Mask of Dust ** (1954, Richard Conte, Mari Aldon, Peter Illing, Alec Mango) – Classic Movie Review 11,141

Director Terence Fisher’s 1954 black and white British Hammer Films action adventure motor racing drama Mask of Dust [Race for Life] is based on the novel The Last Race by Jon Manchip White, and stars Richard Conte, Mari Aldon, Peter Illing and George Coulouris.

Patricia Wells (Aldon) doesn’t like her American husband Peter Wells (Conte) endangering his life as a veteran racing driver on his desperate way back to the top, after his best friend ‘Pic’ Dallapiccola (George Coulouris) is killed during a race, in this European-set Hammer film, made in the days when the studio was concentrating on either radio spinoffs or (like this) routine adventures with minor or fading visiting American stars.

Mask of Dust [Race for Life] has some period and atmosphere appeal from the racing footage and appearances by real drivers like Stirling Moss, Reg Parnell, John Cooper, Alan Brown, Geoffrey Taylor and Leslie Marr, but the dodgy Italian accents of British actors don’t exactly help verisimilitude.

Also in the cast are Peter Illing, Alec Mango, Meredith Edwards, Stirling Moss, James Copeland, Edwin Richfield, Richard Marner, Tim Turner, John Welsh and Jeremy Hawk, plus, bringing on the authentic flavour, Raymond Baxter as himself and Paul Carpenter as the Racetrack Announcer .

The original film is titled Mask of Dust and runs 79 minutes but Race for Life is the US release, at 69 minutes (or 65 minutes in the re-release).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,141

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