Another Face

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.

Another two bit police drama. A psychotic crook with a broken nose gets it fixed so he won't be recognized. Once he gets his new face he heads off to Hollywood to become a matinee idol. He manages to act a little, but the nurse who aided in his plastic surgery recognizes him (the doctor had been killed earlier). So things play out with the guy trying to work but there is danger all around him. There is little to this thing. If you watch too many of these things they are so formulaic that they're barely worth the time. You have a male and female lead who are about as boring as you can get. Then you have a ditzy woman and her idiotic boyfriend. Don't bother.

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 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.

This was a pretty low budget film from Warners considering it starred Wallace Ford and Brian Donlevy (Warners had lots of bigger name gangster actors at this time). However, despite this being a very slight movie and one that has some stupid moments (mostly involving Wallace Ford's character), it is still worth seeing--even if it loses steam towards the end of the film.

The first half of the film is great. Donlevy is a gangster wanted by the cops. He is a hideous man that is easy to recognize. However, he finds an evil plastic surgeon and afterwards he is kind of handsome. But, Donlevy thinks he is incredibly handsome and goes to Hollywood where, due to his HUGE ego, he knows he'll be a star. Well, his acting actually stinks and the only reason he is put in a gangster film is because the studio PR man thinks Donlevy is a rich playboy--and putting him in a film would drum up interest in the movie. Later, though, they find out who he really is and the very interesting movie then essentially becomes a 2nd-rate comedy of errors--and loses steam.

I think the film would have been better with more Donlevy and less Ford--his character was really annoying and stupid. However, the general plot idea isn't bad. To see a better but similar film, see Jimmy Cagney's film, LADY KILLER (1933).