Masken (1930)

While Stuart Webbs is at his club, he witnesses a robbery committed by an armed man in evening dress. The culprit escapes without being recognized. Webbs knows who he is, however: Jonny Stoll, who was once wrongly convicted in connection with a bank robbery and recently escaped from prison. Stoll’s real plan is to take revenge on the actual bank robber, a man named Breitkopf, and on the banker Clifford, who accused him in court at the time. The next day, Clifford is visited by a certain Professor Doux, an elderly gentleman who intends to buy oil shares. A little later, the banker is left tied up and gagged in his office. Then a markedly younger foreigner suddenly appears at the bank, this time wanting to sell oil shares. Could both men be Stoll? When Webbs goes to see Clifford, he finds the banker gagged and bound once more. Webbs wants to get to the bottom of the mysterious events, which he suspects are connected to Stoll. Disguised as a Chinese man, he goes to Pitt’s tavern, where Jonny Stoll has taken a small attic room with his girlfriend, Goldelse. Suddenly, the police arrive and conduct a raid. The “Chinese man” (Webbs) is knocked down as a ruse, and everyone present is then taken away. After coming round from his feigned unconsciousness, Webbs seizes the opportunity to visit Stoll’s hideout. He helps Jonny escape, firmly believing him to be innocent. A little later, the police return. With the help of Clifford’s fiancée, Elynor, the real culprit, Breitkopf, is arrested.