The Man Who Came Back

Examiner of Plays' Summary:

This is an adaptation of a Grand Guignol horror, though no mention of the fact is made in the script. Frank Osmond is a man who has had half his face blown off by an accident and always wears a mask. His wife is entertaining a lover, Richard Loader, when Frank unexpectedly returns home. He is suspicious, Mrs Osmond defies him and he is going to strike her when Loader intervenes; he falls, hitting his head, and becomes unconscious. The guilty pair determined to bury him in a pit and Loader puts on another mask there is in the house to impersonate him. When the pair are out of the room Frank recovers consciousness and when Loader returns kills him and puts him in his own former position. His wife returns and takes him for Loader: the two men are the same height and the light is dim. Frank and his wife carry out the dead Loader. when they return she goes to her bedroom and summons Loader, as she thinks. Frank with a knife, follows her and her 'horrible scream' is heard off. This sort of thing is happily rare on the English stage and I hope will not make a precedent. In any case I doubt if there is any rule under which it could be spun, and since the same play in French has been licensed the English version could hardly be prohibited. I should not be surprised, however, if there is some protest about it; but it is necessarily - Recommended for licence. G. S. Street