by Glenn Erickson
About Face
Brief Synopsis
Two military school cadets discover their best friend is married.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Roy Del Ruth
Director
Gordon Macrae
Tony Williams
Eddie Bracken
Boff Roberts
Dick Wesson
Dave Crouse
Virginia Gibson
Betty Long, also known as Betty Short
Phyllis Kirk
Alice Wheatley
Film Details
Genre
Musical
Adaptation
Release Date
May
31,
1952
Premiere Information
World premiere in Nashville, TN: 28 Feb 1952; New York opening: 23 May 1952
Production Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Location
Los Angeles--UCLA, California, United States; Los Angeles--UCLA, California, United States; Los Angeles--University of California at Los Angeles, California, United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Brother Rat by John Monks, Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoffe, produced by George Abbott (New York, 16 Dec 1936).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 34m
Sound
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
11 reels
Synopsis
Roommates Tony Williams, Boff Roberts and Dave Crouse, who are seniors at Southern Military Institution, make plans for a weekend of festivities surrounding the academy's baseball game against the North Carolina Tarheels. Before Tony and Boff leave for the train station to pick up their girl friends, Lorna Carter and Alice Wheatley, another student, Hal Carlton, smugly tells Tony that, because of Tony's pranks during Lorna's last trip, her mother has arranged for Hal to be Lorna's escort. Hal's victory over Tony is short-lived, as underclassman Bender delivers a telegram stating that Lorna has the measles and must cancel her trip. Bender also informs Boff that Lt. Jones, the school's chemistry instructor who has eyes for Alice, has summoned Boff to his office to grade papers, which will cause him to miss meeting Alice's train. After Hal leaves, Tony, who arranged for the bogus telegram to be sent to Hal, prepares to meet Lorna. In Jones's office, while Boff grades papers, the lieutenant douses his hair with hair tonic, unaware that Tony has added vegetable dye to the bottle. When Tony drops by, Boff, unable to leave, gives him fifty dollars, asking Tony to deposit it in his account to cover checks he has written. Meanwhile, on the train, Lorna and Alice chat with Betty, the daughter of Col. Long, who is the academy's new commandant. Betty, who has no one waiting for her at the station, complains that she is never sure if boys truly like her or pretend to like her to impress her father. Impulsively, she decides to keep her identity secret for the weekend and asks the other girls to introduce her as "Betty Short." Lorna is pleased to find Tony, instead of Hal, waiting for her at the station, but Alice hides her disappointment when Jones, rather than Boff, meets her. After introducing Dave to Betty, Alice and Lorna go to the home of Lorna's mother, Mrs. Carter, but Jones makes an embarrassed retreat when he realizes that his hair has turned bright green. Boff joins them later, and when he and Alice, whom he has secretly married against school regulations, slip away to talk, she surprises him with news that she is pregnant. During assembly that afternoon, a dazed Boff, who gets distracted by babies among the spectators, wanders off the field to admire them and is later reprimanded by Col. Long. After returning to the dorm room, Boff confides to Tony and Dave that he and Alice are married and expecting a child. Knowing that Boff will be expelled if word gets out, his roommates vow to help him, and urge him to concentrate on the baseball game, in which he is pitching. That evening, during pre-game festivities in the courtyard where the school mascot, a wooden Indian, stands, Tony bets Boff's money on SMI's victory. Later, Dave is caught by Col. Long wooing Betty and is dismayed when she accuses the colonel of spying. The colonel, keeping a promise he made to her, refrains from revealing that Betty is his daughter. That evening, Tony and Dave break curfew to be with Lorna and Betty, but Hal sees them and anonymously reports them to Jones. At Mrs. Carter's house, Tony accidentally spills water on his pants and is wrapped in a towel when Jones and Col. Long show up. Tony and Dave are subsequently confined to quarters and barred from attending the baseball game. The next day, Boff, feeling nervous and alone, pitches poorly and is knocked out by a ball and returned to his dorm room. There he communicates with Bender by walkie-talkie, and the boys learn about their team's victory. Col. Long, having been notified by the bank that Boff has been passing worthless checks, orders all three roommates to march three months of penalty tours. Although the roommates' time is preempted by marching, Tony continues to deal with their rivals. When Jones tries to take Alice and Betty to the theater, he finds that his hair has turned orange. Then, after Tony learns that it was Hal who reported their running the block, Hal's uniform is rigged to self-destruct at the next review parade. Finally, Tony, Boff and Dave complete their sentence near the end of the school term, but Boff has little time to study chemistry and fears he will fail the class. On the night before the test, Tony sneaks Betty, who is an excellent chemistry student, into the dorm room to help Boff study. Hal catches them, but when Betty reveals that she is the colonel's daughter, he decides he is better off keeping the secret. Later, Boff learns that he has passed chemistry and become a father. After the graduation ceremony, everyone, including a blue-haired Jones, celebrates at the cotillion.
Director
Roy Del Ruth
Director
Cast
Gordon Macrae
Tony Williams
Eddie Bracken
Boff Roberts
Dick Wesson
Dave Crouse
Virginia Gibson
Betty Long, also known as Betty Short
Phyllis Kirk
Alice Wheatley
Aileen Stanley Jr.
Lorna Carter
Joel Grey
Bender
Larry Keating
Col. Long
Cliff Ferre
Lt. Jones
John Baer
Hal Carlton
Mabel Albertson
Mrs. Carter
Jimmy Best
Hal's roommate
Richard Monahan
Morris
Russ Clark
Umpire
Ferris Taylor
Doctor
Freeman Lusk
Superintendent
Rochelle Stanton
Hat check girl
Donald Kerr
Vendor
Roy Del Ruth
Professor
Hazel Shaw
Lonnie Pierce
Patricia Hawks
Crew
Wesley Anderson
Camera Operator
Gordon Bau
Makeup Artist
Gibson Carter
2d Assistant Director
Pat Clark
Stills
Charles H. Clarke
Art Director
Wilfrid M. Cline
Technicolor Color Consultant
Joe Conners
Stand-in for Dick Wesson
Mel Dellar
Assistant Director
Jerry Ewing
Stand-in for Aileen Stanley
David Forrest
Sound
Bud Friend
Props
Bert Glennon
Director of Photography
Ray Heindorf
Music Director
Elva Hill
Wardrobe lady
Gus Hyland
Stand-in for Eddie Bracken
William Jacobs
Producer
Mitchell Kovaleski
Technicolor Color Consultant
Sgt. August Kunkel
Technical Advisor
Emile La Vigne
Makeup
Ann Locker
Hairdresser
Norman Luboff
Vocal Arrangements
Dude Maschmeyer
Grip
Peter Milne
Screenwriter
Lou Molina
Assistant Camera
Jack Morton
Stand-in for Cliffe Ferre
James Murray
Technicolor Color Consultant
Ralph Owens
Gaffer
Pat Patterson
Assistant props
Frank Perkins
Orchestration
Leroy Prinz
Music numbers staged and Director by
Tony Redondo
Stand-in for Gordon MacRae
Lyle B. Reifsnider
Set Decoration
Thomas Reilly
Film Editor
Leah Rhodes
Wardrobe
C. A. Riggs
Sound
June Rollens
Stand-in for Phyllis Kirk
Peter De Rose
Composer
Carole Shannon
Stand-in for Virginia Gibson
Tillie Starriett
Hairdresser
William Studeman
Best Boy
Charles Tobias
Composer
Vic Vallejo
Wardrobe man
Alma D. Young
Script Supervisor
Film Details
Genre
Musical
Adaptation
Release Date
May
31,
1952
Premiere Information
World premiere in Nashville, TN: 28 Feb 1952; New York opening: 23 May 1952
Production Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Location
Los Angeles--UCLA, California, United States; Los Angeles--UCLA, California, United States; Los Angeles--University of California at Los Angeles, California, United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Brother Rat by John Monks, Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoffe, produced by George Abbott (New York, 16 Dec 1936).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 34m
Sound
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
11 reels
Articles
About Face (1952)
When movie studios remade older hits, the result could seem ten or twenty years out of date. The Technicolor comedy About Face (1952) is a musical remake of 1938's college comedy Brother Rat, taken from the stage hit by John Monks Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoffe. Although set at 'Southern Military Academy,' director Roy Del Ruth's farce uses the same elements found in any standard campus comedy of the 1930s: romantic pranks, discipline from the Dean's office, a sports hero who must pass a course so he can play in the big game. Much of the comedy content was removed to make room for nine new songs written by Peter De Rose and Charles Tobias, and sung by the studio's lead crooner Gordon McRae. The romantic rivalries of three academy seniors cue wild pranks, which in turn lead to trouble with the commandant. One couple must hide a marriage forbidden by school regulations, and the boys don't know that one of the girls is really the commandant's daughter. MacRae's partners in creative disobedience are the established star Eddie Bracken and the wisecracking comic Dick Wesson. Contract player Phyllis Kirk is the secret bride with a baby on the way. Broadway dancer and singer Virginia Gibson would soon become one of the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). Aileen Stanley Jr. was not the daughter of the famous 1920s singer Aileen Stanley, but her favored voice student. She adopted Stanley's name when they performed together. Today About Face is remembered as the film debut of Joel Grey, then just nineteen. After faithfully carrying messages for the seniors, Grey's harried underclassman is rewarded with his own singing and dancing number, "I'm Nobody."
by Glenn Erickson
by Glenn Erickson
About Face (1952)
When movie studios remade older hits, the result could seem ten or twenty years out of date. The Technicolor comedy About Face (1952) is a musical remake of 1938's college comedy Brother Rat, taken from the stage hit by John Monks Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoffe. Although set at 'Southern Military Academy,' director Roy Del Ruth's farce uses the same elements found in any standard campus comedy of the 1930s: romantic pranks, discipline from the Dean's office, a sports hero who must pass a course so he can play in the big game. Much of the comedy content was removed to make room for nine new songs written by Peter De Rose and Charles Tobias, and sung by the studio's lead crooner Gordon McRae. The romantic rivalries of three academy seniors cue wild pranks, which in turn lead to trouble with the commandant. One couple must hide a marriage forbidden by school regulations, and the boys don't know that one of the girls is really the commandant's daughter. MacRae's partners in creative disobedience are the established star Eddie Bracken and the wisecracking comic Dick Wesson. Contract player Phyllis Kirk is the secret bride with a baby on the way. Broadway dancer and singer Virginia Gibson would soon become one of the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). Aileen Stanley Jr. was not the daughter of the famous 1920s singer Aileen Stanley, but her favored voice student. She adopted Stanley's name when they performed together. Today About Face is remembered as the film debut of Joel Grey, then just nineteen. After faithfully carrying messages for the seniors, Grey's harried underclassman is rewarded with his own singing and dancing number, "I'm Nobody."
by Glenn Erickson
Quotes
Trivia
Joel Grey's film debut.
Notes
An August 1951 Hollywood Reporter news item reported that Gene Nelson had initially been cast in the film. About Face marked the film debuts of Joel Grey, a protégé of Eddie Cantor, Mabel Albertson and Aileen Stanley, Jr., according to August and September 1953 Hollywood Reporter news items and Warner Bros. production notes. The production notes also add to the cast Patricia Hawks, daughter of former actress Bessie Love. Although her appearance has not been confirmed, September 1953 Hollywood Reporter news items add Doris Fulton to the cast. An August 1951 Hollywood Reporter news item stated that director Roy Del Ruth played a professor in the film. College exteriors were shot at the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles.
An August 1952 Variety news item reported that Warner Bros. was being sued over their use of the title About Face, as it conflicted with the 1942 United Artists picture, titled About Face, which was produced by Hal Roach. The plaintiffs were Favorite Films Corp. and Favorite Films International Corp., who owned reissue rights to the 1942 film, and Regal Television Corp., who picked up the television rights. The outcome of the lawsuit has not been ascertained. Warner Bros. made an earlier adaptation of John Monks, Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoff's play, the 1938 film Brother Rat, which was directed by William Keighley. For more information about the 1938 film, its sequel, and the play Brother Rat, see the entry in AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40.
