A young couple attend a masked ball before their planned (but secret) elopement. Suddenly everything goes wrong when the young woman is attacked and held hostage by a crazed attacker.
Direction
Powell already showing his signature shadow play.
Costume
The masks! The gowns! The disguised identities!
Editing
Tight 55-minute runtime—no fat, all panic.
Director
Michael Powell
Hugh Williams
Nick Barclay
Jane Baxter
Lady June Slade
Ronald Ward
Jimmy Slade
Maurice Schwartz
The Master
George Merritt
Det. Insp. Mallory
Henry Oscar
Interpol Detective
Donald Calthrop
Dr. Harold E. Walpole
Kitty Kelly
Marian Weeks
Peter Gawthorne
Lord Slade
Reginald Tate
Allan Hayden
Ivor Barnard
Hewitt
Barbara Everest
Lady Slade
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was one of Powell's 'quota quickies'—films made fast to satisfy British government requirements for domestic production.
The 'crazed foreign villain' trope here reflects 1930s British anxiety about continental Europeans that Powell would later subvert in his wartime films.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
US
