The Purple Mask (1955)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It is set in 1803 , Reign of terror is over , France is governed by Napoleon as first Consul , there the royalist Purple Mask attacks revolutionary soldiers . As Napoleon orders detain the known highwayman Purple Mask who abducts officers for ransom and undercover he hides into a women's clothing house run by Angela Lansbury and inhabitated by lovely models as Laurette , gorgeous daughter of the pursued Duc De Latour : Paul Cavanagh . Tony Curtis is a supposed dandy foppish of the French court who assumes the identity of Purple Mask in order to outwit the French Republicans led by Napoleon, Robert Cornthwaite , who still uses the guillotine against members of the old nobility , and to aid innocent aristocrats after the French Revolution .Meanwhile , Curtis falls in love for the damsel in distress , Colleen Miller . A simple and known plot , as a wealthy foppish dancer , Tony Curtis , is not the fool he seems , but he results to be an expert swordsman who fights enemy and saves unfortunate people are about to be beheaded. A nice and brilliant picture that packs a colorful cinematography in Technicolor by Irving Glassberg , Universal International regular. As well as thrilling and evocative musical score by uncredited Hans J Salter and Herman Stein .This adventure movie contains swashbuckling , full of exploits , thrills , noisy action and a lot of fencing . At the end takes place the ultimate and impressive fencing duel between the dancing master Curtis and the cunning Dan O'Herlihy that is the highlight of the film . The fim mixes Scarlet Pimpernel created by Baroness Dorczy and Zorro by Johnson McCulley taking parts here and there . Tony Curtis is pretty good as Scarlet Pimpernel-lookalike in this stirring tale with a literacy and polish that places it several grades above such early swashbucklers and adventures movies also starred by Curtis as Taras Bulba , The Black Shield of Falworth , The prince who was thief and Son of Ali Baba . The motion picture will appeal to Tony Curtis fans who enjoys himself as a kind of Napoleonic Scarlet Pimpernel . Support cast is fine , such as the incombustible Angela Lansbury , Gene Barry , Allison Hayes , John Hoyt , Paul Cavanagh, George Dolenz and Robert Cornthwaite as an astute Napoleon .The motion picture was professionally directed by Bruce Humberstone who worked on several silent movies and he was able to make all kinds of genres without problems . He is known for making a lot of Charlie Chan /Warner Oland films as Charlie Chan at the opera , Chan at the race track, Charlie Chan in Honolulu , Charlie Chan at the Olympics . He directed Westerns as Ten wanted men, Lucky Cisco Kid ; Musical : Iceland, Hello Frisco; Comedy :Wonder man , Tall dark and handsome ; Noir film as Hot Spot and Aventure : Tarzan and Lost safari, Tarzan and the trappers, Tarzan fights for his life , King of the jungle and this The Purple Masked.Rating: 6/10 . Decent and acceptable picture

Try as he might Tony Curtis in his long career never really lost that Bronx speech pattern. It was the reason he got the horselaugh when he did these swashbucklers. He was so much better in modern dress and when The Purple Mask came out it was 2 years from his breakthrough part in Sweet Smell Of Success.In this film Curtis plays a Zorro like character who dons a purple mask and goes around freeing members of the old nobility. The Reign Of Terror maybe over, but the first Consul Napoleon Bonaparte still has a use for the guillotine to chop off a noble head or three.Which is where the Purple Mask comes in. By day Curtis is a dancing master as his Clark Kent/Don Diego self. But come the night he's Counterrevolution superhero The Purple Mask and one nasty customer with a sword. Curtis liked it enough all right. I think The Purple Mask was nothing to write home about. In his memoirs Curtis rather unfairly attacked Angela Lansbury who was at a low point in her career and was desperate for roles and appeared in this in a rather nothing part as a maid. She clearly said she did The Purple Mask for a paycheck. Curtis took the statement rather personally and was most unfair to Lansbury in his memoir.Other familiar faces in The Purple Mask are Colleen Miller, Gene Barry, Dan O'Herlihy and John Hoyt. I'm sure The Purple Mask was no high point in their careers.

As reviewer Mario Grauci points out, the screenplay for this historical drama bears a striking resemblance to that of "The Scarlet Pimpernel", released in 1934,and 1982. The protagonist, ably played by Tony Curtis, does at times wear a purple mask, though through most of the film, he doesn't. Instead he plays his unmasked self, as Rene de Traviere, or an imposter of himself as The Purple Mask. In all of these guises, he is a legendary foe of the Napoleon-led republic, hoping to restore the monarchy 10 years after the height of the Reign of Terror. Napoleon's henchmen are still ferreting out nobilities of the old monarchy. The P.M. is part of a Parisian cell of anti-republicans. Another of them is Laurette de Latour, played by cute Collen Miller. She much admires the work of The Purple Mask, but doesn't realize until near the end that he is also Rene, with whom she has had an up and down relationship. (It's hard to believe that people familiar with both the Purple Mask and Rene don't readily recognize them as the same person, with just a minimal mask to fool them. In the bargaining with Napoleon, at the end, these 2 are allowed to emigrate to England, though Rene doesn't promise he won't be back some day. They were saved from an imminent execution by a group of compatriots, who had entered the barracks housing the royal guards, at night, bound them, dressing themselves in their uniforms, and marching out as a unit when time for the executions. They brandished their rifles, taking the Minister of Police captive, as well as the famous swordsman: Brisquet, after he lost an impromptu rapier duel with Tony.The entry of the compatriots into the dormitory involved descending from an entrance into the underground sewer system, and traversing it until they reached the exit under the guard house, which they were able to pry open. How did they know when they were at the sewer entrance under the barracks? Also, they might have been gassed by toxic sulfurous emissions. This film was shot in Technicolor. However, the copy I saw at YouTube didn't have vibrant colors , like it should have had. This reduced my enjoyment of the film. The main reason for seeing this film is to experience the stars. They are at their peak of beauty. That's not to say the story isn't somewhat interesting. Tony, especially, made a good account of himself: in debonair looks, acting and speaking . His fencing looked quite professional: a good replacement for Errol Flynn. He makes money for the rebels, by kidnaping important people in the republic and ransoming them. He uses most of the money to buy the freedom of royalist rebels and fund other rebel activities

That's the third time I watch it. I have it in a widescreen edition, taped off from french TV in the early nineties. Universal stuff, in the early days of Tony Curtis' career. I will put it on the same scale as BLACK SHIELD OF FALSWORTH or PRINCE WHO WAS A THIEF. Entertaining movie but not for the history buffs; real, actual history events specialists, I mean. I am not a historian myself, but this kind of movie is always filled up with anachronisms. And the most laughable is at the beginning of this picture, when a man on a carriage crosses a forest, in the 1803 France, and when we can hear monkeys squeals in the trees. IN 1803 France !!!, as if we were in the Africa !!! As if we were in a Tarzan adventure.As far as I know, Bruce Humberstone - the director - has never made any more movie for Universal Pictures. But perhaps I am wrong. He was rather a Twentieth Century Fox "yes man". And he made especially comedies and Charlie Chan adventures, except FURY AT FURNACE CREEK, TEN WANTED MEN - westerns - and the famous I WAKE UP SCREAMING, a great film noir, starring Betty Grable, Victore Mature and Laird Cregar.