Is it public domain?
The Face Behind the Mask is one of my all-time favorite movies. I'm just wondering if anyone knows how to prove whether or not it is public domain. The people that sold me a DVD of it via Ebay claim it is.
shareI don't know if it's in public domain, but the DVD distributor is one of the off-the-beaten-track ones...for some reason I had this in my mind as an RKO production but I see here that it was from Columbia. Might be interesting to write to Sony to see if it's still under Sony/Columbia ownership, though I doubt it's a film they'd give much consideration to going to the expense of releasing on DVD.
I saw parts of this film on late-night television, well over 35 years ago, but don't recall ever seeing it in its entirety -it literally popped into my mind within the last 24 hours, after I hadn't given it a thought in, well, decades (I'd even mentally abbreviated the title to BEHIND THE MASK), and I'd kind of like to see it again. A similar film from the 1950s was FACE OF FIRE, which I think featured Cameron Mitchell and was based on a short-story by Stephen Crane titled "The Monster" - another one I'd like to revisit after so long.
"I don't use a pen: I write with a goose quill dipped in venom!"---W. Lydecker
Turner Classic Movies is scheduled to run this film at 4:15 a.m. EST on Dec. 3.
I'm sure Sony/Columbia still owns this film, as Columbia seems to be the sole producer of it and the company still possesses countless other films it made during the same time period.
TCM is beginning to show quite a few old Columbia films, by the way. They recently ran "Creature With the Atom Brain" and are airing "The 27th Day" on Jan. 1.
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I just finished watching Face Behind the Mask on TCM - the print was gorgeous and supposedly it will be coming out in a Peter Lorre set from Sony. Crime and Punishment and Island of Lost Men are also in the set I believe. However, this was cited as forthcoming nearly two years ago and I haven't seen anything on it since.
I mentioned Face of Fire not long ago in a post on the Classic board but no one seemed familiar with it. I haven't seen it since 1966 when it aired on WOR's "Supernatural Theater" but it remains in my head as a most-impressive sleeper.
It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me
I recorded The Face Behind The Mask when TCM showed it today. I remember seeing it as a kid on tv and being really fascinated by it, just thought Lorre was wonderful, and I can't wait to watch it again. I also saw Face of Fire as a kid too, and it made a big impression on me. I haven't seen it since I was in grade school, but if memory serves, James Whitmore is a jovial man about town at the turn of the century who saves some kid from a fire, but has his face horribly burned in the process, and the town really turns its collective back on him after that. I remember vividly one sequence wherein he dresses up in his pre-burned face dandy duds and tries to have a night on the town, just as if there was nothing wrong, it really impacted me as a young boy.
shareI missed this Face Behind the Mask but also saw Face of Fire years ago, like the late 1970s, late at night. It was an unusual film, something like it was produced in Sweden? The ending, with the fire bell going off, is very memorable.
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