Another Face

This film may very well have been Brian Donlevy's worst film. Had it been done at Warner Brothers, Jack Warner would have punished Humphrey Bogart by casting him in Donlevy's unbelievable role.

The problem is that this film can't make its mind up. Donlevy is a stone killer like he was in the film that launched him, Barbary Coast and then he acts like the lovable mug he was in The Great McGinty. If RKO was going to play it for laughs they should have stuck to it being a satire.

Brian Donlevy, notorious gangster from New York, gets a facelift and goes to Hollywood after murdering the physician and nurse who did the job and ratting out a colleague who the police do in. Unfortunately there's another nurse on the premises he doesn't know about who witnesses the double homicide.

So with his new found freedom, what does our fugitive on the run do? Why he decides to live out a dream and he goes to Hollywood saying he's a rich playboy who wants to get in the movies. v

Donlevy's naturalness with gangster roles intrigues studio boss Alan Hale and publicity man Wallace Ford. For the rest of this film you have to see it to believe it.

This has some of the same plot situations as James Cagney's far better film at Warner Brothers, Lady Killer. But Lady Killer was light years better than this.

Brian Donlevy must have shuddered when somebody mentioned this one to him later on.

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).

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.

... that being a gangster film and a satire of the film industry in this odd little film from director Christy Cabanne and RKO.

Brian Donlevy plays Broken Nose Dawson, a desperate criminal on the run. He goes to a plastic surgeon to get his appearance altered so that he can quit the rackets and retire with his ill gotten gains. After he recovers, he sends his associate to kill the plastic surgeon and his nurse and then kills the associate afterwards. Thus nobody alive can tie his new face to his old identity - BUT. The nurse who actually assisted the doctor quit when she learned who Broken Nose was and left town. Because he didn't actually kill the doctor and nurse himself Dawson doesn't know that this witness is floating around out there.

Thinking he is in the clear, Dawson takes the identity of Spencer Dutro III, goes to Hollywood, and claims to be a wealthy guy who is interested in breaking into acting. This actually gets him a job since the studio heads thinks that a rich playboy such as Dutro in the cast will drum up interest in the film.

But then some bad luck for Dutro/Dawson. The nurse he thought he had murdered is in Hollywood too, the girlfriend of a western star, and she recognizes him on the set. Her error is telling the studio PR man (Wallace Ford as Joe Haynes) rather than the police. Joe locks her in his office closet to keep her quiet, and arranges to have Dawson arrested on the set later that evening as part of a big PR stunt.

The part of the film between Joe finding out who Dutro really is and the arrival of the police that night rather sags, but where it succeeds is in establishing PR guy Joe Haynes and his girlfriend/actress as hideous self-involved human beings. Think about it - Joe is completely OK with leaving his girlfriend close to danger all day in the person of Broken Nose Dawson if it will help his career. So when the big finale comes and these two end up being taken hostage by Dawson, I really don't care or not if they make it out alive.

I mainly watched this for Wallace Ford, because Eddie Muller has always praised the guy's talent and this was the biggest part I've seen him have, with him normally playing supporting roles.

...because I threw mine out the window after watching this fool fest. Broken Nose was my favorite character, and I despised him! Every single main character is idiotically annoying or annoyingly idiotic. I was going to call this review Swiss Cheese, but I guess you can't call it a hole in the plot when foolish characters constantly do foolish things.

Since IMDB won't let me give it zero stars, I'll say the one star is for the novelty of seeing good ole Erik Rhodes be boring for a change.