The Mask of Dimitrios

In 1938, the Dutch mystery writer Cornelius Leyden travels to Istanbul to research his next book. A fan, Colonel Haki of the Turkish police, urges him to listen to the tale of Dimitrios Makropoulos, a notorious international intriguer whose body has washed ashore nearby. Leyden is immediately captivated by the stories surrounding the elusive figure.

Haki takes Leyden to a mortuary to view the body, a scene that strains the timid writer’s stomach. The grim encounter deepens Leyden’s fascination with Dimitrios’s reputation as a master criminal. He begins to suspect that Dimitrios’s life was more complex than any rumor.

Haki escorts Leyden to a local brothel where Irana Preveza, Dimitrios’ former lover, now runs the place. Irana recounts Dimitrios’s seductive rise, his sordid deals, and how a life of luxury collapsed when he turned to paid assassination. Her memories end in bitter tears as she recalls fleeing his shadow.

Leyden boards an overnight train to Sofia, sharing a cabin with a congenial obese Englishman. Upon arrival, he discovers the man ransacking his hotel room, and the intruder reveals himself as Peters. Peters rants about Dimitrios’s betrayal in a smuggling deal and hints at a plan to blackmail the now-respectable Paris banker with Dimitrios’s true identity.

From Sofia, Peters proposes to use Dimitrios’s hidden past to extort him once he is in Paris. Dangling a half-share of a million francs, he seeks to inveigle Leyden into his scheme. Leyden declines to be drawn into criminal plots, sensing a web spanning several European cities.

In Geneva, Leyden meets Wladislaw Grodek, a sophisticated former associate of Dimitrios. Grodek recalls how Dimitrios manipulated a meek government official to gain leverage, revealing the extent of Dimitrios’s duplicity. The encounter hints at a web of schemes that spans Europe.

Dimitrios’s wheelwork in Geneva exposes how he coerced a junior official into gambling debt and obtained a vital minefield chart. The official confesses and, overwhelmed, takes his own life. Dimitrios then double-crosses Grodek by selling the chart to a rival government, keeping ahead of both men.

Peters sends Leyden to Paris, intending to spring his trap on Dimitrios and collect a sizable payoff. The plan centers on exploiting Dimitrios's past and exposing his double life. Leyden, however, remains wary of being drawn into the scheme.

In Paris, Dimitrios shoots Peters twice when Peters reveals his demands and motives. Leyden lunges at Dimitrios, sending his revolver airborne. Peters, crawling to the gun, holds Dimitrios at bay, then orders Leyden to escape as three shots are heard.

Police arrive and take the garrulous Peters into custody after the tense confrontation in Paris. Over his shoulder, he bids Leyden farewell and asks him to send a copy of his book to him in prison. Leyden is left to continue his research, aware that the tale he pursues has deep, dangerous roots.