Wonderland Burlesque's
Let's Go To The Movies:
Face Time
Part XVII
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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Angels Wash Their Faces
(1939)
The Dead End Kids are: Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, Bernard Punsly, Gabriel Dell, and Leo Gorcey.
Filmed under the title The Battle of the City Hall. The title was changed to cash in on the popularity of Angels With Dirty Faces (1938) and although the boys and Ann Sheridan appear in both films, this is not a sequel.
The sixth of seven movies featuring the original six Dead End Kids and Ronald Reagan's second film with them, the other being Hell's Kitchen (1939).
Warner Bros. Studios had begun to tire of the Dead End Kids' antics during the production of this film. Among their pranks: throwing a lit firecracker in Humphrey Bogart's dressing room, painting obscene murals on the office walls, and setting off fire sprinklers in the wardrobe department. The studio hired a former football player, Russ Saunders to reign them in, in hopes of taming the unruly sextet. Sunders finally had to use a fire hose on them. Ultimately, the studio had the final prank - fed up, Warner Bros. dropped their contract.
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Love Has Many Faces
(1965)
Nancy Wilson sings the title song, Love Has Many Faces, with music by David Raksin and lyrics by Mack David.
In this film, the men are the eye candy. When Cliff Robertson is first seen, he's bare-chested. When Ron Husmann is first seen, he's bare-chested. When Hugh O'Brian is first seen in this movie, he's bare-chested. In fact, O'Brian spends more time with his shirt off here than in any of his other movies.
The New York Times was unimpressed: “Everything has been done to make Lana Turner feel at home in Love Has Many Faces, starting geographically. The picture, shot in color in Acapulco and Mexico City, provides a radiant background of natural scenery and swanky interiors as befits a glamour queen. It’s all here - everything but a good picture. For this dramatic, Columbia round-up of some resort parasites is the glossiest kind of junk, even for Miss Turner. If ever baloney needed mustard, it was yesterday. There must have been some lying around Acapulco Beach, along with the cast. Miss Turner is finally done in by a bull. That’s right - a bull. There’s plenty of it in Love Has Many Faces.”
English professor Dimitris has a brief affair with Varvara, daughter of a wealthy family, whom he tutors in order for her to marry an English businessman. His disappointment with life and all his lost dreams make him blame his employers for his personal failure, but his need to make a living forces him accept their offers. In his dreams, he identifies them with the Germans during the Occupation. Besides his love affair with Varvara, which stops abruptly after the English businessman arrives, the professor succumbs to an affair with her mother.
Hugh O'Brian and Lana Turner
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Face To Face
(1966)
AKA: Prosopo Me Prosopo, Πρόσωπο με πρόσωπο
This Greek drama was directed by Roviros Manthoulis and stars Costas Messaris, Eleni Stavropoulou, Theano Ioannidou, and Labros Kotsiris.
The movie was screened during 1966-1967 and sold 89,569 tickets. It came 66th out of 117 movies.
- Thessaloniki Film Festival 1966, Directing Award
- Film Festival of the newspaper Democratic Change, 1966 - Audience Award for Directing
- Locarno International Film Festival, 1967, Special Prize
- Moscow International Film Festival, participation
- Lausanne Film Festival, participation
You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.
Faces Of Love
(1977)
AKA: Repérages
The film received two 1978 César Award nominations: Delphine Seyrig for Best Actress, and Valérie Mairesse for Best Supporting Actress.
Clockwise from top:
Valérie Mairesse, Delphine Seyrig, Lea Massari
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The Face With Two Left Feet
(1979)
This 1979 Italian comedy film directed by Neri Parenti and stars Giuseppe Spezia, Angelo Infanti, and Gloria Piedimonte
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 channel, same place.
Lana Turner's One Million Dollar Wardrobe - Edith Head
(1965)
Face To Face (Repérages) - Movie Trailer
(1977)
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