About Face is a 1952 American Warner Bros. Pictures musical comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Gordon MacRae, Eddie Bracken and Virginia Gibson. Future Oscar winner Joel Grey appears in his film debut. The film is an adaptation of the 1936 play Brother Rat written by John Monks Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoffe and a remake of the 1938 film of the same title.
Contents
Plot
Three friends enlist at a military academy in the American South. While two of them pursue romantic entanglements, the third tries hide that he is secretly married and expecting a child.
Cast
Gordon MacRae as Tony Williams
Eddie Bracken as Biff Roberts
Dick Wesson as Dave Crouse
Virginia Gibson as Betty Long
Phyllis Kirk as Alice Wheatley
Aileen Stanley Jr. as Lorna Carter
Joel Grey as Bender
Larry Keating as Colonel Long
Cliff Ferre as Lieut. Jones
John Baer as Hal Carlton
Mabel Albertson as Mrs. Carter
James Best as Joe
Ferris Taylor as Doctor
Release
The world premiere of About Face was held in Nashville, Tennessee on February 28, 1952 to open the new Tennessee Theatre, with most of the film's stars in attendance.
Reception
In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson wrote: "The rowdy spontaneity of the original is completely lost in a stale script by Peter Milne, overstuffed with inane dialogue and feeble gags. Under the direction of Roy Del Ruth, 'About Face' marches along at a snail's pace ... And instead of lubricating the continuity, the musical portion almost smothers it. ... Dull though the film may be, it is both clean and pretty."
The film was a box-office failure. Bracken later said that "the main reason why audiences rejected About Face, I think, is that most of us were too damn old for the roles."