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This very poetic film is really, in essence, a study of two characters: 'Robert Mitchum' and 'Jean Simmons.' It's very style affords them ample opportunities for revealing aspects of their fascinatingly complex personalities that would have never been unveiled in more standard Hollywood fare. Although it doesn't have the ingenious plot of 'Laura,' as soon as you look beyond plot, you realize how much more poetic and ultimately satisfying it is. For some reason, 'Angel Face' isn't out on video, but Turner Classic Movies plays it every other month; so catch it there and make sure you have your VCR running.

Really a good film. If you like Robert Mitchum, you need to see this movie. Jean Simmons plays a good psycho. I figured the movie could only end one of two ways. One was happy, the other, unreal. It was the unreal one. See if you can guess, before it happens.

Apparently shot in 18 days to ensure Jean Simmons filmed her part while still under contract to producer Howard Hughes, this is a fine film noir with a particularly memorable ending.

I wasn't sure I could believe Robert Mitchum, the king of world-weary sardonic-ism, falling so readily for the youthful charms of evil step-daughter Simmons, especially with a smart, pretty and loving girl of his own, but once I surrendered this point, it was easy, rather like Mitchum's ambulance-driver, to be persuaded to follow the plot here through to the bitter end.

I actually considered both leads to be somewhat miscast in the film, Simmons effect dulled somewhat by a rather ugly helmet of a wig and the dialogue lacks the snap of a Hammett, Chandler or even a Spillane, but the narrative is intriguing and the ambivalent natures of both the main parts strangely compelling, plus, like I said there's a surprise, no make that shock ending, to finish things off with a knockout punch.

Director Preminger mixes up some staple noir elements of a femme fatale, her stooge of a male admirer, sex, murder and mystery, employing big-close-ups, atmospheric lighting and crisply shot monochromatic sets, perhaps only faltering over a slightly dull, over-technical courtroom scene, and the miscasting already mentioned.

Nevertheless, the story crackles along and I doubt many will anticipate the climax, which certainly caught me off-guard and yet in retrospect, delivers a finish true to the genre's often nihilistic traits.

Mitchum of course is naturally very good as the ensnared Frank, the piano-playing Simmons, dressed throughout in black and white outfits, perhaps stressing the duality of her nature, a little less so.

Angel Face was a recommended film according to several noir chronicles, so I figured when it rolled around on TMC I could tape it and erase if it failed to satisfy. Despite initial difficulty getting involved in the plot, before I knew it I was absorbed by Jean Simmon's keynote performance. The myriad small moments of suspense along the way in no way prepare the viewer for the shocking moment which closed this cautionary tale. Definitely recommended viewing.

The film starts with a call for an ambulance. A woman at a large estate has almost been asphyxiated by the gas heater in her room. The key has been removed from the radiator, so it seems deliberate. Did somebody try to kill her or did she try to kill herself or was it just some kind of odd freak accident?

While the commotion is going on upstairs, ambulance driver Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum) wanders downstairs and finds the stepdaughter ( her dad is married to the wealthy woman), Diane (Jean Simmons) playing the piano. And that's where the attraction begins on the part of Frank. It's where the obsession begins on the part of Diane. It's where Diane mutters her first double entendre. She asks how her stepmother is, and says "It's so hard, just waiting...". Waiting for her to live, or for her to die?

The film is ultimately a wicked study in obsession - the kind of obsession that has no boundaries - the kind of obsession between a man and a woman - the kind of obsession that is so self-serving. And, interestingly, it is largely one-sided - since Frank may enjoy the delights of Diane, but also knows deep down that she should be put back on the shelf. Diane's obsession is so real that you do basically know that Mitchum's Frank Jessup doesn't really stand a chance.

But Frank wasn't just wandering through life alone when Diane met him. The other woman in Frank's life, played by Mona Freeman, is blonde and desirable. She may be an excellent cook and not ask questions, as Frank says, but there is some stark language for the production code era. He mentions she sleeps in pajamas. He mentions how much she weighs - "stripped". The implication is that Frank may be the free agent that he claims to be, but he has been sleeping with the lady. But she's a lady with a level head, and she is not just going to wait around for Frank to come to his senses - or not. Instead she explores another more dependable romantic possibility.

Let me just say Jean Simmons was a revelation here. She's a good actress but she has always come across as a virginal school marm type in all of the roles I saw her in until this one. I would have never believed she could have played opposite Mitchum's cool, relaxed persona and have made it work, but she did.

This film is dark to the extreme and is as fresh, as vital, and as pertinent as though it were made just yesterday.