It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
About Face (1952) – Musical #382

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Roy Del Ruth

Starring:
Gordon MacRae, Eddie Bracken, Dick Wesson, Virginia Gibson, Phyllis Kirk, Aileen Stanley Jr., Joel Grey, Larry Keating, Cliff Ferre, John Baer, Mabel Albertson (uncredited)

Plot:
The senior cadets at Southern Military Institute are months away from graduation. Tony Williams (MacRae), Boff Roberts (Bracken) and Dave Crouse (Wesson) get in the usual trouble as they have a plebe cadet, Bender (Grey), runs their errands. The three pals also butt heads with Lt. Jones (Ferre), who tries to woo their girls. Boff and his girl, Alice (Kirk), are also secretly married and have a baby on the way.

Trivia:
• Musical remake of BROTHER RAT (1938)
• Joel Grey’s first film.
• Only feature film of Aileen Stanley Jr.
• College exteriors were filmed at University of California in Los Angeles, California.
• First feature film of Cliff Ferre

Notable Songs:
• “If Someone Had Told Me” performed by Gordon MacRae
• “Reveille” performed by the cast
• “No Other Girl For Me” performed by Gordon MacRae

My review:
ABOUT FACE (1952) starts off with so much energy, color and joy that you think it’s going to be a joyous experience to watch. The cadets of Southern Military Institute are singing about “Reveille” and the first of the stars we see is wonderful Gordon MacRae (shirtless, no less).

In the plot, the senior cadets at Southern Military Institute are months away from graduation. Tony Williams (MacRae), Boff Roberts (Bracken) and Dave Crouse (Wesson) get in the usual trouble as they have a plebe cadet, Bender (Grey), runs their errands. The three pals also butt heads with Lt. Jones (Ferre), who tries to woo their girls. In retaliation, the cadets put food coloring in his hair dye.

The girls who arrive for the dance have their own drama and intrigue: Alice (Kirk) and Boff are secretly marriage and secretly have a baby on the way. Betty Long (Gibson) is the daughter of Col. Long and doesn’t want the boys to treat her any different than anyone else, and changes her name. Then there is dopey Lorna (Stanley Jr.). Shenanigans ensue.

The troublemaking cadets are well-cast with Gordon MacRae (still early in is Warner Bros. musical career), Dick Wesson (who isn’t as well known today but was capable with good materal), and Eddie Bracken. On the leading lady side, other than Phyllis Kirk, Virginia Gibson and Aileen Stanley Jr. aren’t as well known. I didn’t care for Aileen Stanley Jr., but I guess neither did others since this was her only feature film.

So what’s the problem with ABOUT FACE? For starters, it’s what we know as the dreaded Musical Remake. This is a musical version of the comedy BROTHER RAT (1938). For a cast comparison to BROTHER RAT:
– Gordon MacRae is playing the Wayne Morris role
– Eddie Bracken and Phyllis Kirk are playing the Eddie Albert and Jane Bryan roles
– Dick Wesson is playing the Dick Wesson role

Somehow this 1930s story not only didn’t work as a musical, but it didn’t feel like it worked in the 1950s either. I was also disheartened that it was MacRae that played the wisecracking, jerky character that Wayne Morris played on film.

Truthfully, the film starts out well with alright songs and though the vocal talents from MacRae and the chorus are beautiful, the film slowly gets worse and worse, especially with the songs.

We start with a joyous song about “Reveille” and MacRae crooning “If Someone Had Told Me.” And then the songs get progressively worse with “Wooden Indian” and “They Haven’t Lost a Father Yet.” Who thought these were worthwhile songs?

Despite the film’s decline throughout, one highlight is that this is actor, singer Joel Grey’s first film.

“I might have been playing a twerp, but I was going to be in the movies! I had never even auditioned for a film role before, and this one was offered to me without so much as a screen test,” Grey wrote in his autobiography. “There was no doubt that About Face was a good break. It was an amusing role, but I was the only cast member with no song, let alone dance number. All of the songs were written for the upperclassmen and their visiting girlfriends. My first movie musical and no music? I wondered what would Mickey Rooney do?”

Grey said he came up with his own number, approached choreographer LeRoy Prinz and proposed a scene about being a nobody. He pitched how it could be worked into a comedic number, even mimicking Jerry Lewis. Prinz liked the idea and they wrote and rehearsed “I’m Nobody.”

The funny part is that Grey sings a song about being a nobody when he’s the only one in the cast who won an Academy Award.

ABOUT FACE was panned by critics, but Joel Grey was lauded in the reviews. “The only suggestion of appeal lies in the galvanized miming of a pint-sized newcomer named Joel Grey. Mr. Grey rates a snappy salute in an entertainment package that deserves nothing more than an overripe raspberry.”

The film ends with a surprise where the surly lieutenant, played by Cliff Ferre, busts out in a tap dance in the final number. I was bowled over. Very unexpected as Ferre had only acted throughout the rest of the film.

As someone from the Carolinas, I also appreciated the University of North Carolina Tar Heel and University of South Carolina Gamecock references. That was fun.

I wondered what could have made this stinker better. And the only answer I can come up with is that if it had been a regular military musical and not a musical remake of BROTHER RAT, maybe it would have been better.

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