''Mask of Dust'' (later named 'Race for Life' ) is a 1954 British
motor racing
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by
Terence Fisher
Terence Fisher (23 February 1904 – 18 June 1980) was a British film director best known for his work for Hammer Films.
He was the first to bring gothic horror alive in full colour, and the sexual overtones and explicit horror in his films, ...
and starring
Richard Conte
Nicholas Peter Conte (March 24, 1910 – April 15, 1975), known professionally as Richard Conte, was an American actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from the 1940s through 1970s, including '' I'll Cry Tomorrow'', ''Ocean's 11'', and ''Th ...
,
Mari Aldon
Mari Aldon (born Marija Aldona Pauliutė; 17 November 1925 – 31 October 2004) was a Lithuanian-born American actress.
Early life
Mari Aldon was born in Tauragė, Lithuania. Her father Antanas Paulius was a policeman, mother Antanina (Antos ...
and
Peter Illing
Peter Illing (4 March 1899 – 29 October 1966) was an Austrian-born British film and television actor.
Selected TV series
* '' Deadline Midnight'' (1961) as Captain Dnieprovsky
* '' The Saint'' (1962) as Inspector Buono
Filmography
* '' The S ...
. The film was based on the 1953 novel ''The Last Race'' by
Jon Manchip White. It was produced by
Hammer Films at the company's
Bray Studios
Bray Productions was a pioneering American animation studio that produced several popular cartoons during the years of World War I and the early interwar era, becoming a springboard for several key animators of the 20th century, including the ...
as a
programmer.
[Chibnall & McFarlane p.82] The film's sets were designed by the
art director J. Elder Wills
James Ernest Elder Wills (1900–1970) was a British person who had a lengthy career in the film industry.
He mainly worked as an art director, but he also worked in other roles, including director.
Films he was involved in include '' Tiger ...
. It was released in the United States by
Lippert Pictures Lippert Pictures was an American film production and distribution company controlled by Robert L. Lippert.
History
Robert L. Lippert (1909-1976) was a successful exhibitor, owning a chain of movie theaters in California and Oregon. He was frustrate ...
as ''Race for Life''
Synopsis
A freestyle racing driver must choose between his love for racing, and his wife. His friend's accident will help him to choose, and his loyal ways will get him a new friend - his main rival.
Cast
*
Richard Conte
Nicholas Peter Conte (March 24, 1910 – April 15, 1975), known professionally as Richard Conte, was an American actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from the 1940s through 1970s, including '' I'll Cry Tomorrow'', ''Ocean's 11'', and ''Th ...
as Peter Wells
*
Mari Aldon
Mari Aldon (born Marija Aldona Pauliutė; 17 November 1925 – 31 October 2004) was a Lithuanian-born American actress.
Early life
Mari Aldon was born in Tauragė, Lithuania. Her father Antanas Paulius was a policeman, mother Antanina (Antos ...
as Patricia Wells
*
Peter Illing
Peter Illing (4 March 1899 – 29 October 1966) was an Austrian-born British film and television actor.
Selected TV series
* '' Deadline Midnight'' (1961) as Captain Dnieprovsky
* '' The Saint'' (1962) as Inspector Buono
Filmography
* '' The S ...
as Tony Bellario
*
Alec Mango
Alec Mango (16 March 1911 – 7 November 1989) was an English actor. He is best known for portraying El Supremo in the 1951 ''Captain Horatio Hornblower'', he also appeared in '' South of Algiers'' (1953), ''The Strange World of Planet X'' (195 ...
as Guido Rosetti
*
James Copeland as Johnny Jackson
*
George Coulouris
George Alexander Coulouris (1 October 1903 – 25 April 1989) was an English film and stage actor.
Early life
Coulouris was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, the son of Abigail (née Redfern) anNicholas Coulouris a merchant of Greek o ...
as 'Pic' Dallapiccola
*
Meredith Edwards as Laurence Gibson
*
Edwin Richfield
Edwin Richfield (11 September 1921 – 2 August 1990) was an English actor.
Career
Richfield starred in the television series '' Interpol Calling'' (1959). He was '' The Odd Man'' in Granada Television's series of the same name in the early 1 ...
as Reporter in Lounge
*
Richard Marner
Richard Marner (born Alexander Pavlovich Molchanov, russian: Александр Павлович Молчанов, translit=Aleksandr Pavlovič Molčanov; 27 March 192118 March 2004) was a Russian-British actor. He was probably best known for h ...
as Hans Brecht
*
Tim Turner
Tim Turner (7 September 1924 – 1987) was an English actor who performed during the 1950s and 1960s.
Life and career
He was born John Freeman Turner in Bexley, Kent. Before becoming a film and television actor, Turner was a popular leading ...
as Alvarez
*
Jeremy Hawk
Jeremy Hawk (20 May 1918 – 15 January 2002) was a character actor with a long career in music halls and on London's West End stage.
Early life
Hawk was born Cedric Joseph Lange in Johannesburg, South Africa; his father was a matinee idol wh ...
as Martin
*
Stirling Moss as Stirling Moss
*
Reg Parnell
Reg or REG may refer to:
* Reginald (disambiguation)
* Reg or desert pavement
* Raising for Effective Giving, a charity
* Random event generator (parapsychology)
* Raptor Education Group
* Regal Entertainment Group
* Regular language
* .reg MS W ...
as Reg Parnell
*
John Cooper as John Cooper
*
Alan Brown as Alan Brown
*
Leslie Marr
Sir Leslie Lynn Marr of Sunderland, 2nd Baronet (14 August 1922 – 4 May 2021) was a British landscape artist, painter and racing driver.
Early life, education and military service
Marr was born in Durham, England, the son of Lieutenant Col ...
as Leslie Marr
*
John Welsh as Priest
*
Paul Carpenter as Racetrack Announcer
*
Raymond Baxter
Raymond Frederic Baxter OBE (25 January 1922 – 15 September 2006) was an English television presenter, commentator and writer. He is best known for being the first presenter of the BBC Television science programme ''Tomorrow's World'', con ...
as Racetrack Announcer (uncredited)
References
Bibliography
* Chibnall, Steve & McFarlane, Brian. ''The British 'B' Film''. Palgrave MacMillan, 2009.
External links
*
1954 films
1954 drama films
British drama films
Films directed by Terence Fisher
British black-and-white films
Films based on British novels
British auto racing films
Hammer Film Productions films
Lippert Pictures films
Films shot at Bray Studios
1950s English-language films
1950s British films
{{1950s-UK-film-stub