The Masquerader (1933)

Ronald Coleman plays an MP addicted to drugs, and a double recruited to cover for him.

Director:

Richard Wallace

Writers:

John Hunter Booth (play), Katherine Cecil Thurston (novel),

Stars:

Ronald Colman, Elissa Landi, Juliette Compton

Cast

Cast overview:
Ronald Colman	...	Sir John Chilcote / John Loder, His Cousin
Elissa Landi	...	Eve Chilcote
Juliette Compton	...	Lady Diana Joyce
David Torrence	...	Fraser
Claude King	...	Lakely
Halliwell Hobbes	...	Brock
Helen Jerome Eddy	...	Robbins

Storyline

MP John Chilcote is addicted to drugs and its made his already unpleasant personality more so. When he lets down his party in Parliament by botching an important speech he walks out into a London fog and bumps into his identical cousin John Loder. When life - including a clinging mistress, a discarded wife, his demanding party bosses and his responsibilities as a gentleman - close in on him he chucks it all and finds his cousin in order to hide out in a drunken stupor. When his faithful servant follows him, the servant hits on the idea of Loder impersonating Chilcote until the latter can get his act together. Loder does, and gets emotionally entangled with Mrs. Chilcote and the mistress.

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Plot Keywords:

member of parliament | adultery | drug addiction | labor strike | scar | 

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Taglines:

WHICH OF THESE TWO MEN WAS HER HUSBAND? They looked alike! They talked alike! They acted alike! How could she tell that the one who made love to her was only a masquerader?

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 September 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Máscara do Outro

Filming Locations:

Samuel Goldwyn Studios - 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Version of The Masquerader (1922)

User Reviews

As long as you can accept the silly premise, it's a great film

The main plot idea in this film is that two cousins are completely alike physically--so much so that when one substitutes for another no one knows! Although this is a familiar film and TV theme (such as in "The Patty Duke Show"), it is rather stupid--cousins don't look THAT close to each other and how could they account for the same voice and mannerisms? My advice is to try to look past this impossibility and just enjoy this wonderful film. And, by the way, that's my same advice for another Ronald Colman film made just a few years later--where, in THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, you are expected to believe that distant cousins are spitting images! Now, provided you can look past all this, the film is actually quite good.

The film begins with Ronald Colman #1. He's a drug-addicted member of the British parliament and his party is disappointed in him again and again because he is almost totally incapacitated by the drug he drinks. They never really say WHAT it is--I assume it's Laudanum. Anyways, when this falling down addict discovers that he's got a long lost and identical cousin (Ronald Colman #2), he begs the cousin to take his place. Unfortunately, things do too well--as the longer the substitute pretends to be the once-great parliamentarian, the bigger his reputation becomes! To make things worse, Ronald Colman #1's estranged wife is now attracted to who she THINKS is her husband and Ronald Colmen #2 is too nice a guy to just sleep with her! The whole thing sounds a bit comedic, but it's not. However, it is a nice drama with romantic overtones.

What makes it so good is the wonderful performances by Colman (he is his usual erudite self) as well as good writing--particularly the ending which is NOT what you'd normally expect and increased my love for this film immensely.