellent value as villain's chief henchman and thankfully gets plenty of screen time.Although director and cast were all well experienced in pictures, the performances tend to be on the dull side, particularly Jack Holt in the lead. The pace of individual scenes is a little slow too, almost as if everyone concerned were making a conscious effort to hold back from the excesses of the silent days.No classic, but you could do worse.