The Mask (1961) on Netflix
An ancient Aztec mask reaches Doctor Allan Barnes, a psychiatrist, by mail from his patient Michael Radin, who believed the mask was cursing him and causing his nightmares. Barnes wears it.
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- Netflix2.9/5
- IMDb5.8/101,276 votes
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Trailer
Plot summary
Michael Radin is a young archaeologist and a patient of Doctor Allan Barnes, a psychiatrist. Radin believes a mysterious ancient Aztec mask is cursed, that it causes his nightmares and that it may have driven him to murder. Before killing himself, Radin mails the mask to Barnes. Barnes puts the mask on and has dream-like hallucinations that grow increasingly disturbing and violent.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Mask (1961)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- New York advertisers Frank Taubes and Sandy Haber pitched a 2D film with 3D sequences to Julian Roffman and Nat Taylor without a script. Roffman called their 3D test footage "crap", and although the pair kept producer and writing credits, their only contribution was the idea for 3D effects.
- Slavko Vorkapich, who had developed montage sequences for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), wrote The Mask's dream sequences, but his ideas were too expensive and he worked slowly. They called for tanks of black ink, thousands of frogs and large amounts of mice, and the film became his last screenwriting credit before he died.
- Paramount offered $350,000 for The Mask, but Roffman's partner Nat Taylor chose Warner Bros.' lower offer because he believed they "were nicer guys". Paramount then offered Roffman a contract to make two more horror films, which he declined because he wanted to make more "serious" films.
- Raymond Spottiswoode, a friend of Roffman, developed a 3D system called Depth Dimension while working for the United Kingdom National Research Council, and The Mask was the first film to use it. The council rented the 3D cameras to Roffman and Taylor for £4,000 a week.
- The Mask was the first time a film entirely produced by Canadians received wide international distribution, handled by International Film Distributions in Canada and by Warner Bros. Pictures internationally.
- The Mask's 14 minutes of 3D scenes took eight weeks to shoot while the remainder of the film was shot in 16 days. The 3D scenes were shot in black and white but were printed using color film stock.
- The Mask has since gained a fan following and is now considered a cult classic, and it was featured in a season 13 episode of the cult science fiction series Mystery Science Theater 3000.
