Black Angel

Despite starring the likes of June Vincent and Dan Duryea, this is a surprisingly good film--thanks to good writing and acting. I was particularly happy to see Duryea in the film, as he usually only got supporting roles as greasy heavies--here he's given a chance to do a lot more.

The film begins with a woman named Mavis Marlow being killed. A guy is convicted of the crime, but his wife (Vincent) is convinced he was innocent. So, with the help of Marlow's ex-husband (Duryea) they investigate. For much of the film, they go undercover at a nightclub run by Peter Lorre but fortunately there is a lot more to this story. While the ending might perhaps be a bit hard to believe, it is pretty original and exciting. I won't say more about this, as I don't want to ruin this excellent film noir movie. I particularly can commend the film for doing so much with so little. It proves you don't need big-name actors to make a very good movie--just a lot of talent, writing and style.

This claustrophobic B featuring the usually unctuous Dan Duryea in the lead is a patient and understated murder mystery. Cleverly laid out it does a fine job of leaving the viewer in the dark until the film's final moments.

Tease, blackmailer, hard on the help, easy on the eyes Mavis Marlowe (Constance Dowling) is murdered. Kirk Bennett stumbling upon the scene is accused tried and sentenced to death. His wife Cathy (June Vincent) however is determined to prove him innocent and together along with Marlowe's former husband, pianist songwriter Marty Blair (Duryea) they launch an elaborate plan to catch the killer and save Bennet from the chair.

Angel is a gruff film featuring a slew of surly types. Mavis is pure poison, nightclub owner Peter Lorre an unsettling threat, Broderick Crawford a cynical dick, Bennet's husband a worthless bungler and Duryea himself a raging alcoholic attempting one day at a time. Roy William Neil's direction is sober and subtle deftly handling not only the mystery but the romantic implications between Marty and Cathy arriving at denouement without resorting to sensationalism. An impressively handled low key mystery.

BLACK ANGEL is a vastly underrated noir film, even by those who should know better. Ostensibly it is about a young woman's efforts to find the murderer of a nightclub singer and prove her accused, philandering husband's innocence. But the movie is really about alcoholism, a man's temporary escape from it, and his ultimate relapse into addiction. At its center is a character (Dan Duryea) so enveloped by melancholy it seems inevitable that his life would be subverted by alcohol. After the morbid reasons for his condition are revealed, it becomes difficult to watch and accept the contrived outcome of the movie. The real pain is in the hideous recognition of guilt and shame that lies at the heart of drunkenness.

Cornell Woolrich (author of the original novel) was an alcoholic burdened by insurmountable obsessions and sexual frustration. Through his restrictive lifestyle, he attempted to conceal his real nature not only from himself, but from his possessive mother with whom he lived in one hotel room until her death. In his work, Woolrich may have been equating murder with homosexuality. The harboring of his own sexual secrets might not differ from a delusional killer's efforts to conceal his murderous impulses. The fact that Woolrich frequently associated sex with murder in his stories might lead one to speculate that the author found sexual gratification in the graphic depiction of killing. This is an authentic noir syndrome. By creating a hallucinatory world of despair, BLACK ANGEL becomes an essential film noir. Its style mirrors the turmoil within its characters. Along with Duryea, the fine cast includes June Vincent, Peter Lorre, Broderick Crawford and Constance Dowling. Directed with stylish flair by Roy William Neill.

This is very much the sort of quintessential forties film noir that fanciers of the genre get nostalgic for, with just the right balance of grit and glamor, low-budget ambiance and surehanded Hollywood artistry. Dan Duryea is even better here than in his Fritz Lang films (he's got a better role), Veronica Lake clone June Vincent is refreshingly un Lake-like, and Peter Lorre is utterly adorable as a hard-boiled L.A. nightclub owner with a heart of Viennese schlag.

This interesting, creative film-noir is much less widely known than are most of the classics of the genre, but it is well worth seeing both for the story and the cast. In a relatively brief running time, it packs in a satisfying and unpredictable story with numerous turns, with a very good cast that work together quite well. The settings are well-conceived, and together with the photography and the rest of the production, they establish a convincing noir atmosphere.

Dan Duryea is always so good at straightforward villainous "noir" roles that he sometimes seems not to have received many opportunities to do anything else, and so it's very nice to see him get such an interesting role here. He delivers very well, believably portraying the different sides of a more complex character. He also works surprisingly well with June Vincent, as together they try to solve the mystery.

Peter Lorre does not have a very large role, but as you would expect, he makes the most of it. Toss in Broderick Crawford as the police captain, and you have a cast very well suited for film-noir.

The story is not all that complex, but it is well-written, features some well-conceived turns, and fits together nicely. Roy William Neill has a good touch with the material, not trying to make it fancier or bigger than it is, but simply crafting a solid, enjoyable movie that has just about all that you could reasonably ask for in a film-noir.