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Frederic March, Merle Oberon, and Herbert Marshall comprise a love triangle in "The Dark Angel," set in the grimness of World War I. Kitty (Oberon) has grown up with both Alan (March) and Gerald (Marshall) and knows the day will come when she must choose between them. She chooses Alan, but before they can be married, he's called back into service. With just a few hours left, she accompanies him to the meeting point for his troop and stays with him at the hotel. When Gerald, in the same troop, finds out that Alan was at the hotel with a woman, he turns against him, believing that he cheated on Kitty. He refuses him leave and sends him into treacherous battle.

Merle Oberon gives a touching performance as Kitty. She's very beautiful and has a lovely presence. Both March and Marshall are very good, March having the more histrionic role.

"The Dark Angel" comes off as dated and there's very much a "stiff upper lip, old chap" feeling about it. It's frustrating to see the Alan character behave as he does, but this of course keeps the viewer interested, and Oberon and the supporting characters infuse the atmosphere with warmth.

Worth it to see these classic stars. "The Dark Angel" is an old chestnut but a worthy one.

Handsomely photographed and nicely scored romantic drama from Samuel Goldwyn about a childhood friendship between three people that develops into an intense romantic triangle.

MERLE OBERON, FREDRIC MARCH and HERBERT MARSHALL have the pivotal roles as star-crossed lovers during the World War I period. Unfortunately, the three leads are lifelong friends destined to have their lives shattered by the war. Love, guilt and fate play a part in their lives when March is blinded but keeps away from Oberon, unable to tell her the truth and letting her think he's died. As for the rest of the plot, with a screenplay by Lillian Hellman, you have to watch the film.

Nobody stumbles in any of the roles and, in fact, MERLE OBERON won her only Best Actress nomination as Kitty, warm and appealing as the romantic interest of both men. The tearful final reunion scene will remind you of the final touching scene from RANDOM HARVEST where Smitty and his lost love find each other again.

Modern viewers beware. You'll probably find some of the tear-jerking moments a bit too mawkish but remember, this was the 1930s.

Trivia note: Oberon was photographed much more flatteringly in another film she appeared in that year, THE SCARLET PIMPERNELL. What a difference a more flattering hairdo and period costumes make!!

This remake of DARK ANGEL is worth watching for three things, and those things are the stars: March, Marshall and Oberon. The plot is more than ridiculous, so concentrate on the acting. Marshall, who actually sustained a serious leg injury during WWI, is perfectly cast as a military veteran haunted by a decision that may have taken the life of his childhood friend, played by March. March, who was blinded but not killed as a result of that decision, plays "dead" and assumes a new identity. Oberon is their childhood sweetheart; she planned to marry March but presuming him to be dead, settles for Marshall. The three meet in March's cottage at the climax. Marshall has bearing, Oberon is drop dead gorgeous, and March is wonderfully restrained as the blind putz. The music is gorgeous, the cinematography is crisp. Be prepared to pull out some tissues or a big hankie for the climax. March shot this soon after making DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY, which is one of his greatest flicks.

This 1935 film was well produced and directed and had a great cast of dramatic Classic Actors, who were all super stars during the 20's, 30's and into the 40's. Merle Oberon, (Kitty Vane),"Interval",'73, plays a young woman who is really in love with two men in her life, which creates a sort of triangle situation and causes her great mental suffering. Fredric March,(Alan Trent),"The Iceman Cometh",'72 plays a boyhood friend to Kitty Vane and comes home with a great disability which he does not want Kitty to know about. Herbert Marshall,(Gerald Shannon),"Midnight Lace",'60 is also in love with Kitty and the possibility of their getting married is becoming quite certain. This film will keep you interested if you like old time actors and films made in 1935. Enjoy

An early soaper from 1935 dealing w/a love triangle circa after the first Word War. Starring Fredric March, Merle Oberon & Herbert Marshall, we find March & Oberon, childhood sweethearts & now adults declaring their love for each other & getting wed right while the Great War is ravaging Europe. March & Marshall go off to war & inevitably as things go in films like this, March is blinded but is believed dead by Marshall who returns home to Oberon where they console each other but March feeling he doesn't want to be a burden to his friends & loved ones, decides to return to his home town (miles from where he used to live) & becomes a sensation as a children's book writer content in his solitude & assured of his justified sacrifice but when paths are crossed (didn't see that coming!), March must face his old life & see if old wounds can be mended. A good story (a remake is not out of the question if someone is up to the task) which is constantly hampered by the stilted approach to the story (the tools of the trade had not been properly honed yet) but to see the genesis of this kind of love story is still an education.

In classic Enchantment, Four Feathers, and Casablanca glory, The Dark Angel is a wartime romance that pins Fredric March and Herbert Marshall against each other for the hand of Merle Oberon. As children, the three grew up as close friends, with young Merle desperately in love with Freddie. Once they grow up, of course, hormones kick in and both men fall in love with their younger playmate. Then, with WWI breaking out, Merle makes the choice to follow her heart, but with unforeseen consequences. . .

My mom always roots for Herbert Marshall's character when she watches this movie, but I think it's just because she's partial to him in other movies. There's nothing wrong with Fredric March's character, and it really does feel like he loves Merle just as much as Bart. But, just in case you prefer Bart, you'll be in good company.

Personally, I like Enchantment and the 1978 version of Four Feathers better, but there are some cute moments. It gets a little far fetched towards the end, but isn't that what old movies are for? A little tears, a little romance, and a little melodrama over a wartime setting. If you agree, check out this classic.

The Dark Angel is notable for Merle Oberon's debut in an American made film and Sam Goldwyn spared no expense for her. The film did win an Oscar for Set Decoration and Merle got an Academy Award nomination. In the last year the Academy allowed write-ins, Oberon and the four others competing in the Best Actress category lost to Bette Davis in Dangerous.

Originally The Dark Angel was a flop play on Broadway by Guy Bolton writing under the pseudonym of H.B. Trevelyan and only ran 63 performances in the 1925 season. It fared better on screen where Fredric March's and Merle Oberon's parts are played by the then popular silent screen team of Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky.

Had Colman done the sound version he might have made The Dark Angel stand up better than it does today. March and the rest of the cast try hard enough, but the whole thing comes up a bit silly today.

Fredric March and Herbert Marshall are a couple of friendly rivals for the hand of Merle Oberon in the days before World War I. March is of course a Canadian to explain is American speech pattern. Oberon picks March and Marshall takes it in good grace with proper stiff upper lip.

Later on they want to get married before he goes to the front and in typical army fashion, the red tape gets in the way. They are so in love that they spend the night together.

Though this leaves Merle none the worst for wear, when news of it gets out Marshall is most put out. When they get to the front he takes it out on March.

Today's audiences with changing attitudes are going to find all this really much ado about nothing. At least I thought so. Still the stars do give it their best, but the film really dates badly.

Actress Merle Oberon had seen the original of this film when she was a little girl growing up in the Orient. It was always her favorite film and it was the catalyst in her decision to become a movie star. A bit of trivia - when she came to Hollywood looking for a movie career, her dreams came true when it was announced that she would be in the 1935 remake of "The Dark Angel" along with Fredric March and Herbert Marshall. So, her dream came true and she loved this film!!! The acting is marvelous and Merle was nominated for a best actress Oscar but didn't win! The musical score was really beautiful and went along very well with the story and the events of WWI. "The Dark Angel" did win one Oscar though and that was for best art design and I mean the sets are beautiful! Available on VHS, this is a must see!

It's hard to imagine what Dorothy Parker had to do with this script. It is ultra serious, ultra "Important." All it lacks is Ann Harding.

Herbert Marshall, Fredric March, and Merle Oberon are childhood friends who grow up. Marshall grows into a very stiff-upper-lip type. March is too, to a degree. Of course, both are in love with Oberon.

For her debut in American movies, the beautiful Oberon is given a most unflattering hairstyle. It would have looked better on a shrub. Possibly on a dog. She turns in a creditable performance, though she was generally a wooden actress. Gorgeous looking but no fire.

March is interesting in the later scenes. (No hint from me as to what happens, but the plot also improved.) I don't mind women's pictures of this era but certain of them, this included, leave me cold. And this movie IS cold -- cold and clammy.

'The Dark Angel' had some traps that were easy to fall into at this particular time in film history, fallen into a number of times. Being based on a hit stage play, it could have been very stagy, overly wordy and the story could have been very melodramatic and creaky in pace. Even potentially being of the time and feeling out of date in later years. Still saw it anyway, having liked Merle Oberon, Frederic March and Herbert Marshall in other things and loving a lot of Alfred Newman's film scores.

While not a great film and sadly the traps that films adapted from stage plays are not avoided, 'The Dark Angel' is an interesting one and definitely worth a look. And for more than just curiosity value or for completest sake, with people perhaps being keen to see whether Oberon was deserving of her Oscar nomination, her only nomination in a career spanning four decades (excluding for a second her uncredited early appearances in very small roles).

Although 'The Dark Angel' has a lot of merits, it also has quite a few drawbacks. It is betrayed by its stage origins and has a filmed play feel. Evident in the confined atmosphere, as well as some draggy pacing in the first half, being heavy on a good deal of talk that could have been leaner and some static moments.

Some of the story is a little on the mawkish side, Alan's behaviour frustrates and confuses, and the supporting cast don't have particularly meaty roles and don't stand out massively, the younger cast are actually on the amateurish side. John Halliday gives the best supporting performance as the only supporting character to be interesting properly.

However, 'The Dark Angel' is very much a showcase for the three leads and not only are their characters well defined all three are extremely good in their roles. Marshall does jealousy and conflicted with intensity, while March despite his role not being quite as subtle brings noble dignity and does it with nuance. Despite not having her usual glamorous image, Oberon is quite a revelation, one can see what Gerald and Alan see in Kitty and she is very affecting without being histrionic. The direction is accomodating yet gives enough momentum when the story becomes more complicated.

It looks great on the whole. The sets are simple but have an elegance about them, but it's the handsome photography that catches the eye the most. Newman's score is understated, which is in keeping with the film's intimacy, and beautifully orchestrated. The script is talky but is also very sincere, while the story has some genuinely touching moments (the final scene is a tear-jerker) without generally falling into bathos too much.

Overall, interesting and moving but the stage origins show. 7/10

...and apparently was one of the least popular "A" stars during the golden era - I've never seen her listed in any of the box office polls, even those that go up to nearly 100 names (she's not on 1941-42 list when she top-lined three big pictures while 52 other women are - including Judy Canova, Ruth Hussey, Priscilla Lane, and Brenda Joyce, as well as allegedly plummeting stars like Norma Shearer and Kay Francis). But I digress.

This was her Hollywood film and apparently Goldwyn pull out the works to make her a star, and she somehow managed to get a Best Actress nomination for this soaper where she basically does nothing but pose for the camera (she never really seems to interact with her costars Fredric March and Herbert Marshall, just waiting for her chance to recite her lines and pose in flattering angles for the camera (this movie has an absurd number of closeups of her "reacting" with smiling, tears, worry - but never with sincerity, only the desire to look good.) She's not that terrible I suppose but there's certainly nothing in her performance that suggests it's award worthy

Oberon plays a girl who grows up near cousins March and Marshall and loves them both, though always just friendship for Marshall and a total crush on March. World War I breaks out and she and March become engaged but plans to marry during the war are thwarted and eventually he is presumed dead but is actually blind in an enemy hospital. Transferred to a hospital for the British troops, he refuses to give his real name and be reunited with his family, not wanting to be a burden to Oberon.

Meanwhile, three years pass, Oberon and Marshall become engaged and March becomes a children's book author. The movie is a typically gorgeous Goldwyn production but pretty dull and with plenty of "mush" as the kid's from the era used to say. March is quite good (and the picture gets better when Oberon is out of it as March learns to adjust to his condition with the help of some children and a young widow who runs the inn he's living at) but it's pretty absurd at times and misses the boat in it's attempts to be moving.

"The Dark Angel" belongs to a sub-genre of war films released between the two world wars that set melodramatic romances against backdrops of dread. "Three Comrades" from 1938 is a perfect example, and a better film than this one. The overwrought swooning in these movies that would otherwise make them tedious is tempered by the mood of foreboding and death that pervades them.

Because they were made before we knew we'd be entering another world war, they didn't feel obligated to give audiences a morale boost, so war is treated as the dark horror that it actually is. In "The Dark Angel," that horror is given literal form by a strange breeze that blows across the scene periodically throughout the film, chilling the characters and alerting them to the fact that something bad has or is about to happen.

This movie reminded me a lot of the 1945 film "Pride of the Marines" with John Garfield and Eleanor Parker. Or I guess it's more accurate to say that the 1945 film reminded me of this. Both are about service men who are left with permanent scars, literal and figurative, and who distance themselves from their loves when they return home in order not to cause them pain. "The Dark Angel" becomes a bit much to take by the time it's over, but it will probably satisfy those looking for a not very challenging studio film from the 1930s.

The film strangely won the Oscar for Best Art Direction in 1935. Strangely because the movie is mostly set in unremarkable country living rooms and bedrooms. There is one scene that takes place in a WWI bunker, but it hardly seems like an award-worthy achievement. Merle Oberon received the sole Oscar nomination of her career for Best Actress in a year that saw six nominees in that category. Again, it's not really an award-worthy performance. And the film capped off its trifecta of nominations with a nod for Best Sound Recording.

Grade: B.

A gem, well worth viewing. Themes of frendship, love, sacrifice, and how they change by war's influences are explored. One of Merle Oberon's very best performances.

Gardengirltoo.

Despite having quite a solid cast, I found this wartime drama drifted just once too often into the realms of sentimentality and I found it quiet heavy going at times. It's all about a love triangle. "Kitty" (Merle Oberon) has long since been friends with "Alan" (Fredric March) and "Gerald" (Herbert Marshall) and everyone knows it's from this pair that she shall pick her husband. With the Great War looming, she alights on "Alan" and their friend accepts her decision and off they go to fight. This is where we discover that all is not quite as civil as outwardly appears as "Gerald" sends his friend on a perilous mission that could change the dynamic of the three - permanently! The story is a bit thin and slightly predictable, but Oberon turns in an engaging effort as the never entirely content "Kitty". Herbert Marshall could always be relied upon to deliver a solid if never especially characterful role, and again he does that competently enough here - especially as the film develops towards it's denouement, and though March features a bit less frequently, he has a presence on screen that helps create quite an effective atmosphere when his character, indeed all of their characters, find they are treading on egg shells. Alfred Newman, again another safe pair of hands, has scored this nicely and the film has a gentle nostalgic value to it that's worth watching, it's just not great.

English actress Merle Oberon was excited about her relocation to the United States after receiving several job offers before her first lead in a Hollywood movie, September 1935 "The Dark Angel." "I had looked forward to Hollywood and thought I was going to have a grand time," she recalled years later. "British people are much more reserved and harder to become acquainted with, but Americans are widely known for their generous attitude toward strangers. Well, I went to two parties on my first visit to Hollywood, and no more." However, after "The Dark Angel" premiered, she suddenly became a movie star in Tinseltown, and things turned socially around for her on a dime.

"I took a house at the beach and, determining to live my own life quietly, I have found, strangely enough, the same people who insulted me on my first trip are now very pleasant," Oberon said. "The one person who was really nice to me and from whom I least expected it-I don't know why, now that I know her-was Jean Harlow. She came clear across the room to meet me and said something very gracious about admiring my work and wanting to know more of me."

Her performance in "The Dark Angel" instantly turned her into a sensation with the American movie public. Oberon was nominated by the Academy Awards for Best Actress, her only time she received such an honor. It helped to have two smooth actors whose characters on the screen were courting her, Frederic March as Alan Trent, and Herbert Marshall as Gerald Shannon. In the movie they were boyhood friends of hers who both grew up loving Kitty Vane (Oberon). Alan turns out to be winner for her hand, but World War One cruelly enters these three British lives. Sharing a similar storyline as the much-heralded 1932 "Smilin' Along," including the same director, Sidney Franklin and actor March, "The Dark Angel" sees a wounded Alan losing his eyesight. He can't see himself burdening Kitty throughout the rest of her life.

Maclean Magazine film reviewer Ann Ross wrote at the time of "The Dark Angel's" release, "If this picture doesn't have you sobbing before it is over it isn't the fault of the producers and director. The whole thing is managed with the greatest tact and modesty, as though everyone concerned, while determined to wring as many tears as possible, was a little ashamed to be caught doing it." Lillian Hellman, one of the screenwriters collaborating on the adaptation of a 1925 Guy Bolton play of the same name, was just fresh off her enormously successful Broadway play "The Children's Hour." Hellman had been hired by producer Samuel Goldwyn at $2,500 a week, and "Dark Angel" was her first crack at movie scriptwriting.

Cameraman Greg Toland was becoming known for his genius in creating stunning photographic moving images. One particular scene is known for showcasing his talents when Alan and Kitty drive off after frustrated at not marrying before he shoves off to the war front. The pair are in back of a taxi when the scene transitions to soldiers under fire. Film critic Jose Arroyo calls the effect "visually stunning, expressive and affecting."

Despite Oberon losing out to Bette Davis for the Academy's Best Actress award, "The Dark Angel" won for Best Art Direction, highlighting the many English gardens and the posh interior sets of the manor homes shown. The movie was also nominated for Best Sound Recording.

...then watch this ! Frederic March, Merle Oberon & Herbert Marshall excel in this mawkish wartime tale of love at the time of WW1. The cast is excellent, the storyline less so , but doesn't detract from the cinematography and pulling of the heartstrings. Indeed, be prepared to get the tissues handy for the last few scenes. Has great affiliation with films like Random Harvest in which you yearn for that happy ending. It's nearly 90 years old now, looks dated , but those classic films had so much more sentiment than todays crop of cgi-driven movies. It's true, this was the golden age of the movies alright !

(1935) The Dark Angel DRAMA/ ROMANCE

Adapted from the play by Guy Bolton with the story centering on three people, Alan Trent (Fredric March), Gerald Shannon (Herbert Marshall) life long friends both in love with the same girl, Kitty Vane (Merle Oberon) until both men were sent to war! Somewhat of what used to happen during WWI and II in which if he were to come back seriously injured that is lifelong, that she would not want to be with him anymore. Used to be an expected reason for a girl not wanting to be with him anymore but the times have definitely changed! But because of the mature cast with great acting especially 2 time Oscar winner Fredric March makes this film a convincing winner to all the romantics- more of a drama than a romance now that I think of it.