Facing the Music (1933) User Reviews

One-liners, opera singing, and slapstick

[yrussell · 8/10 · 22 December 2020]

Enjoyable old movie full of Stanley Lupino one-liners and acrobatics. He starts the film obsessed with a lady he spotted in the opera (a bit too obsessed, really, but all in good fun). After he inveigles his way into her social circle - which includes the social circle of her aunt, a major opera star - Lupino's character becomes central in the opera star's publicity campaign. The shenanigans include a brush with criminals, the police, and a series of crazy chase scenes in the bowels of an old opera house. Throughout the movie, you can really see Lupino's background as an expert physical comedian. After discovering Stanley Lupino only recently, I made it my mission to see all 13 films that he starred in. Facing the Music serves as an excellent showcase of his multifaceted comedic talents. The surrounding actors are pretty good. I enjoyed seeing Lester Matthews in a comedic role. I had only known him playing a straight man in mid-30's American horror films (e.g. Opposite Bela Lugosi in The Raven, 1935). In Facing the Music, he gets to pull comedic faces and fall in bathtubs, playing a frustrated and rather bullying rival. I particularly like the blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment (43:56) when Matthews breaks character for a split second, unable to suppress a wide smile in the moment that he gets cake icing thrown at his head. Another weirdly fun moment for me, early in the film (8:18), is when Lupino is looking through an old phone book to look for his object of affection. The camera shows what appears to be a genuine phonebook from 1933 London (I might be wrong, but the phonebook seems too detailed to be fake). I freeze-framed this moment because I found the phone book listings rather fascinating (phone numbers were so different back then!). Overall, Facing the Music is a fun film (even if you're not a fan of opera).

A Night At The Opera?Not Really

[malcolmgsw · 5/10 · 13 November 2016]

This is the first credited collaboration between Sydney Gilliat and Frank Launder,who were to go on and make many classic films in the forties and cities.This film is a star vehicle for Stanley Lupino,father of Ida.He is romantically perusing the niece of an overweight and over the hill opera singer.He comes up with the idea for a publicity stunt where she will wear her jewels on stage.Predictably they are stolen.The last quarter of an hour has Lupino recovering the jewels and being chased backstage by two crooks.It predates A Night At The Opera by 2 years but is not in the same class.It is all a bit laboured and the humour is hard to find.Filipinos style really doesn't seem to suit the screen.