Meanwhile, Dimitrios, as his wont, double crosses his confederates by selling the charts to the Italian government.
He’s the one character in the film that touches one on a human level. His need to repay the gambling losses is used by Dimitrios and his associates to pressure him into stealing charts of Yugoslav minefields, and Bulic is left off-screen to ultimately confess to the authorities and commit suicide-exiting as he lived, barely leaving a ripple. Bulic is the embodiment of a repressed, meek, minor Yugoslav government clerk-a born victim with a younger, beautiful wife, who predictably treats him with disdain. The treasonous plot involves Dimitrios manipulating Karel Bulic (a quietly affecting Steven Geray) to lose a large sum of money gambling. His villainous deeds range from thievery, borrowing money from a lover and disappearing, to betraying a smuggling gang, and topping it off by committing treason. He has betrayed everybody with whom he has been in close contact. Nobody mourns or has a good word to say for this amoral rogue and mysterious double crosser. Leyden is so fascinated (grist for a new novel) by the tale of Dimitrios that he willfully sets out from Istanbul to discover the details of his life.
THE MASK OF DIMITRIOS HOW TO
Directed in a plodding manner by Jean Negulesco ( How to Marry a Millionaire), the film is set in motion by a Turkish Police Colonel Haki recounting a story to a visiting Dutch mystery writer Cornelius Leyden (a low-keyed, relatively diffident Peter Lorre) about an elusive arch criminal, Dimitrios (Zachary Scott in his first film role), whose supposed murdered body has washed ashore. The Mask of Dimitrios was adapted from a 1939 novel by Eric Ambler-considered one of Britain’s best pre-WWII spy-thriller writers-a precursor of Cold War spy narratives by Len Deighton and the estimable John le Carré. Produced by Henry Blanke directed by Jean Negulesco screenplay by Frank Gruber, based on a novel by Eric Ambler music by Adolph Deutsch cinematography Arthur Edeson edited by Frederick Richards set decoration by Walter Tilford starring Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson, Victor Francen, and Steven Geray.
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