The Second Face

I love Ella Raines, and what I love especially are makeover movies - the ugly duckling turned into a swan, or even something like "Dark Passage" where a criminal has plastic surgery and turns into Humphrey Bogart.

"The Second Face," however, was a big disappointment. It's told in flashback - Phyllis Holmes (Raines) is in a car accident and hospitalized, her face covered in bandages -- apparently her face hit the windshield. We then learn what led to the accident.

Phyllis is a talented designer and a homely one. Ella's looks consisted of nose putty, hair pulled back tightly off her face, no makeup, and plain clothes. She works as an assistant to Paul Curtis (Bruce Bennett) who is in love with her, but after being hurt in a divorce, he won't admit it. He gets her a job elsewhere; ultimately she becomes design partners with a playboy (John Sutton). His rejection is painful for her. Things change after the accident and Phyllis undergoes plastic surgery, paid for by a mysterious benefactor.

Raines was a likable actress and in her younger days she resembled Gene Tierney; here, after her makeover, she does as well. For some reason she was usually relegated to B films, though several were very good noirs. She retired in 1956. AS an actress, she was a little limited -- scenes in this film where the character was overwrought weren't particularly well acted.

The cast is good, but the script is heavy-handed.

The plight of plain women in a beauty-centered culture has powerful potential— for example, The Enchanted Cottage (1945), The Heiress (1949). I just wish the screenplay here were a stronger one. As another reviewer points out, the script is basically a one-note narrative. On the downswing, it's just one rejection after another for the plain Phyllis (Raines), while on the upswing, with a new face, it's just the opposite. Too bad the point is belabored without much subtlety, as though otherwise the audience won't get the point. Speaking of subtlety, the first 10-minutes does manage a nice bit of subtlety as Paul (Bennett) eases Phyllis out of his employ so that her romantic hopes won't be dashed. Too bad the remainder becomes so tediously obvious. (One wise script point—putting poor Phyllis in the fashion industry where beauty is a commodity and the main topic. That way it's not average folks rejecting her.)

Now I like Ella Raines as well as the next fan. However, the role calls for a performer who specializes in soul (e.g. Ida Lupino, Olivia deHaviland, Sylvia Sydney). Raines does a good job of smiling through adversity, but projects little beyond what's in the script. Inner depth would have added a lot. Clearly, the casting calls for a beautiful woman, which Raines is, so that the transformation can be convincing. But, all in all, the actress is more persuasive as a vamp than a rejected plain-Jane. Then too, Bennett appears miscast. He's just too hunky for a recessive role. Maybe the producers figured the ending could only be justified by using a hunky guy to balance out the re-born Phyllis.

Anyway, the sensitive topic is an important one, and one that old Hollywood usually shied away from. I'm just sorry it didn't get more memorable treatment here, with a bigger budget, a better script, and more astute casting.

A young woman who refuses to wear make up is treated like a Cyclops and denied employment and is insulted at every turn.

I realize the film is trying to make a point but it beats you over the head trying to make it.

It is kind of an unfunny version of The Girl Most Likely To written by Joan Rivers and made 23 years later.

If you watch this, watch for its camp value.

When the film begins, a young woman (Ella Raines) is upset...so upset she's driving like a maniac and ends up nearly getting killed in a traffic accident. She awakens in the hospital and she's a mess...and her face heavily bandaged. As she is lying there in bed, she thinks back to her recent life.

Phyllis (Raines) was working for a really nice boss but he was very afraid of getting closer to her because he'd already been badly hurt by his ex-wife. In fact, he's so afraid that he arranges for her to have a job far away. It seems she's gone to school for fashion design and her designs are terrific. But when she arrives at the new job, they dump her because she's very plain. So she then gets a job as a secretary to a real scum-bag and he uses her designs to make a name for herself and makes her feel LUCKY that he uses her work and pawns it off as his own. He manages to string her along for a while...but when she learns about what a nasty guy and other guys in her life are, she runs away and has the accident.

When she is ready to leave the hospital, Phyllis looks nothing like her old self thanks to plastic surgery. Now she finds it's easy to get work and men adore her...but she isn't happy. What's next? See the film.

The film has a nice idea and I appreciate it. However, the impact of the film is severely lessened for two big reasons. First, while they did have Raines made up to be quite plain, the change was NOT that significant. It was also funny that when they took the bandages off, she was well coiffed, had perfect eyebrows and lovely make-up!! Second, too often the characters in the film are too obvious...too obviously evil and one-dimensional. Jerry, in particular, was almost like Snidely Whiplash he was so transparent! Fortunately, while certainly schmaltzy, the film ended very well and I wish the entire film had been as well-crafted as the finale. Overall, an interesting film which should have been a lot better but is still well worth seeing.

I watched this because I am an Ella Raines fan. This movie was made near the end of her career. I was very hopeful, but it turned out to be a disappointment, waste of time. It's a relatively low budget (I guess a B picture) film with a decent cast. The main problem with the movie is that it was one-note. Every scene honed in on the basic situation with no deviation: that the pre-plastic surgery Raines (about 85% of the movie) was rejected because of her plain looks, that she was depressed over her plain looks, and all the characters never stopped talking/philosophizing about her situation. And then there was a little bit about her first employer, who had been divorced, afraid of being dumped again. A very old-fashioned movie, offering nothing special. In the end all the loose ends are tied up and all the shallow characters get their just desserts. I don't mind a "woman's picture;" it's just that this was a mediocre one.