Another Face

Brian Donlevy recovers from plastic surgery to find he has been given a handsome face. Immediately vanity sets in and he envisages a new lifestyle. He sees a chance to give up his criminal past to seek Hollywood fame. But first he needs to rub out the people who have seen his new face. He thinks he's done that but his late assistant has killed the wrong nurse. We see how he artfully arranges his henchman's death by the hands of the police. Will the nurse who attended his surgery spoil Donlevy's plans? We see Donlevy in Hollywood. It's funny to see him doing his bad acting, vainly showing his best profile to the camera. Donlevy was indeed a handsome devil in his younger day and he had a flair for comedy. The idea that plastic surgery can change a criminal's life is done from a different angle in Hammer's 1952 Stolen Face. But I prefer this one.

In Another Face, a wanted gangster gets plastic surgery to start a new life. The plot has been done before (Humphrey Bogart and Paul Henreid had their own versions), but if you like these types of movies, check out Brian Donlevy's take on it. At the start of the film, he has a face nose, fake teeth, blonde hair, and a ruddy complexion. His new handsome mug is the one we all know and love, and it's quite fun to see him admiring himself in the mirror at every opportunity.

The rest of the plot is quite stupid, but anyone who chooses a profession in either the mafia or Hollywood isn't known for his intelligence. Brian, in his new life, decides he wants to be a movie star. The funniest scene of the movie is his screen test, in which he says and does everything wrong. But the vast majority of the movie isn't that funny. It's full of characters who make stupid decisions, and there's a plot hole that's quite shocking: anyone who assisted on a full facial plastic surgery operation wouldn't know what the man would look like after he was healed up and ready for the public. Brian's face would have been bloody, bruised, and swollen, but maybe 1932 audiences didn't know that.

Some people get this movie, some don't -- just look at the IMDb ratings -- but count me among those who enjoyed it. Brian Donlevy stars as a hood with a notoriously large proboscis who goes under the knife of a plastic surgeon. Not only is his nose whittled away but having taken off for California, he now believes he's ready for a new career as a movie star. Just a few small problems intervene. He has no acting talent. And he hasn't quite escaped his shady past. Donlevy plays comedy better than most people might suspect, ably supported by Alan Hale as a studio mogul and Wallace Ford as a quick-on-the-trigger press agent. If it pops up on TCM again, give it a shot. As a satire on movie-making, it's surprisingly good.

Some giagantic plot holes in this one, but it's still kind of fun to watch it all unfold. And of course, the awesome Alan Hale (Gilligan's dad) is in it, and his films are guaranteed fun. Thug "Broken Nose" Dawson (Donlevy) gets a face lift so he can make a clean get-away, but there's still the problem of the surgeon and the nurse who did the surgery. Molly Lamont is "Mary", who tries to get away from it all as well, but fate steps in and she's back in the soup. It's a show within a show premise, with Hale as the studio boss, and Erik Rhodes as his assistant. Rhodes was always "the foreigner with the accent" in the Fred Astair and Ginger Roger films. Some pretty in-consequential roles for Jack Randall, Wallace Ford, and Phyllis Brooks. They are just along for the ride, while we see if Mary can tip off the cops before Dawson recognizes her. It's a typical caper... more complicated than it has to be, running around, getting locked in closets, but it's light hearted and fun. Directed by W.C. Cabanne, in his prime. He had started in silents and made the switch to talkies. Pretty good, but you really have to buy into it all and not look too closely.

Broken Nose Dawson is a brutal gangster on the run from NY police. Crooked Dr. Buler does a facial reconstruction surgery with reluctant nurse Mary McCall (Molly Lamont). With a new face fit for the movies, he (Brian Donlevy) sets off for Hollywood posing as playboy Spencer Dutro. He sends his underling Muggsie Brown to take out the doctor and sets up Muggsie with the cops. He thinks that he's free and clear. Unbeknownst to him, nurse McCall knows his secret and quits her job before the hit.

I love this concept for a thriller drama. Dawson trying to break into Hollywood is a little funny, but there is no tension in it. This is trying to be a screwball comedy. With an unlikely turn, Mary gets back into the story which does finally has some tension. It's a lot of silly comedic turns and unreasonable characters. A more compelling story would center on McCall trying to convince anybody about Broken Nose Dawson. If it's years later and Dawson became a big star, nobody would believe her.