cult film freak: RICHARD CONTE DRIVES HAMMER'S RACE VEHICLE 'MASK OF DUST'

Written by James M. Tate / 5/06/2025 / No comments / british , fifties , george coulouris , hammer films , james copeland , mari aldon , melodrama , race car , terence fisher

RICHARD CONTE DRIVES HAMMER'S RACE VEHICLE 'MASK OF DUST'

5/06/2025 | No comment

Title: MASK OF DUST Year: 1954 Rating: **

One of the greatest titles for a race car movie, Terence Fisher's pre-horror Hammer MASK OF DUST settled stateside for the blandly retooled RACE FOR LIFE, and yet, neither really fit the actual movie...

Starring American crime-genre actor Richard Conte, perhaps Interior Conversations of Exterior Driving would fare better to what's a stagey melodrama with real and/or rear-projected racing shots where Grand Prix drivers fight to survive...

Richard Conte in MASK OF DUST

Leading lady Mari Aldon plays the suffocating wife of Conte's has-been driver, whose veteran buddy/mentor George Coulouris is on the verge of retirement, and it's highly predictable things won't go well...

But Conte's racing rival and especially his intense mechanic (James Copeland) have the most potential, and if more time was centered on them instead of the unfulfilled wife, this MASK would reveal more of the sport being covered: one that's always difficult, no matter how low or high the budget, to successfully crossover onto the big screen.

Richard Conte in MASK OF DUST

George Coulouris in MASK OF DUST

Mari Aldon in MASK OF DUST

James Copeland in MASK OF DUST

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Tags : british , fifties , george coulouris , hammer films , james copeland , mari aldon , melodrama , race car , terence fisher

James M. Tate

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