Crown v. Stevens + Behind the Mask (aka The Man Behind the Mask)

A film noir-ish thriller about a young man drawn into a murder plot.

  • Director

    Michael Powell

  • With

    Beatrix Thomson, Patric Knowles, Glennis Lorimer, Reginald Purdell, Googie Withers

  • UK 1936. 65min

  • Digital 4K

  • Certificate

    PG

Powell’s penultimate quota production was this proto-film noir for Warner Bros., stylishly shot by Basil Emmott. Patric Knowles stars as a naïve young man who becomes embroiled in the murderous, money-hungry scheming of his boss’s wife, played with real femme fatale relish by Beatrix Thompson, a renowned theatre actress appearing here in her only starring role for the cinema.

+ Behind the Mask (aka The Man Behind the Mask)

  • Director

    Michael Powell

  • With

    Hugh Williams, Jane Baxter, Ronald Ward

  • UK 1936. 55min

  • Digital 4K

Crucial for being the film that introduced Powell to The Edge of the World producer Joe Rock, Powell’s final quota film was this bizarre thriller of masked balls, kidnapping and master criminals. It was long considered lost and listed on the BFI’s ‘Most Wanted’ list, but a 16mm print of a truncated version survived at the George Eastman Museum, and it is from that print that this new scan was taken.

James Bell

Remastering has been supported by Matt Spick and the Charles Skey Charitable Trust.

Both available on BFI Player