Monday, January 25, 2021

New Faces (1954)

IMDb plot summary: A filmed performance (in CinemaScope) of the highly popular Broadway hit that was basically a collection of skits, sketches, songs and dances built around a flimsy plot to meld them all together.
Directed by Harry Horner and John Beal. Starring Ronny Graham, Eartha Kitt, Robert Clary, and Alice Ghostley.

There's no plot here to speak of, it's mostly just a camera pointed at a stage as the actors perform a series of individual scenes and songs, which, to my understanding, was how the original Broadway production went as well. It's honestly the kind of transfer that's a little befuddling to me -- why adapt this into a cinematic style when a couple cameras pointed at the stage capturing a live performance would have done just as well, probably better, because of getting a genuine audience reaction? Well, whatever the reason, it's fine. The version I watched was pretty clearly an old VHS transfer and both video and sound quality was pretty iffy, but there was still enough I was able to enjoy. Most of the songs are interesting in the stories they tell, and each individual piece is pretty good. A particular favorite was the "Lizzie Borden" number and the short-but-amusing "Waltzing in Venice."

How it entered my Flickchart:
New Faces < To Be or Not to Be
New Faces > The Cocoanuts
New Faces > Nashville
New Faces > The Boston Strangler
New Faces > Pulp Fiction
New Faces > Small Time Crooks
New Faces < The Firemen's Ball
New Faces > Deceiver
New Faces > All the Money in the World
New Faces > The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
New Faces > Downfall
Final spot: #1677 out of 3300, or 49%.

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