False Faces (1932)

Director:

Lowell Sherman

Writers:

Kubec Glasmon (writer)
Llewellyn Hughes (writer)

Release Date:

13 October 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman

Cast

Lowell Sherman	...	Dr. Silas Brenton
Peggy Shannon	...	Elsie Fryer
Lila Lee	...	Georgia Rand
Berton Churchill	...	Dr. J.B. Parker
David Landau	...	McCullough
Nance O'Neil	...	Mrs. Finn
Purnell Pratt	...	Jefferson Howe
Olive Tell	...	Mrs. Day
Forrest Stanley	...	District Attorney
Edward Martindel	...	Mr. Jonathan Day
Geneva Mitchell	...	Florence Day
Oscar Apfel	...	Fineberg
John St. Polis	...	Dr. McDonald
Helene Millard	...	June Deering
Harold Waldridge	...	Jimmy

Also Known As:

What Price Beauty? (UK)

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

K.B.S. Productions Inc.

A SCOUNDREL RECEIVES HIS JUST DESSERTS

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

SPOILER ALERT As Dr. Silas Benton, Lowell Sherman is a sardonic, skirt-chasing sawbones, who works in a big city charity hospital. His infatuation with nurse Georgia Rand (Lila Lee) is the talk of the doctor's lounge. Benton is kicked out of the hospital when the chief surgeon discovers he has accepted an illegal fifty-dollar fee for an operation on a patient (I know, I know. Just remember this is 1932.) After moving to Chicago the doc sets himself up as a plastic surgeon, a specialty in which he is neither qualified nor experienced. He hires a private detective with connections as his publicity agent. In no time at all, Benton's office has standing room only. He interviews several young ladies for the position of his private secretary. One of the applicants is pretty Elsie Fryer (Peggy Shannon) who flirts, smokes, drinks, is twenty-five and single - In short, all the qualifications Benton is looking for in an employee. He hires her on the spot. Elsie is eye-candy for the discriminating male and within a month she is upgraded to be his personal paramour. Benton continues to enjoy the good life until he meets Mrs. Finn (Nance O'Neil), a wealthy dowager who has bowed legs and wants them straightened. Nance O'Neil was fifty-eight years old when she took on the role that was to be her swan song in the movies. Her appearance is brief, but she makes the most of it. The lines she speaks contain all the subtle nuances of an accomplished stage actress, which of course whe was. Dr. Benton operates on her and botches the surgery. Poor Mrs. Finn must have both legs amputated to save her life. Benton is put on trial for malpractice and elects to act as his own attorney. His eloquent and tearful summation sways the jury and he is acquitted. In the final court room scene Benton approaches Mrs. Finn in her wheel chair. Bending over her he asks, "Dear Mrs. Finn, is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all?" With that said Mrs. Finn removes a revolver from under her robe and shoots him dead. A fitting end for a scoundrel and a charlatan.

Her husband, upon returning from a fishing trip in 1941, discovered the body of Peggy Shannon, former Zigfeld Follies beauty, in their North Hollywood apartment. She had died while sitting at the kitchen table. Her death was attributed to acute alcoholism. On her tombstone were chiseled the words, "That Red-Headed girl, Peggy Shannon." Ninteen days after this event, her husband took his own life at the same kitchen table. He left a note declaring his love for Peggy William Schley-Ulrich