updated: 04/02/2003
This children’s comedy was originally going to be titled The Falcon’s Maltezer so the references should be obvious. At the climax Betty Charlady unmasks herself and reveals that she has been the evil Brenda von Falkenberg in disguise all along: Patricia Hodge played Brenda as herself and in disguise as Betty. Brenda’s makeup skills are explained by an earlier passing reference to her having been an actress before she married von Falkenberg.
In the unmasking there is a clear cut (when she bends down after removing her wig) between the prosthetic makeup and the pull-off mask: if you look at the shots before and after the cut you’ll seen the point of discontinuity.This was a good example of the second variant of the mask trick were the actresses appearance is changed with prosthetic makeup but the disguise is explained in the story as being achieved by a pull-off mask: a more recent examples involving a dramatic change in appearance was Whoopi Goldberg in The Associate.
Tom Smith was responsible for the special makeup for Patricia Hodge: he had previously been responsible for the mask trick involving Jean Simmons and Jenny Agutter in Dominique.