Title: The Master Diijon
Product review: Though intended as crime drama, this offbeat offering has as much to do with horror as noir. Von Stroheim, with his sinister squint and creepily cocked fedora, seems a preternatural presence as he skulks through the story, somehow hypnotizing the hapless into uncharacteristic performance. Modern viewers may find themselves tottering toward helpless tittering as he uses flicks and flashes from a lighter to mesmerize his foils. In the mid 40's, though, such a premise probably seemed less preposterous, and von Stroheim's Prussian mien must have exuded a milieu that tweeked the xenophobic. Seen from this perspective, the film may be of interest as a sort of period piece--and, regardless, it does have Erich von Stroheim...and a noirishly nifty finale!
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