A lowly hospital orderly impersonates a recently deceased doctor and goes to work in the busy ER of a small hospital where he meets and befriends a nurse who slowly figures out his secret an... Read allA lowly hospital orderly impersonates a recently deceased doctor and goes to work in the busy ER of a small hospital where he meets and befriends a nurse who slowly figures out his secret and helps him maintain his charade.A lowly hospital orderly impersonates a recently deceased doctor and goes to work in the busy ER of a small hospital where he meets and befriends a nurse who slowly figures out his secret and helps him maintain his charade.
- Awards
- 1 win
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMatthew chuckles at the schoolboy who claims to have invented the quotation "The past is another country." This is actually a common misquotation of the opening line of L.P. Hartley's 1953 novel 'The Go-Between': "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."
- Quotes
Schoolboy: [discovers Matthew taking notes of Dr. Hennessey's class photos hanging in school hall] What are you doing?
Matthew Harris: I used to be a pupil here.
Schoolboy: I don't believe you. I could report you, you know!
Matthew Harris: I could probably break your neck.
Schoolboy: [pauses briefly] Yes, I expect you could. Why are you writing that down?
Matthew Harris: Old time's sake.
Schoolboy: The past is another country.
Matthew Harris: Who said that?
Schoolboy: I said it. I made it up, actually.
[Matthew smiles]
Schoolboy: What's funny?
Matthew Harris: Why did you think I wasn't a pupil here?
Schoolboy: Well... your clothes are rather cheap.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Press Gang: UnXpected (1992)
- SoundtracksThe Great Pretender
Written by Buck Ram (uncredited)
Performed by The Platters
Courtesy of Phonogram Limited
An intelligent film with something to say about ambition, and the protection of image & reputation, "Paper Mask" is quite gripping, especially once the story (John Collee scripted, based on his novel) is well underway and it starts to get quite dark and nasty. While McGann is able to make his character engaging, there's no hiding the fact that he's lacking in the compassion factor, something that the officious Dr. Thorn (Tom Wilkinson, "The Grand Budapest Hotel") has picked up on early in the game. When Matthew makes the decision to cold-bloodedly remove an obstacle in his path, any sympathy he might have earned before is completely gone.
More squeamish viewers will wince at the scenes in which Matthew mishandles various accident victims, and at shots of needles being inserted into hands and arms. That moment of the "doctor" trying to "help" a man with a bad hand wound is particularly distressing. But the overall film is just so good that viewers will find it worth their time to stick with it.
The acting is right on point, with the amiable McGann scoring as this rather immoral antagonist. Donohoe delivers one of her best film performances. The two of them are well supported by Wilkinson, Frederick Treves ("The Elephant Man"), Barbara Leigh-Hunt ("Frenzy"), and Jimmy Yuill ("Mary Shelley's Frankenstein").
As of this writing, there are only 10 reviews for "Paper Mask" at IMDb. So clearly it remains a little-known film that hasn't gotten its due. Producer / director Christopher Morahan ("Clockwise") and company definitely knew what they were doing, opening with McGann enjoying the strains of the classic Platters song "The Great Pretender".
Eight out of 10.
- Hey_Sweden
- Jul 19, 2020
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Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $7,991
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $6,123
- Dec 1, 1991
- Gross worldwide
- $7,991
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1