THE PURPLE MASK (1955)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *sociological*

While PURPLE MASK is still a B-level swashbuckler, made when Tony Curtis had yet to become a major star, it's certainly not a cheapjack affair like the recently reviewed FLAME OF CALCUTTA. The players, whether celebrated at the time or not, included such figures as Angela Lansbury, Dan O'Herlihy, and Gene Barry, and the staging of the swordfights is handled with as much panache as one of the A-level films of the thirties.

The story is based on a 1913 French play, itself probably indebted to the "Scarlet Pimpernel" books and movies of the previous decade. Where the Pimpernel concerned himself with saving royal figures from the merciless guillotine during the Terror, the Purple Mask devotes himself to saving royal figures victimized during the later era of Napoleon (who is one of the key villains, played here by Robert Cornthwaite). There's never any stated reason as to why he happens to wear a face-mask of this particular color, though it may be of interest that purple is said to be the color of royalty. The Mask's main focus is not just rescuing victims; he irks those in power by kidnapping significant potentates of the new regime and forcing their allies to pay out hefty ransoms (all to be used for some far-off royalist program). 

However, the Mask seems to be off-camera for most of the film. Some of his allies, who don't know who he is, decide to hoax Napoleon by luring a young man, Rene (Curtis), into posing as the crusader to take the heat off the real hero-- even if that means letting the young fellow go to the gallows. However, Rene eludes execution, and to no audience member's surprise, he turns out to be the real mystery-man, who didn't approve of his allies' plans and decided to "become his own substitute." This plotline, which concentrates more on evasion than on violence, probably played well on stage, but said plot proves a slow one for a colorful swashbuckler movie. There's also a romantic subplot, when a young woman falls for Rene and tries to prevent his sacrifice.

This timekiller is largely significant for its place in Curtis's early career. On a side-note, there was a 1916 serial with the identical title, directed by the elder brother of John Ford, but the serial has nothing to do with the play and seems to contain no similar content.