Wonderland Burlesque's
Let's Go To The Movies:
Face Time
Part XX
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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Forgotten Faces
(1928)
Clive Brook stars as 'Heliotrope' Harry, a gentleman thief tossed in jail for killing his wife's lover. Before turning himself in, Harry leaves his baby girl on the doorstep of a rich, childless couple. Desperate to keep his lush of a spouse Lilly away from their girl, he tasks his former partner Froggy with making sure the child has a chance at a good life . Once Harry is out of the clink, he impersonates his daughter's butler to protect her from Lilly, who will stop at no underhanded trickery to get her hands on the girl's money.
American silent drama film directed by Victor Schertzinger and starring Clive Brook, Mary Brian, and Olga Baclanova.
The production was overseen by David O. Selznick, a rising young producer at the time.
The film is preserved with copies at the Library of Congress and the Museum of Modern Art.
Faces
(1934)
A suburban beautician almost elopes with rich client’s husband.
This British comedy drama was directed by Sidney Morgan and stars Anna Lee, Harold French and Walter Sondes.
Anna Lee was a British actress labeled by studios as 'The British Bombshell'. After her move to Hollywood, she became associated with John Ford, appearing in several of his films, including How Green Was My Valley (1941), Fort Apache (1948), and Two Rode Together (1961). She had a small role as Sister Margaretta in The Sound of Music, one of the two nuns who thwarted the Nazis by removing car engine parts, allowing the Von Trapps to escape and appeared in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) in a main supporting role as Mrs. Bates, a neighbor of the sisters played by Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. In later years, she became soap opera royalty, known as matriarch Lila Quartermaine on General Hospital and Port Charles.
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Forgotten Faces
(1936)
Harry Ashton is a superstitious gambling house owner, who relies on sprigs of heliotrope as his good luck charm. One day, Harry catches his wife, Cleo with another man. Harry shoots him and takes his 18 month old daughter, Sally to best friend, Sgt. Donovan to find her a good home. Harry turns himself in and gets life in prison. Seventeen years pass, Cleo is on the brinks of losing her job as a burlesque dancer, so she decides to blackmail the McBrides (Sally's devoted adoptive parents). Harry discovers this and promises his warden that while on parole he will protect Sally by trading places with the McBride's butler. While working, Harry discovers a letter addressed to the McBrides from Cleo asking to meet with her. Harry goes instead and a struggle ensues.
Based on a short story by Richard Washburn Child, which had previously been made as a 1928 silent film by Paramount, this American drama was directed by Ewald André Dupont and stars Herbert Marshall, Gertrude Michael and James Burke.
Dupont made the film as part of a three-picture contract with Paramount Pictures.
It was sold to MCA/Universal as part of a lot of films in 1958 for television distribution. However, its failure to appear in any documented television broadcast program guides indicates that no usable prints has survived the ravages of time and is now considered a lost film.
New Faces of 1937
(1937)
A crooked producer tries to trick his backers by producing a flop and then disappearing with the money. Patricia, one of the chorus girls, has invested her money too, and after the producer disappears, one of the backers takes charge of production, trying the same trick. But Patricia convinces him to give the show a chance.
This American musical was directed by Leigh Jason and stars Joe Penner, Milton Berle and Harriet Hilliard.
The Production Code Administration initially refused to issue an approved certificate for the film because Eddie Rio's pantomime of a lady taking a bath was considered vulgar. They eventually relented. David Freedman's sketch A Day at the Brokers originally appeared in The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 which played Broadway for 115 performances.
RKO had planned to do a sequel, New Faces of 1938, but dropped the idea when this movie was not well received.
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New Faces
(1954)
Ronny Graham is in trouble on opening night because a big check is due before the curtain can go up. A wealthy Texan says he will put up the money since his daughter is in the show - but he wants to see the show first.
This American film adaptation of the musical revue New Faces of 1952 was directed by Harry Horner with sketches directed by John Beal and stars Eartha Kitt, Alice Ghostley, Paul Lynde, and Carol Lawrence.
A filmed performance (in CinemaScope) of the highly popular Broadway hit that was a collection of skits, sketches, songs and dances built around a flimsy plot to meld them all together. Showcases the beginning of the careers of some young and talented people who have had careers across many decades. Eartha Kitt sings four songs, including C'est si bon (music by Henri Betti, lyrics by André Hornez) and Santa Baby in and around some funny skits; Trip of the Month, Snake Charmer, Crazy Man and Oedipus Goes South. Graham and Mel Brooks (in his Melvin Brooks days) are credited with most of the sketch material.
There is also a burlesque of Death of a Salesman. Brooks said the sketch was originally written for another revue, Curtain Going Up, but that show closed during its tryout in Philadelphia. However, Sillman had seen the show and asked him if he could import the sketch for this revue. Brooks readily agreed and thanked him for "saving my Broadway career." He added that Arthur Miller came to a performance and afterwards sent him a note which read, "I am not upset. But I should be."
The Broadway production of Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952 opened at the Royale Theater on May 16, 1952 and ran for 365 performances. June Carroll, Allen Conroy, Alice Ghostley, Ronny Graham, Eartha Kitt, Paul Lynde, Carol Lawrence, Bill Mullikin, Rosemary O'Reilly and Jimmy Russell recreated their Broadway roles in the film.
Film debuts of Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, and Carol Lawrence.
The New York Times review was mixed: "They have set up their CinemaScope cameras in front of a musical revue and photographed the various numbers precisely as though they were happening on a stage. As a matter of fact, the whole picture is just a reproduction of the Leonard Sillman Broadway stage review, with a few backstage shots to thread a slight plot about keeping the tottering show on the boards. A few of the dancing acts are stunning, spread out on the big panel screen and photographed in excellent color. There is pictorial energy here... And a couple of the skits and song numbers are made to look more formidable by size. This is true, especially, of the song numbers of Eartha Kitt, the weird little star, whose eeriness is rendered huge by CinemaScope. But the almost incredible surrender of the wide panel to a fellow named Paul Lynde for the painfully labored delivery of a five-minute monologue or to a tiny chap named Robert Clary for some grotesque attempts at comedy exposes the actual disadvantages of such plainly superfluous size. The strange thing is that Fox selected a strictly intimate revue for its first musical presentation on its anything but intimate screen.
You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.
Faces
(1968)
Richard Forst has grown old. One night, he leaves his wife for Jeannie Rapp, a young woman who does not like friendship. Meanwhile, Richard's wife, Maria, is seduced by Chet, a kind young man from Detroit... A film about the meaningless of life for a certain kind of wealthy middle-aged people.
Shot in cinéma vérité-style, this American drama was written, produced, and directed by John Cassavetes and stars John Marley and Lynn Carlin, along with Cassavetes regulars Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel, Fred Draper, and Val Avery.
John Cassavetes said Faces (1968) came out of friendships and mutual dis-satisfactions. Observing how marriages in middle-class America at the time were passive and underneath had a sense of desperation because people can't connect, couples not even being aware that they can't communicate. He stated the point of the film was to show how few people really talk to each other.
Cassavetes' original cut of the film ran for around six hours. The original six-hour cut of the film no longer exists but is available in printed published screenplay form. The 130 minute cut is Cassavetes' preference and the one that went into general release, however, a 147 minute cut also exists. A 183 minute version was initially shown in Canada, but no longer exists.
Filmed on location in Los Angeles in 1966. Locations included a Hollywood nightclub called The Losers, the home of Gena Rowlands' mother in Los Angeles, CA, and the John Cassavetes' residence in the Hollywood Hills, where Rowlands (Cassavetes' wife) cooked meals for the 25-person cast and crew twice a day. The cast allegedly worked for no pay, but were promised profit participation. The cast wore body mics so no boom was needed.
The film's initial original budget of US $10,000 blew-out to the much larger sum of US $200,000. Shot over a period of around six months. It took three years to edit the picture. At one point Pathe Labs, where the editing took place, threatened to seize the film if Cassavetes didn't pay the $17,000 bill he had run up.
While filming a part on Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963), John Cassavetes saw Steven Spielberg lurking around the set, as he was then in the habit of doing. Cassavetes approached Spielberg and asked what he wanted to be. When Spielberg replied he wanted to be a director, Cassavetes allowed the young man to direct him for the day. He later invited Spielberg to work on this film with Spielberg serving as an uncredited production assistant on Faces (1968) for two weeks.
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And that's all for now, folks!
Tune in next time...
Same place, same channel.
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Faces - Movie Trailer
(1968)
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