Painted Faces

Think it deserves 7.3 stars. The plot wastes no time setting up the problem... deciding the fate of a man accused of murder. I give it credit for it's interesting plot twist and problems. Joe Brown does a decent job acting and also some amusing clown acrobatics. If you like old movies and keep in mind this was one of the first talkies, made in 1929, this is a good one. The story does go weak and too long in the middle. I didn't like the adopted daughter, but people were different 80+ years ago. If you liked Sidney Lumet's Twelve Angry Men, you might like this similar movie plot done 28 years before. (The sound quality was perfectly fine and understandable on the DVD I got from the library).

PAINTED FACES (Tiffany-Stahl Studios, 1929), directed by Albert S. Rogell, stars comedian Joe E. Brown in one of his early film roles. Though best known for his comedy works, especially those movies produced for Warner Brothers in the 1930s, for anyone familiar with the Joe E. Brown style, would find PAINTED FACES a disappointment mainly because Brown isn't funny. That's not to say Brown isn't funny in a sense of not really being funny, but actually playing a serious role with no comic touches involved.

Set in New York City's theater district, the story begins with backstage preparations for an upcoming show as stagehands work on props along with actors coming in and about their dressing rooms. Entering the theater are Buddy Barton (Barton Hepburn) and Lola Barnes (Dorothy Gullliver), a song and dance team engaged to be married. On the same ill is Wally Roderick (Lester Cole), a fresh actor who has made advances on Lola. At first Buddy decides to leave the theater, but although Lola convinces him to remain, he tells her if Roderick gets fresh with her again, he will "get him if it's the last thing I'll do." Later that night as Lola is performing on stage, gun shots are heard in the background. A crowd gathers backstage with Buddy standing there holding a gun with Roderick in his dressing room dead on the floor. Though Buddy claims he didn't kill Roderick, he is arrested anyway, put on trial and awaits the jury to deliberate his fate. With the foreman of the jury (Purnell B. Pratt) having the jurors place their deciding votes inside the passing hat, all but one juror writes his "Not Guilty" verdict. The lone juror turns out to be Herman (Joe E. Brown), a circus clown by profession, who feels Barton is innocent because this is a crime nobody saw. Five days pass, with Christmas day fast approaching, the eleven jurors still stand on their decision of guilty, while Herman's decision continues to cause the other jurors to become restless and angry. To abide his decision, Herman gets the jurors to sit down and listen to his story as to why he feels Barton to be innocent. Others in the cast are: Richard Tucker (District Attorney); Mabel Julienne-Scott (Mrs. Warren); with William B. Davidson and Jack Richardson in smaller roles. Songs heard in this photo-play include: "Bashful Baby," "If I Had You" and two reprises of "Somebody Like You."

After getting through the film's first ten minutes with plot development and backstage murder story, one tends to forget Joe E. Brown is actually in this movie. He's finally seen after the trial sequence followed by twelve jurors entering the deliberation room. One of the biggest surprises is not that fact that Brown's not the subject matter on trial for murder, but an accented speaking juror of Dutch background. The only scene pertaining to the Brown comedy style comes when he has the angry jurors smiling and laughing a bit while showing what he does professionally. The "painted faces" title only comes through the flashback sequence with Brown in clown attire and facial painting. While the first half of the story set in the jury room holds great interest, the flashback sequence revealing Herman's background as Beppo the Clown slows its pacing a bit with melodrama and pathos with Herman acting as surrogate father to his deceased friend's daughter, Nancy (Helen Foster). She then returns to him after being away in school to get herself involved with a man Herman feels to be all wrong for her.

PAINTED FACES offers a grand mix of two separate stories in one that would make one immediately think about its two sources involved - a 1923 Broadway play or screen adaptation of POPPY (1936) starring W.C. Fields, to the much later 12 ANGRY MEN (United Artists, 1957), a jury drama starring Henry Fonda. As much as Brown was a well-known comedian in his day, after getting adjusted to his accented speaking character in PAINTED FACES, he shows how convincingly he can be as a serious actor without provoking unintentional laughter by contemporary viewers.

With so many backstage themes hitting theaters in 1929, at least PAINTED FACES offers some originality to hold interest, especially with Joe E. Brown in an offbeat role. For being an independent production by Tiffany-Stahl, PAINTED FACES fortunately has survived. Though sources claim this to be 75 minutes at length, circulating prints available on DVD is five minutes shorter. Regardless of length and weak moments, PAINTED FACES is certainly both a rare treat and interesting film from the early days of "talkies." (** clowns)

I'm amazed that a previous reviewer found the sound recording of poor quality. I thought the sound recording was exceptionally good. There was no noise at all on the track and every word came across not only clearly and distinctly but with just as much recording precision as you would expect of any movie made before 1950! But it's certainly right to compare this movie with "Twelve Angry Men". I thought "Painted Faces" came out well ahead. It was brilliantly acted by Brown in an extremely difficult role. If you see the movie twice, you'll know what I mean. The actor actually signals the plot. But I didn't pick it up the first time either. Now that is ACTING! Some reviewers though he overdid the accent, but I found it quite convincing. And what a powerful plot it is! And I thought Albert S. Rogell's directorial work was absolutely brilliant. As the cover notes on the excellent Alpha DVD tell us, Rogell directs this movie with a naturalistic, overlapping style of dialogue that prefigures later works by Hawks and Altman. I haven't praised the other actors yet. ALL are brilliant. And Brown himself gives the performance of his life!

I love this great example of early Joe E. Brown. He delivers a great performance in a role that is more dramatic than most of his work. A brilliant comic, he shows his chops as a good serious actor here. Watching it, I am amazed that it's from 1929. It seems to pace much more like a 40s film noir or modern romantic comedy. And the plot is more robust than many of the earlier talkies. It keeps you entertained and doesn't bog down or plod. The scenery and props works is excellent as well. The writers do a great job of telling a compelling story and the circus atmosphere is interesting and captivating. All in all, it was a very decent movie for it's time.

It's maybe not one of Brown's funniest movies or even one of his best. But I think it's an important movie in his career and likely one that was instrumental in propelling him to stardom. I gave it a solid 7.

"Painted Faces" is a film best enjoyed by someone who is willing to cut the film a lot of slack. It's a bit old fashioned and dated...plus the story has many portions that are tough to believe. But, it also is entertaining and worth seeing.

When the film begins, there is a murder and a young singer is found with the murder weapon...standing over the body. While it looks like an open and shut case, most of the film takes place in the jury room...where one lone holdout, Hermann (Joe E. Brown) refuses to vote guilty. Why? What secret insight does he have in the case?

This film is in many ways like the classic "12 Angry Men"...though made almost three decades earlier. It might just be the first lone holdout juror film--a familiar theme in some films of the 30s, 40s and 50s...as well as TV shows such as "The Odd Couple" and "All in the Family". But it's also quite strange---especially in having Brown speaking with an odd Dutch accent (IMDB says Scandinavian but in the film one of the jurors refers to him as Dutch). It also was a rare film in that you see Brown perform a lot of acrobatics he learned when he traveled with the circus in his pre-Hollywood days.As for the ending...it's really tough to believe and strange. What also is strange is that despite Brown in the lead, it's NOT a comedy! Odd but worth your time.