Review #11: The Mask of Diijon (1946) - Feature film

After all of this time reviewing shorts, I am proud to introduce my first review of a full-length film. I will be posting many of these, along with shorts, but as these take longer to write, they’ll be posted probably on a weekly basis. Regardless, I’ll be reviewing shorts, full length films, and other types of films, outlined in a much earlier post, which can be read here.

The first full-length film I am reviewing is the 1946 classic The Mask of Diijon. Classic not so much due to the popularity, but because it's a tried and true tale of the horrors of hypnotism.

Source: YouTube

Length: 1 hr, 12 minutes

Number of Ratings from IMDb: 96

Country of Origin: USA

Director: Lew Landers [The Raven, The Boogie Man Will Get You, The Return of the Vampire, The Mask of Diijon, Terrified]

Foreign poster - I feel it looks rather cool.

We begin with the beheading of a French woman (perhaps Mary, Queen of Scots?) as onlookers watch the morbid procession. But all is not as it seems, as suddenly the decapitated head smiles.

We learn then that this is all a trick, an act – one which kindly old Mr. Sheffield wishes to sell to Diijon, who, while once the most talented and famous of all magicians, is now retired, to focus on what he considers far more important matters (that being mastering the power of suggestion, i.e. hypnotism).

Believe me, this is about as happy as you'll see him.

Diijon’s wife and his friends are eager to get the retired magician to start up again, but to no avail; he is “no longer interested in gags, tricks, and illusions.” The wife, Vicky, planned the whole showing for him – she wrote the dialogue to the scene and spent days researching the proper clothing of the time. Why? She wants to get them back on their feet again. Ever since Diijon’s obsession with the theory of mind control, they’ve been making little money, to the extent of not having paid rent in their apartment for some time now.

Diijon, rather unkindly, rejects this. His friends are not happy with this, and Denise decides to speak her mind.

Denise and Danton

Denise: If you ask me - 

Diijon: But I’m not asking you!

Denise: Whether you like it or not, I’m going to tell you want I think of you!

Danton (pictured above), the husband of Denise, jumps in before his wife can speak her mind, stating that they shouldn’t get involved in his affairs. We then get the first introduction to Diijon’s cutting sarcasm.

Diijon: I’m deeply touched by your keen interest in my business. I thank you all most sincerely.

Danton and Denise then go off to the side, and vocalize pity for Vicky, whose been trying so hard to get herself and her husband back on their feet, and lambaste Diijon, calling him a “selfish egomaniac.”

Meanwhile, back at the building where Diijon, Vicky, Danton and Denise all live, a new boarder arrives – Tony Holiday, and he receives a warm welcome from Mrs. McGaffey. He and his performing partner, Guzzo, have a gig at a local eatery, and as such, decide to move in.

When Vicky gets back, we discover that she is old friends (and of course, more than that) of Tony’s. She introduces Diijon to him, and while Tony is extremely pleasant and polite towards him, Diijon rebuffs his kindness and excuses himself, leaving the two of them alone. 

She doesn’t stay to chat long; exhibiting the tendencies of a battered wife, she quickly leaves, following upstairs after her husband. After asking Mrs. McGaffey, she confides in him that while Vicky is a great wife, Diijon treats her like the “dirt under his feet.” Tony takes this hard, though he expected such.

She tells him he spends all day in his room, reading. When asked what he’s reading, she explains:

McGaffey: Loony nonsense, Tony. Like one I saw the other day. The power of the mind, or some such stuff. It’s hypnotism, that’s what it is. 

Tony: Well, what’s this hypnotism getting him? 

McGaffey: I wouldn’t know that, but it’s not getting me my rent.

We then cut to Diijon and Vicky, as he states “So that ridiculous, idiotic trash was your idea? You even had the nerve to try to involve me in anything as cheap as that.”

She combats him, complaining about all of the material he’s reading, and ponders aloud if it’s worth it.

Diijon replies in his all-too-blunt way.

Diijon: I won’t discuss it with you. You’re too stupid. 

He then accuses her of attempting to belittle him in front of his friends earlier. Vicky tries to explain he’s twisting things up in his mind, but Diijon refuses to hear it. All he wants is for the interference, as he puts it, to stop, so he can fully concentrate on his work (i.e. reading).

The conversation then shifts to money, and then to how he’s changed, ending with Vicky walking out of the room, implying she’s going to get herself a job.

Vicky: One of us to keep his feet on the ground – his head out of the clouds.

Diijon seems unconcerned about this, and as he begins petting his cat, the scene ends.

At the club, Tony and Guzzo are rehearsing their performance – Tony plays piano, and Guzzo, the violin (or another likewise instrument). Vicky comes in, invited by Tony, and chats with him.

Tony knows Vicky is down, and also failing to find employment (as she’s only been in show business, she doesn’t have much experience). He then offers to talk to the club owner, Alex, about letting Diijon perform an act or two. Vicky is doubtful that Diijon would agree, but allows Tony to speak to Alex about it anyways.

We now have the pleasure of meeting Alex, a greedy, yet pleasant enough man.

After saying he has no interest in signing on a magician, Tony plays around with him, saying that it was probably for the best, as the magician in question wouldn't want to work in a place like that anyways.

His pride of his establishment wounded, he stops Tony from leaving, asking what’s wrong with the place.

Tony: It’s just too small. You see, he’s used to working in the biggest in the country. 

Alex: Why don’t he work in them?

Tony [After some quick thinking]: Because, uh, he’s been sick.

Man, I love people like Alex. After buttering him up a bit more, he’s more than happy to sign on a magician for a “short time.”

Ever-eager to make more money.

After the meeting, happy it was successful, Vicky laments that all that’s left to be done is for her to talk Diijon into it, to which Toby says he wishes he could do it for her (ever the sweet guy).

Back home, Vicky informs Diijon about this, saying it’d be quick and easy money, and he could be back to his constant reading in virtually no time. After some deliberation (and seeing how little they actually have), Diijon grudgingly agrees. He asks the location, and Vicky writes the address on a piece of paper for him.

Unfortunately, a problem arises – on the back of the piece of paper, Diijon sees this:

It’s Tony’s invitation to the restaurant – completely innocent in nature, and yet this is the beginning of Diijon’s mind running wild. He already believed earlier that Vicky belittling him in front of Sheffield, Denise, and Danton. Knowing his wife is seeing Tony on a regular basis is enough to form a tiny seed of jealously and doubt. And boy, does that seed grow fast.

Later on, everyone is getting ready for Diijon’s performance – Sheffield is practicing his own trick, while Denise, Danton, and McGaffey are all dressed in their finest clothing, as a favor to Vicky (as they could care less about supporting Diijon).  With hopes all will go well, they head, in a group, to the restaurant.

Ever the showman (and one cannot deny he is good at is), Tony introduces Diijon as “perhaps the Greatest Magician of our Time.”

For tonight, Diijon will perform an act of hypnotism, and in fact, any member of the audience who can resist said hypnotism will receive $50 from the management. 

After some questioning whether or not a member of the audience would come up, Tony finds a girl, Nelly, who is semi-willing to help out with the trick.

Meanwhile, while Tony is busy hyping up the audience, we see that Diijon is clearly less than excited to be present at this, as he would call it, foolishness.

While not quite the showman Tony is (at all), Diijon shows his mastery over the act. With a commanding, deep voice, he begins to hypnotize Nelly.

The audience, despite Alex’s initial doubts, seems greatly impressed thus far. With Nelly’s body stone rigid, she is laid down on two chairs. Once one is removed, Diijon uses a ring to prove there are no wires or tricks in use.

Diijon loses focus for a split second, however, and the impression felt for the act before dissipates instantly, as Nelly falls to the floor.

In the backroom, while the audience is still laughing at Diijon’s failure, Denise claims that the “great magician” is nothing more than a charlatan. Alex angrily fires him against the pleas of Tony, who continues to vouch for him.

Diijon has a different take on this.

Tony [in regards to Diijon being fired]: I’m sorry

Diijon: You should be pleased. You engineered this to make small of me in front of my wife.

 Tony then gets angry at this accusation, and has some strong words for Diijon.

Tony: I’ll tell you why you flopped out there a few minutes ago: because you’re clumsy and out of practice. It’s your own fault and you know it. You’ve lost your touch. You’re through. You’re finished. You’re washed up.

Angrily, Diijon takes leave of this verbal abuse, and Tony apologizes to Vicky, but states that it had to be done.

Diijon finds himself walking through the misty streets, with echoes in his head of his recent failings.

After walking aimlessly around all night, he stops at a small café for a cup of coffee. Seconds after he gets in, however, another man follows, with intent to strip the café of its money.

While the robber is taking the money, Diijon begins to flash his lighter into his eyes.

Before too long, Diijon has successfully hypnotized him.

Once he is sure the robber is completely under his control, he has him surrender his firearm and give the money back to the overly confused worker behind the bar.

Believe it or not, this man isn't hypnotized.

After taking leave of the café knowing he can now absolutely hypnotize anyone he wishes, he tests his new-found abilities on a newsboy to make sure what he just did was not a fluke of nature.

After he is able to successfully hypnotize the second person in a row, he now realizes that he has the power he's been going after for so long. He begins to make his way back home, after being out all night.

Tony, over at Vicky's due to her worrying over Diijon, is chatting with her pleasantly enough. When she makes to get up, however, her necklace breaks, setting up the events to follow.

While Tony is saying he believes he can mend it, Diijon, who is, for the first time in the film, joyful, arrives at the boarding house, and virtually hops up the stairs, believing that things are finally coming together for him after all.

Tony is placing the necklace back on Vicky's neck, as such.

Diijon walks in, though, at the opposite direction of the above angle, and views the innocent action as this:

Of course, Diijon coolly dismisses any excuses given, and a small argument erupts, ending when Vicky angrily leaves the apartment, this time, for good.

When he tells Tony that she'll be back, Tony disagrees. Diijon smirks, however, and plays with his lighter, and Tony then leaves.

Believing that Tony and Vicky have both betrayed him, he then plans a revenge, which culminates to the end of the film. Though I won't go into details from this point on, I will post a few pictures of the second half of the film that spoke to me.

So, I found this film to be pretty decent. It's certainly no better or worse than other horror films of the time. In fact, this film felt like a more modern version of the 1931 classic Svengali. This film has some witty lines (as many of these older films seem to do, regardless of the genre). The quality is obviously on the lower end, but I don't feel it really makes a giant impact on this film.

Erich von Stroheim and William Wright (Diijon and Tony Holiday, respectively) were really good, I feel. Overall, I can't think of a disappointing actor in the film. The newsboy was a little goofy, but as he was being hypnotized, he was sort of supposed to be. Also, the ending is pretty solid too. In fact, a review on IMDb stated it's worth watching the whole film for the last 30 seconds. I don't think it's quite that fantastic, but it's definitely not bad.

If interested, this film can be purchased here, though I cannot vouch for the image quality of said DVD.

If you're a fan of poverty row horror films, I'd recommend checking this out. I found it pretty solid, at at times, even fun.

My rating: 7.5/10

IMDb page

Hope my first full-length review finds you well,

Michael