Wonderland Burlesque's
Let's Go To The Movies:
Face Time
Part XIX
That look, that face...
It's all in the face. It can be read like a book. Or so these films would have us believe.
The silver screen has been home to so many beautiful (and not-so-beautiful) faces, lighting up the dark, showing us the way, sharing celluloid dreams. It seems only fitting that we take them at their word and look a these films one face at a time.
Yes, these faces may belong to a bygone era, but in the movies?
A face lives forever.
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The False Faces
(1919)
During World War I, a professional thief known as The Lone Wolf is assigned to steal a cylinder with important information from behind the German lines and bring it to Allied intelligence headquarters. However, German agents set out to stop him, headed by the man who was responsible for the death of the thief's sister.
Based on the novel by Louis Joseph Vance, this American silent action film was written and directed by Irvin Willat and stars Henry B. Walthall as Michael Lanyard, the 'Lone Wolf', and Lon Chaney as Karl Ekstrom, the villain.
Lon Chaney's energetic performance, especially in the film's furious finale, remains an early example of his celebrated work. Chaney is shown applying a fake beard to his face in one scene, the only time he was ever photographed in a film applying his makeup. Chaney also designed and applied actress Jane Daly's makeup to give her the appearance of a "sea-corpse" as she appears to the haunted U-boat captain in the film.
Henry B. Walthall had starred in D. W. Griffith's seminal The Birth of a Nation four years earlier.
The film was well-received by critics. The New York Times wrote: "Whereas other melodramas make some effort to create the temporary illusion of possibility and consistency, The False Faces soars through its own high course of fights, feats and thrills, regardless of all laws, human and divine. Thomas H. Ince, who produced the photoplay, and Irvin V. Willatt, who directed it, seem to have set out to make No Man's Land look tame compared to the New York battlefront, and they have done so." While Motion Picture News said: "There are several reasons why this offering should please picturegoers, especially those who enjoy the kind that are strong and virile. To begin with, it is full of high speed action; again, due to the logical development of the story, it keeps one in continual suspense; further, it contains no gruesome or repulsive situations."
A complete print of the film survives at the George Eastman House and at the Turner Film Library. It was thought to be lost for years, but was later found and somewhat restored. You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.
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False Faces
(1932)
Dr. Silas Brenton extorts money from patients at a free clinic, but when he is caught, the superintendent allows him to go free as long as he leaves New York. Brenton abandons his girlfriend, Georgia Rand, and sets up practice as a plastic surgeon in Chicago with his partner, Dr. J. B. Parker, who had been involved in earlier graft schemes. With his receptionist, Elsie Fryer, who becomes his new girlfriend, Brenton has Con McCullough, head of a disreputable detective agency, spread the word that Brenton is in business. Brenton reaps publicity from the face lift of actress June Deering, and makes the Nation sisters, Dottie and Lottie, look as if they were beaten by the police, getting them off a charge that they assaulted an officer. Soon Brenton is a celebrated surgeon, but some of his clients suffer because of his surgery, including a banker's wife with whom he is having an affair, whose face lift has caused paralysis. In addition, Brenton promises to straighten the legs of Mrs. Finn, who now appears to be dying as a result of the surgery. Parker sends for Georgia, who arrives after the Medical Association inspects Brenton's hospital. When a warrant is issued for Brenton's arrest, Georgia reluctantly tips the police as to his whereabouts and Brenton is arrested trying to leave the city. Using his persuasive powers during the court trial, Brenton gets himself acquitted, but is unable to ease the furor of Mrs. Finn, whose legs had to be removed as a result of his surgery. Mrs. Finn shoots Brenton, and he dies while Georgia cries.
This American drama was directed by Lowell Sherman and stars Sherman, Peggy Shannon, Lila Lee and Berton Churchill.
Based upon a true story. That of Henry Schireson, who worked in the unregulated profession of plastic surgery.
You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.
From Journal of the
American Medical Association
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False Face
(1935)
AKA: Let 'Em Have It, The Legion of Valour
We follow the training and adventures of a team of young federal anti-gangster agents, Mal Stevens, Van Rensseler, and Tex Logan. After foiling a kidnapping attempt on socialite Eleanor Spencer (an old flame of Van's), Mal falls for her; but they're at odds over her belief in the innocence of her chauffeur Joe Keefer (whom Mal knows was involved) and her young brother Buddy's desire to join the federal agents. This conflict climaxes with the pursuit of a gang of Ohio bank-robbers.
This 1935 American gangster film directed by Sam Wood and stars Richard Arlen, Virgina Bruce, Alice Brady, Bruce Abbot, Joyce Compton, Eric Linden and Harvey Stephens. The film was also known under the title False Faces in the United Kingdom and The Legion of Valour in Australia.
Eric Linden and Joyce Compton
It was one of a series of movies that came out around this time about G-Men, with the film giving the audience a look an FBI Headquarters and the training of a Special Agent. You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.
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False Face
1943
A district attorney finds himself at a crossroads when his son is accused of murdering a nightclub singer; a murder in which his daughter may also be involved. He must choose between duty and his family - or solve the crime himself.
This American mystery was directed by George Sherman and stars Stanley Ridges, Veda Ann Borg, William "Bill" Henry, Janet Shaw, Rex Williams and John Maxwell.
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False Face
(1977)
AKA: Scalpel
When an unhinged surgeon happens across a young woman with her face beaten beyond recognition, he sees an opportunity to put his trusty scalpel to use - hatching a plan to reconstruct her face in the image of his missing daughter in order to inherit his family fortune. Things get complicated when his daughter suddenly reappears.
This American psychological horror film directed by John Grissmer, and starring Robert Lansing and Judith Chapman.
After being released with an R-rating by United International, the film was picked by Avco Embassy who re-edited to secure a PG-rating in 1978 and renamed it Scalpel. This PG-rated version removed some nudity, but otherwise the film is identical. You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.
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And that's all for now, folks.
Tune in next time.
Same place, same channel.
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False Face (Scalpel) - Movie Trailer
1978
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