FALSE FACES (1932)

Special Features: Preceded by a Q&A with film historians Farran Smith Nehme and David Stenn

The major studios would not touch this incendiary exposé of a medical con man, so top actor-director Lowell Sherman (THE GREEKS HAD A WORD FOR THEM) turned to a Poverty Row studio to bring it to the screen. This thinly veiled biopic of the notorious Henry Schireson, the “King of the Quack Doctors,” offers a searing portrait of greed, manipulation and unchecked ego. Before becoming a top director, Sherman was known for playing scoundrels, and he delivers a chilling performance as Dr. Silas Brenton, a charismatic sociopath who seduces women into undergoing cosmetic surgery, despite having no real surgical skill — and no remorse for the consequences. Instead, he lives lavishly off his victims, until the lies and bodies pile up. Sherman’s own career was on the rise — he would soon go on to direct Katharine Hepburn, Mae West, Cary Grant and Loretta Young — but the same cannot be said for this film’s female cast. Their often-tragic fates will be revealed in the introduction by film historians David Stenn and Farran Smith Nehme. DIR/PROD Lowell Sherman; SCR Llewellyn Hughes, Kubec Glasmon. U.S., 1932, b&w, 73 min. NOT RATED

Run Time: 73 Minutes

Opening Date: Saturday, November 08, 2025

Genre: Drama

View Series Page