Customer Reviews

New Faces [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Based on the Leonard Sillman Broadway show of the same name, this film showcases the talents of many new players who would go on to become household names. The excuse for bringing them all together was a show in financial shambles that keeps going by featuring the daughter of a wealthy potential backer. She is painfully bad in her brief appearances between numbers. There are lavish production numbers and we are introduced to Robert Cleary, Carol Lawrence, and Eartha Kitt for the first time. But it is the comedy sketches written by Ronny Grahman and Mel Brooks that make this worth seeing. Ronny does a marvelous satire of Truman Capote at a time when no one knew of him. Paul Lynde and Alice Ghostley are the parents in a take-off of Death of a Salesman with Ronny taking the Biff part. The twist is that Willie Loman is actually a failed second story burglar who wants his son to adopt a life of crime but the son is a straight arrow type. Very Funny. One of Lynde's best bits is as an African explorer doing a slide show about his most recent disaster of a trip. Robert Cleary sparkles in several numbers, Eartha Kitt is at her sensual best, and June Carroll sings "Guess Who I Saw Today". In total it lacks momentum but a good fast forward will get you to some great bits.

NEW FACES is not really a "movie".

Although it did play in theaters back in 1954, the picture is more of a filmed record of NEW FACES OF 1952, the hit Broadway revue from which it's adapted. The film's producers have added a slight framing story, but what is on the screen is, essentially, a series of musical numbers and skits strung together, performed by the original cast.

What made this stage production so memorable is that it was the vehicle that launched the careers of such stellar talents as Eartha Kitt, Robert Clary, Paul Lynde, Carol Lawrence, Alice Ghostley and Ronny Graham, as well as Mel Brooks, who wrote several of the skits.

Frankly, with the exception of a sketch inspired by DEATH OF A SALESMAN that features Paul Lynde as a "Willy Loman" who makes his living as a pick-pocket, time has not been kind to the comedy skits in NEW FACES. What might have been funny back in 1954 falls flat today.

On the other hand, most of the musical numbers are still delightful, particularly "Santa Baby" and "Monotonous," performed by the sultry Ms. Kitt, "I'm in Love with Miss Logan" (Clary), "Penny Candy" (June Carroll) and the melodic "Love Is a Simple Thing" (Carroll, Clary and Kitt). However, my personal favorite is "Lizzie Borden," performed by most of the cast. It's a tune that I find myself often humming to myself.

This new widescreen version of NEW FACES from VCI Entertainment has been digitally remastered and is the best available on DVD.

© Michael B. Druxman

I bought this video believing it to be a recording of one of the last successful revues to be done on Broadway -- "New Faces of 1952", a vaudeville entertainment that ran for almost 400 performances in the 50's! This "New Faces", however, features a tacked-on movie "plot" concerning saving the show by getting a loan from the rich father of one of the performers. In order to accomodate the addition of this throughline, several numbers from the show were edited out, most notably June Carroll singing "Guess Who I Saw Today" -- sadly, that number was the reason I was interested in buying the film. What remains is interesting, but a compromise to one interested in the original show.

Why has New Faces not been given a 16x9 transfer? It's pretty sharp, and the colour is much better than last time, but why the inferior 4x3 transfer?

I have to be honest about this : I really bought the video just to be able to have Eartha Kitt in her first solo movienumbers.

Eartha had only 2 solo numbers in the actual play.Since Eartha was a real SHOW-stopper additional songs were put into the movie version.

In this filmversion ( which is NOT the live version of the broadwayplay)

Eartha had much more to do, and so we can enjoy her ,singing Uska Dara in it, as wel as Santa Baby, C'est si bon, Monotonous and also Bal,Petit Bal ! Plus some singing together with the rest of the cast! well, THAT was for me worth buying it. The rest is not that good....it's really some short scenes and musical comedy waved together to get one play out of it, but to me this did not work at all. So, buy it, just for EARTHA !!!!

While in high school I saw a sneak preview of this film and I have wanted a decent copy for years. This is OK and will be very entertaining for Eartha Kitt fans. There is a disclaimer that some of the film has deteriorated. Since it is a specialist's item, I suppose this will be as good a restoration as is likely to be available. It is better than the VHS so if it brings back memories to you, buy it. It is perfectly watchable.

~ fortunately i found New Faces of '52 on a VHS that was performed on TV. LIVE. Minus Eartha Kitt (thank God). Love it.

The only reason I bought NEW FACES (1954) was for Eartha Kitt. I read that she was one of the young singers/actors showcased in NEW FACES and so I had to have it.

The picture quality isn't too bad. The movie is in color and though there are a few tiny jump cuts here and there, and the picture isn't as sharp as say I Love Lucy - The Complete Third Season, which is from the same year or thereabouts, but for the most part it's watchable.

Most of the unknown actors making their appearance are pretty good in this feature like Alice Ghostley and Paul Lynde, who would go on to television fame as character actors, but Eartha Kitt and Robert Clary really steal the show!

Both sing and dance their heart out. Even though Kitt only has dance and song numbers, she really shines here. It's too bad they didn't have her do more acting in NEW FACES, but that probably had to do with racism more than anything else. Clary is funny as a diminutive French man and he sings really well.

Anyway, Eartha performs her standards like "C'est Si Bon," "Uska Dara," "Monotonous," "Bal Petit Bal," and the absolutely magnificent "Santa Baby," which is worth the price of this DVD alone. She sings and dances up a storm and it's really something to see the "Sex Kitten" in her prime. No wonder Orson Welles referred to her as the "most exciting woman in the world."

The movie itself is built around musical and comedy sketches of the actors, so it's not a really strong storyline but it's fun to watch. I'd recommend NEW FACES to Eartha Kitt fans like myself or fans of Mel Brooks, who wrote the sketches.

For those who remember the 50s, when entertainment was entertainment. Great for Eartha Kitt lovers.

I bought this disc a few years ago and the print quality was so bad I sent it back for credit. I hope that they have improved the quality and the image is much sharper. The last one was so out of focus it was impossible to watch.