THE FACE IN THE SKY DVD

The Face in the Sky (1933) DVD

This rare early DVD is devoted to a sign-painter named Joe Buck and to his wholesome admiration for Madge Brown, the stepdaughter of an offensive farmer.

This Buck looks upon his huge daubs of smiling girls on barns, walls and other sites as art. He has a very good opinion of himself and resents being called a painter. He thinks he is an artist, and one more important than the ordinary men who do their work on canvases, for his pictures are big and then also he takes even greater risks than did Michelangelo in decorating the ceiling of Rome's Sistine Chapel. All his charmers, which serve to exploit a concoction known as Beauty Magic, have winning smiles, glossy, nicely mar-celled hair and they appear in the latest in décolletté gowns.

In spattering paint over different places in the country, Buck and his helper, Lucky, use their powers of persuasion on owners of sites, declaring that the paint makes a barn weatherproof. They proffer cheap watches as payment for the rent of the advertising sign. Lucky on one or two occasions numbs what little brain he has by generous swallows of whisky. He is a loyal lout who not only makes trouble for himself but also for Buck.

Madge goes through a good deal of worry and disappointment after she encounters the handsome Joe Buck while he is painting the three-foot eye of a beautiful blonde on Farmer Brown's barn. Buck and Lucky travel with their own motor truck and Madge eludes her stepfather by hiding in the vehicle. There are several carnival scenes during which Sam Hardy portrays Triplett the Great, a fortune-teller, or astrologer, as he prefers to be called. He tries then and later to share Madge away from Buck, but every one knows that he is going to be disappointed in the end and that Artist Buck will walk away with sign-painting honors as well as the girl.

There are several bright lines in the dialogue and a splendid sequence wherein Buck and Lucky are making one of their "faces in the sky" on the wall of a sky-scraper. The two men are quite at home on the narrow scaffold, supposed to be more feet than one cares to think about above the sidewalks of New York.

Mr. Tracy gives an excellent performance as Buck, and Stuart Erwin affords some merriment as the addle-brained Lucky. Lila Lee is pleasing as an aristocratic young woman who unwittingly lends her likeness for Buck's gigantic masterpiece. Marian Nixon is sympathetic as Madge, and Russell Simpson makes Farmer Brown sufficiently disagreeable.

FACE IN THE SKY, based on a story by Myles Connolly; directed by Harry Luchman; a Fox production. At the RKO Roxy.
Joe Buck . . . . . Spencer Tracy
Madge . . . . . Marian Nixon
Lucky . . . . . Stuart Erwin
Triplett the Great . . . . . Sam Hardy
Sharon Hadley . . . . . Lila Lee
Ma Brown . . . . . Sarah Padden
Jim Brown . . . . . Frank McGlynn Jr.
Pa Brown . . . . . Russell Simpson
Midget . . . . . Billy Platt
Albert Preston . . . . . Guy Usher