Customer Reviews

New Faces

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Once upon a time on Broadway, long, long ago, a strange thing would periodically appear. It was sophisticated, clever, topical, with sketches and songs written and performed by some very talented people. It was called a review, and the form died out years ago. New Faces is the filmed record, with a wisp of a story line grafted on for movie goers, of a review that appeared nearly 55 years ago...New Faces of 1952. Most of the writers and artists now are either dead or retired, but New Faces made star careers for many of them.

There were four key players. Ronnie Graham, with a pal named Melvin Brooks, wrote most of the sketches, several of the songs and was the lead comic actor in the show. He went on to a successful writing career in Hollywood, often working with Mel Brooks. Eartha Kitt became a sensation with her performance in New Faces of 1952. In this film she's given three additional songs which hit the charts for her after she left the Broadway show, C'est Si Bon, Santa Baby and Uskadara, as well as Monotonous. If you want to see the young Eartha Kitt at the height of her aggressive seductiveness, this is the time. Alice Ghostley was a comedienne with a distinctive style who also sang. She went on to more Broadway and then to TV. Robert Clary was a diminutive Frenchman with a big voice who parlayed New Faces into a successful nightclub and concert career in France and the U.S. Beautiful women loved to cuddle him. He sings Lucky Pierre, I'm in Love with Miss Logan and shares Love Is a Simple Thing with Kitt. Also prominent in the cast were Paul Lynde, who was first noticed here; Carol Lawrence, who was one of the dancers; and June Carroll, who wrote very good songs and knew how to sing them. Sheldon Harnick got a big boost as a Broadway lyric writer (as in Fiddler on the Roof) when Boston Beguine sung by Ghostley took off..."It was a magical night...with romance everywhere...there was something in the air...there always is in Boston."

The big highlight of the show is the production number of Fall River Hoedown, with Virginia DeLuce, a long-legged, lush blond who can kick the derby off your head, as Lizzie Borden. It's a great song, with music and lyrics by Michael Brown. Some of it goes:

Yesterday in old Fall River, Mr. Andrew Borden died
And the got his daughter Lizzie on a charge of homicide.
Some folks say she didn't do it, and others say she did
But they all agree Miss Lizzie B. was a problem sort of kid.

'Cause you can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts
Not even if it's planned as a surprise.
No you can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts,
You know how neighbors love to criticize.

She got him on the sofa where he'd gone to take a snooze
And I hope he went to heaven' cause he wasn't wearing shoes.
Lizzie kind of rearranged him with a hatchet, so they say,
And then she got her mother in that same old-fashioned way.

But you can't can't chop your momma up in Massachusetts
Not even if you're tired of her cuisine.
No, you can't chop your momma up in Massachusetts,
You know it's almost sure to cause a scene.

Well, they really kept her hoppin' on that busy afternoon
With both down and upstairs chopping while she hummed a ragtime tune.
They really made her hustle and when all was said and done,
She'd removed her mother's bustle when she wasn't wearing one.

Oh you can't chop your Momma up in Massachusetts
And then blame all the damage on the mice.
No you can't chop your Momma up in Massachusetts,
That kind of thing just isn't very nice.

As an artifact of a long ago time, as a show with bright, funny songs and with performers who were just at the brink of solid careers, New Faces is a treasure. Unfortunately, the DVD picture leaves a lot to be desired. It's watchable, but the colors are faded, the reds and oranges bleed and the audio isn't much better. There is one extra, strictly for fans of old black and white TV shows. It's a couple of episodes of something called "Stage Show" from 1955. It was a Jackie Gleason production and stars Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey leading their combined orchestras, with the June Taylor Dancers and guest singers and comics. It has the quality of a poor kinescope. The one value is the big band sound of the Dorseys.

If, like me, you were hankering for this classic Broadway show-movie to reappear on DVD, then you may, also like me, weep at the poor quality of the transfer. It looks like one of those blurry out-of-focus old prints made from a TV broadcast: the colour is dreadful, the sound likewise, and the 'DIGITALLY RESTORED' on the front cover is a poor joke. Sure, it's cheap, and as a souvenier of a great show, it may be the best we're likely to see on DVD. Would that this had not been so. Sadly, only for The Desperate To Have ...

One of my favourite films, it was lifted directly from the Broadway smash hit. I've waited long years for its release. An early Cinemeascope film, it exploited the increased width of field best seen in the full cast production numbers. This show launched several careers. Robert Clary went on principally to Hogan's Heroes. Ronny Graham appeared in several TV sitcoms and Mel Brooks movies. (Mel was a co-writer of the sketches in this show.) Paul Lynde made several comedy appearances as well as TV sitcoms and his own TV show. Alice Ghostley also went into TV sitcoms and movies, most notably "Grease". One of the revue's songs, "Guess who I saw today?", was delivered in a deadpan fashion but was to be picked up years later by Nancy Wilson who turned it into a stunning torch song. For me the star of the show was the then newly-discovered Eartha Kitt. She sings "Santa Baby", "Uska Dara", "C'est si bon" and the showstopper "Monotonous" which shows us why Orson Welles labelled her the sexiest woman on the planet. This DVD has been lifted directly from a mediocre film print with patchy colour, splices and some image and sound damage. Still, for me, better than no release at all.

This is the WORST transfer of a movie that I have ever seen. Does Twentieth Century Fox know what was done with this movie? They released it originally but I guess they are not responsible for the devastation that has ensued. It is so poorly done that there are wavy lines at times and the color goes in and out. It was supposed to be a digital transfer but it is a travesty. This should never have been allowed to be released. The original company that did this, CCM, should be severely chastized for even thinking about putting their name on it!

the imaging is very blurry. Too bad. The CD is great!

One of my fondest dreams is that someone, someday will be trawling the vaults at Twentieth Century-Fox and will find the negative or interpositives for "New Faces," plus the original mag tapes for the stereo soundtrack. "New Faces" was a Broadway hit in 1952; Fox had it filmed as a showcase for its CinemaScope process. Over the years, the rights lapsed and the original elements were forgotten or mislaid or whatever happens to irreplaceable cultural artifacts in the Bermuda Triangle of studios' film vaults. All we have of "New Faces" at present is this dreadful public-domain transfer, muddy and grainy and with wildly varying sound quality. That should be terminal, but "New Faces" is so much fun it's worth putting up with every flaw of this release. "New Faces" launched the careers of Eartha Kitt, Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, Carol Lawrence, Robert Clary and a number of other stars and writers; it's a considerable pleasure to see all of them in the full flush of youth, punch-drunk in love with performing. Since "New Faces" was a straightforward filming of a stage show instead of the usual screen adaptation of a Broadway musical, the feeling of live performance is present. It's a revelation to see a twenty-year-old Carol Lawrence capering and cavorting through "Lucky Pierre" with Robert Clary; it's nominally his number, but it's easy to see that nothing and nobody was going to prevent Lawrence becoming a star. Surprises abound; Lawrence dances, and Alice Ghostley displays a fine singing voice, albeit one deployed in the service of high-camp comedy. Eartha Kitt steals the show with several songs, including her famous "Monotonous," and "Santa Baby," not in the Broadway run of the show, but interpolated here because Kitt had made it so famous. And even with the atrocious print and transfer, the cinematography (by Lucien Ballard), can be seen to have been wonderful once. It's one of my fondest wishes that Fox will one day find this title in its vault holdings and give it a proper restoration and DVD or Blu-Ray release. Until then, overlook this release's faults, and delight in a rare look at a classic Broadway revue.

Great in the sense of being very good, that is, but it also has a wide variety of items. Sad (Penny Candy, Guess who I saw Today), funny (no synonym starting with s), satirical (Boston Beguine), sensuous (Eartha Kitt at the start of her career, with the memorable "Monotonous"). Foot-tapping melodies like "Lizzie Borden". Enjoyable singing and dancing. All set within a minor but very funny skit. I repeat, great variety.

BOUGHT THIS DVD TO GET EARTHA KITT'S PERFORMANCES AND OF COURSE SHE
WAS GREAT! THE FILMING AND EDITING ARE A LITTLE DATED, BUT AS PART OF
ENTERTAINMENT HISTORY IT IS ABSOLUTELY VIEWABLE.