An Edward L. Alperson Production. Copyright 1 December 1953 by National Pictures Corp. U.S. release through 20th Century-Fox: March 1954. New York opening at the Roxy: 19 February 1954. U.K. release through British Lion: 5 February 1955. Australian release through Hoyts/Independent Film Distributors: 10 February 1955. Sydney opening at the Plaza. 98 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: A series of songs, skits and sketches, tied together with a thin backstage story about a backer, a producer and the backer's daughter who wants to be in the show.

COMMENT: CinemaScope's usefulness in recording a stage show for a wider audience was seized upon avidly and rapidly by a combination of Broadway's Leonard Sillman and New York independent (with strong ties to 20th Century-Fox),Edward L. Alperson. It's odd that despite CinemaScope's success here — both commercially and artistically — few other producers realized what a natural 'Scope was for the filmed presentation of stage shows. Paul Czinner, for example, never bothered to use 'Scope for any of his filmed records such as "The Bolshoi Ballet" (1957),"The Royal Ballet" (1959),"Der Rosenkavalier" (1961) or "Romeo and Juliet" (1966) — more's the pity!

"New Faces" itself of course, is something of a curate's egg of a show, with absolutely brilliant sketches alternating with some songs and skits that outstayed their welcome. But thanks to the compass of CinemaScope and the infectious enthusiasm of all the young players, the revue was never dull, even in its weakest moments. And the high spots — Eartha Kitt naturally, especially in "Monotonous" and Stella Lee's "Uskadara"; "Time for Tea" sung by Alice Ghostley and June Carroll; "He Takes Me Off His Income Tax"; and "Lizzie Borden" — were truly memorable.

Also unforgettable were some of the wonderful personalities "New Faces" introduced to the screen. In addition to Miss Kitt and writer Mel Brooks who went on to make more notable films, a number of these marvelous stars never made another movie: Ronny Graham, June Carroll, Bill Mullikin, Rosemary O'Reilly. A few of the other players including pint-sized comedian, Robert Clary (who joined Kitt in singing "Bal Petit Bal") and dancer Carol Lawrence, made just one more movie each. Others like Paul Lynde and Alice Ghostley had fair careers ahead. - JHR writing as George Addison.

This is a mixed bag of songs, dances and sketches, but there is no denying the talent involved. There will be a definite case of curiosity here with two future "Bewitched" supporting characters (who sometimes seemed like twins in real life),a "Hogan's Heroes" hero who was a real life concentration camp survivor, and a future "Catwoman". The rest of the cast (with the exception of Carol Lawrence who is pretty much overshadowed here) consists of obscure faces even Broadway aficionados won't recognize. The sketches range from funny to lame, and the songs for the most part are not remembered today.

Eartha Kitt is definitely instantly recognizable, and gets to sing her pop standard "Santa Baby" here which has been greatly remade but never topped. She also scores with "Monotonous" and sings a song in French with Robert Clary, the future "Hogan's Heroes" Frenchman who definitely is the most romantic presence here. Clary, the real life concentration camp survivor I mentioned, also scored highly in daytime drama, singing on-screen during his many years as Robert LeClaire on "Days of Our Lives" and also performing on both "The Young and the Restless" in its early days and years later on "The Bold and the Beautiful". Kitt purrs just like a kitten, and her brief tenure as Catwoman on "Batman" later on has made her both a sex symbol as well as camp icon.

People joke that sometimes Alice Ghostley seemed to be really Paul Lynde in drag, but they were real life close friends who just happened to share similar vocal mannerisms. Ghostley, be-speckled and frumpy, is a perfect look-alike for "Auntie Mame's" Agnes Gooch as she sings the alluring "Boston", a song written by "Fiddler on the Roof's" Sheldon Harnick. Lynde's sketches range from hysterical to eye-rolling, but he completely scores in the sketch about a hunter covered in bandages and hobbling on crutches sharing his experience while hunting big game in Africa. Lynde was one of the sketch writers, along with a future film comedy legend billed here as "Melvin Brooks".

Prints of this look extremely cheap, sort of like the recently made film version of "Top Banananna". This gives a dated and almost television look to the film. However, both movies were made for big screen release, and they pale in comparison to the musical classics released by the major studios during this time. So while the film ranks as "good", it is more because of the great talents that came out of it and individual moments rather than the film as a whole. Perhaps video and DVD are better viewings for this because at least you can fast-forward.

The film opens with "Lebeau" from Hogan's Heroes (Robert Clary) running around for some reason, we're not quite sure, since the sound is so bad, although that might just be the copy I got from Amazon. Who knew he started out as a professional singer…? We see a very young Alice Ghostly and Eartha Kitt when they show the faces of the performers to come. June Carroll (the producer's sister…) sings Penny Candy, Alice Ghostly , who we all know from Bewitched, sings, and actually has a hell of a voice! And WHAT is with that dress on Virginia Wilson, who keeps popping in to introduce the next number? It looks like her top is about to drop down on a trap door.

A lot of this is very "okay"… many of the performers do their bits in a very serious manner, without expression or any emotion, so some of it is almost painful to get through. Clary, the "emcee" does several numbers, and E. Kitt does a naughty version of Santa Baby. Paul Lynde performs in a couple good "bits", but they would have been funnier if they had ended on a funny line about halfway through. The best number was the Lizzie Borden number "You can't chop your papa up in… Massachusetts" – some clever stuff. There's a very thin plot line…someone's father keeps promising to pay someone some money or something, but that very thin plot line seems to have been tacked on later. Interesting to see all these young actors before they hit the bigtime, but I'm glad I didn't pay to see this one in a theater.