SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Leofwine_draca STOLEN FACE is a surprisingly intriguing little British thriller of 1952. It comes from Hammer Films and is directed by the superlative Terence Fisher, one of the studio's very best talents. The plot feels like an intriguing precursor to that of EYES WITHOUT A FACE, involving a dedicated plastic surgeon who decides to help out a scarred criminal woman by giving her a new face - that of one of his own lost loves. He ends up marrying the 'new woman', but there's a somewhat obvious twist in store and things get very dark indeed. Although an obviously low budget film and rather slow-paced story, this one kept my interest throughout. The scientific aspects of the story are better utilised than in something like Hammer's FOUR-SIDED TRIANGLE, while Paul Henreid is a sympathetic lead. Best of all is Lizabeth Scott, who reminded me a little of Shirley Eaton, doing very well in a double role and convincing as both characters. The drama is high in the first half and gives way to some compelling suspense in the second, as well as a great climax.

jamstubell I have around 80 Hammer films in my movie collection and this is the earliest one (due to its inclusion on "The Mummy" Blu Ray as a special feature). I'm embarking on a Hammer movie marathon for 2018 - viewing them in production order. This film kept me intrigued for most of it's short duration though the ending seemed rushed and lacklustre. Adequate performances from the leads - I have never seen or heard of Paul Henreid or Lizabeth Scott before but I found them both very watchable. The premise is fairly ridiculous and the plot rather lightweight but there were entertaining scenes throughout. The direction and editing was quite good for a low budget black and white film that is 66 years old. 4/10 - Fair

Theo Robertson Dr Phillip Ritter a gifted plastic surgeon falls in love with an American woman Alice Brent . There's a problem with this one sided love affair and that is Alice is about to get married to another man called David . Unable to forget Alice Dr Ritter experiments by using plastic surgery on a habitual criminal called Lily Another early effort from Hammer studios before they moved in to the horror field and the most striking thing about STOLEN FACE is that it revolves around something that would have been total fantasy in 1952 and yet today is scientific fact - the face transplant . Okay you have to dismiss the reality which doesn't really tie in with the fictional portrayal as seen here but at least there's an element of imagination used . There's also a persuasive suggestion that ugly do ugly things such as crime due to an existentialist reaction as to how the world treats someone . This might be nonsense but is used as a running theme by some writers in their works most notably Colin Wilson . On top of that the idea of a man of science trying to benefit the human race and yet failing spectacularly would come to the fore from the Hammer studios later in the decade with their adaptations of THE QUATERMASS Experiment and FRANKENSTEIN so this has all the makings of a classic British thriller There's a good film in here somewhere but is constantly sabotaged by fundamental flaws . Typical of the period there's not a big pool of genuine working class actors in British Equity so we get parodies of those " Cor blimey guv " type London accents which is distracting and undermines the whole character of Lily in particular . There's also the soundtrack by Malcolm Arnold which is painfully intrusive where no character can do anything on screen without a loud manipulative orchestra starting up telling the audience how they should feel . You also have to suspend disbelief in thinking why of all the patients he could have chosen Ritter has to choose Lily for his ulterior experiment / Obviously if he chose a law abiding girl there wouldn't have been a story but the story we get here is under developed , inconsequential and ultimately disappointing

Ronvalder I saw it as a child and looked for it on video. Finally got a poor video of it, but i'm glad I own it. I really like this film, maybe it's because I am a big fan of Lizabeth Scott....maybe I like English movies, I don't know...I just like it!!! Yes, this film is dated, but it still works today.