Stolen Face (1952): Hammer Films

Co-director of South West Silents and Film Noir UK James Harrison continues to review the new crime releases thanks to Hammer Films. Don't forget you can check out our review for Hammer's Whispering Smith Hits London (1952) and The Man in Black (1949) & Blood Orange (1953) on the SWS blog as well. Plus, a chance to win a brand new copy of Stolen Face (1952).

About 15 minutes into Hammer’s 1952 feature Stolen Face you might find yourself asking “Where is this film going?”. I was always curious if anyone had ever felt the same or even asked the same question while watch it. When I spoke to friends (ones who had seen the film that is) I would ask if they thought the same; I would always get the same reply “Not really Harrison no”.

The reason I ask is that the scene which appears around that 15-minute mark is an incredibly innocent one for such a film. It features both Stolen Faces’ two main stars, Paul Henreid and Lizabeth Scott. The pair have found themselves with adjacent rooms in a hotel in which they are the only guests. Scott has a cold and constantly sneezes while Henreid is trying to sleep; in the end, the pair meet and within a few more minutes become a couple.

In the audio commentary (for the original UK cut) with Cathy Lomax and Lucy Bolton, they mention this particular scene is almost out of character with the rest of the film. Reminding them of two screwball comedies, It Happened One Night (1934) and The Awful Truth (1937).

Happy to say that the commentators sum up the scene perfectly from my perspective; for years, I always thought that the scene (and the following scenes with Henreid and Scott in the hotel) very much come straight from Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night. There are elements of romantic-comedy here; in what is, in so many ways, a science-fiction style crime film; with the odd hint of film noir as well.

Directed by one Hammer’s most celebrated of film directors, Terence Fisher (The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Frankenstein Created Woman), Stolen Face is a film that tells the story of handsome philanthropic plastic surgeon Philip Ritter (Henreid). Ritter, after a whirlwind romance with beautiful concert pianist Alice Brent (Scott), is jilted by Scott’s character. Devastated after being rejected, Ritter remakes disfigured criminal Lily (Mary Mackenzie) in Alice's own image, with some rather harrowing aftereffects.

On the production side of the film, there is, as always, some perfect cinematography by Walter J. Harvey (Blood Orange, The House Across the Lake, The Quatermass Xperiment) and a shout out needs to be made by early Hitchcock’s art director C. Wilfred Arnold (The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, The Ring, The Manxman, Blackmail) who does a wonderful job between the clinical world of Ritter and the more relaxed (and even Gothic) real world outside of Ritter’s work place. Paul Leakley’s masterful makeup is another perfect and important element to the creativity to the world of Stolen Face; even if, given the 4K restoration the scars of Lily of can clearly be seen as actual makeup now. But hey, that’s 21st Century technology ruining 20th Century talent!

Speaking of Leakley, there is a fantastic extra on the release which involves his son Peter called ‘Putty in His Hands’ as well as an excellent feature by historian Thomas Doherty talking about the many aspects of the HUAC blacklist and the effect it had on certain people involved with Stolen Face. But, as always, all of the extras on the release are just perfect. And a nod to whoever thought up the idea of calling the extra feature involving filmmaker Chris Alexander ‘Face/Off’; it really does give you a sense that the producers of the release (the Hammer team) are most certainly having fun with what they are producing. In regard to the presentation of the film itself (both US and UK versions that is), the film looks and sounds beautiful.

But back to that hotel scene! If the aesthetic of the scene is from Capra’s It Happened One Night then there are a whole host of other films found within Stolen Face which can almost take us off on another path as well. A standard montage of Henreid and Scott falling in love (within minutes) can almost be taken from any classic Hollywood film. The Paris montage in Casablanca (1942) comes to mind (another Henreid film). While an early scene with the scarred Lily reminds me of Witness for the Prosecution (1957), “Want to kiss me, Ducky?!”

Then there is the rest of the film as a whole. There are plenty of hints of Alfred Hicthcock’s Vertigo (1958) and even Otto Preminger’s Laura (1944). Stolen Face is a film about obsession and what a person does to overcome that obsession. This is a film made six years before Hitchcock’s Vertigo, but the film can very much be a film painted with the same brush, or should I say, “Cut with the same scalpel?!”. Maybe I'm just obsessed with Stolen Face within its self and where it sits in the rest of cinema history.

But is Hammer and director Fisher playing with a number of genres here? Maybe. There is science-fiction, there is romantic-comedy, there is horror and there is film noir in Stolen Face. And there is a hint of what is to come from Hammer in this film, Science-Fiction and the Horror element is banging on the door; and it will come into effect two years later, with Hammer’s The Quatermass Xperiment (1955). Want to watch a film which it plays with its audience? Then Stolen Face is for you. Highly recommend.

Thanks to the Hammer Films team we have a brand new copy Stolen Face (1952) up for grabs; just send us your answer to the question below via our contact page by midnight on Friday 27th February to be in with a chance. Good Luck!

Question: Which film, directed by Get Carter and Bristol born film director Mike Hodges, is credited as Lizabeth Scott's final film?