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Yar, you be here: Black Angel (Full Sub B&W Dol) > Customer Reviews Black Angel (Full Sub B&W Dol) Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 11 Reviews)A Forties Noir Programmer, And Not Bad At All
This low-budget programmer has much to recommend it, especially in the first half of the movie. A beautiful, high-maintenance blackmailer, Mavis Marlowe (Constance Dowling) is strangled and one of her lovers, a married man she'd been bleeding, is accused of the murder. He's convicted and sentenced to the gas chamber. His wife, Catherine Bennett (June Vincent), believes he is innocent and is determined to find the real murderer in the few days she has left before his execution. Joining her in the search is the victim's husband, Martin Blair (Dan Duryea), a songwriter Mavis cast off without a second thought and who still is obsessed by her. As the hours tick away, the two have only one lead, Marko (Peter Lorre), the owner of a high-society supper club on the Sunset Strip. Marko had been seen entering Mavis' apartment building near the time of her murder. With only a couple of days left, they manage to break into the safe Marko has in his office, but are caught by Marko and his strong-arm muscle. Desperate, they...well, see the movie. All I can tell you is that the last third of the film moves into dark territory and there is a twist ending which doesn't leave you smiling. What I like about the movie is what makes it what it is, a programmer. It has a nice, noir look, the director keeps the action going, most of the actors are not exceptional but, with Lorre and Duryea, you know what you're getting and they both deliver professional and interesting performances. I wouldn't consider this the high light of anyone's collection, but it's a solid example of studio competence from the Forties. The movie was based on a story, Black Angel, by Cornell Woolrich. Using his real name or with his pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley, Woolrich created memorable pulp fiction noirs that are still excellent to read. Many were made into movies. If you like well-written noir mysteries, try some of these: The Bride Wore Black, Phantom Lady, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, I Married a Dead Man, Black Alibi and, of course, Black Angel. This DVD has no extras, but for the most part is in clean, good shape. A very mediocre movie with an ending that takes the low road in audience manipulation.
This review is for the 2004 Universal DVD. The synopsis of this film is that a beautiful singer Mavis Marlowe (Constance Dowling) is separated from her alcoholic husband Martin Blair (Dan Duryea) and refuses to even let him visit her in her swanky high-rise apartment. This depresses Martin so much that he goes on a major bender, but on that same night Mavis is discovered murdered in her apartment by man named Kirk Bennett (John Phillips). While in the apartment, Bennett realizes that someone else is in the apartment, possibly the murderer, but somehow this person slips past Bennett. For some reason Bennett decides not to call the police but instead flees the scene of the crime but is seen by Mavis's maid. The police come to Bennett's home and break the news to his wife Catherine Bennett (June Vincent) that Kirk is wanted for murder. Later, Kirk is arrested and convicted of murder and is given the death sentence. Since he insists on his innocence, Catherine does everything she can think of to find out who the real murderer is. Eventually, she meets up with Martin and this sets up the rest of the film where they team up to find out who really murdered Mavis Marlowe. Being a noir film with actors Peter Lorre, Broderick Crawford and Dan Duryea are really the only appealing features of this movie. It's clearly a "B Movie" with a weak script and nothing extra special about the sets or the music. The biggest problem with this film is the ending where it really takes the low road in audience manipulation. Without spoiling the ending, it wasn't so much who the murderer was that I object to; my main problem with the ending is under the very suspect circumstances and conditions regarding how the murderer committed the crime. This "surprise twist" wasn't at all clever and could be picked apart to shreds. As for the DVD, the picture quality was excellent overall. There were very few imperfections noticed in the presentation. The graininess and sharpness were also very good for a film shot in 1946. The sound was fine too. The only bonus is a trailer. Movie: C- DVD Quality: A- Dan Duryea Gives a Conflicted & Affecting Performance.
"Black Angel" is a B-movie with some top-notch talent, adapted from Cornell Woolrich's 1943 novel "The Black Angel" and directed by Roy William Neill. Marty Blair (Dan Duryea) is a washed-up pianist and songwriter who squanders his talent on booze and spends his time pining after his estranged wife Mavis (Constance Dowling), a vicious nightclub singer and blackmailer. He's rebuffed by the doorman when he tries to visit his wife's apartment on their anniversary, goes on a bender, and ends up passed out in his room. Kirk Bennett (John Phillips), a man whom Mavis was blackmailing, finds her dead the following day and is convicted of Mavis' murder and sentenced to death. But Kirk's wife Catherine (June Vincent) is determined to prove her husband innocent. Frustrated with the police, Cathy conducts a clumsy investigation of her own that leads her to Marty. Marty tells her about a man he saw entering Mavis' apartment the night she was killed, and together they track down a nightclub owner named Marko (Peter Lorre), who may know something of her death. Marty and Cathy make an odd but emotionally effective pair of detectives: a slick alcoholic and an anxious but committed housewife. Dan Duryea is an indispensable noir actor with the ability to make common characters repulsive, sympathetic, or, more often, both. Marty is a sort of tragic romantic lead who has cast his own fate without realizing it, and Duryea accentuates the irony by ignoring it. Marty's sincerity in helping Cathy is evident. The corrosive self-pity into which he tends to fall is also genuine. June Vincent's performance starts out predictably but gets interesting. She's good at conveying her feelings toward her changing relationship with Marty without saying a word. Attention to detail in character and technique -like the tracking shot that opens the film- make "Black Angel" a solid character piece that surmounts its modest budget. The DVD (Universal 2004): There is a theatrical trailer (1 1/2 minutes). Captions are available in English. Subtitles are available in Spanish and French.
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