"If you want a screen icon with debonair flair to burn, you've hit the jackpot with James Mason," says James Quandt, TIFF Cinematheque's Senior Programmer.  

Known as the most stylish man in British films, Mason was a superstar on both sides of the Atlantic for more than half a century.

Between 1940 and 1966, his most prolific years, Mason starred in iconic films like Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" and George Cukor's "A Star is Born."

Mason was the picture of slick evil in Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest," and a malevolent, sadistic force in Nicholas Ray's "Bigger Than Life."

These films and others included in the Toronto summer series "The Man Between: James Mason," (June 3 – July 5) merely hint at the range, control and finesse that made Mason one of the greatest actors of the 20th century.

"Mason could be sinister or kind. He could be funny or tortured. He was so unpredictable and took the kind of chances on screen that so few actors would dare do today," says Quandt.

"I know that's why I fell in love with his movies," says Quandt, who devoured them all as a small-town teenager hanging out at the local cinema.

"If we can do the same for a whole new generation of film lovers I'll be thrilled."

20th anniversary season

This rare retrospective includes a jaw-dropping restoration of "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman," starring Mason and an impossibly beautiful Ava Gardner.

The restoration was undertaken with the auspices of American director Martin Scorsese, who has long counted "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" among his favourite films.

Also included are Carol Reed's secret agent gem "The Deadly Affair," as well as Joseph L. Mankiewicz's brilliant adaptation of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar."

It's not the first time TIFF Cinematheque has taken on such an ambitious retrospective.

Over the last 20 years, TIFF Cinematheque has screened more than 300 films annually.

It has presented acclaimed directors' retrospectives, national and regional cinema spotlights, thematic programmes as well as showcases on experimental and avant-garde cinema from around the world.

But the Mason retrospective is one that has long been on Quandt's wish list.

"There's James Mason the villain here. James Mason the tyrant, the crook, the brooding lover and oddball painter," says Quandt.

"There's a reason why Mason is one of the big daddy's of Hollywood cinema," he laughs. "You'll come to understand every one when you see these movies."