Fifty Years of Film in 50 Weeks, #25: Fallen Angel, 1945

This post marks the halfway point in my journey through film history by watching approximately one film per week from successive years. Woo hoo!

Fallen Angel, 1945

Director: Otto Preminger
Writers: Harry Kleiner from a novel by Marty (Mary) Holland
Cinematographer: Joseph LaShelle
Producer: Otto Preminger for 20th Century Fox, Inc.
Starring: Dana Andrews, Alice Faye, Linda Darnell, Charles Bickford, Anne Revere, Bruce Cabot, John Carradine

Why I chose it
Although I loved British Powell & Pressburger's A Canterbury Tale, last week's film, I felt like returning to the Hollywood Studio System for a film that would represent the best things about the system during Hollywood's Golden Age. I was also in the mood for a film noir, a genre/style that was gaining major traction at this time in Hollywood. This film was recommended to me by two film friends whose opinion I trust.

'No-spoiler' plot overview 
Running out of bus fare, drifter and con-man Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews) disembarks from his Greyhound in a sleepy California coastal town, shy of his San Francisco destination. He take temporary refuge in "Pop's Eats" diner. 'Pop' (Percy Kilbride) is concerned about his favorite waitress, Stella (Linda Darnell), who has been missing for a few days. Stella reappears that evening, and Eric realizes the brunette bombshell has all the men in the town pining for her. Soon, Eric himself pursues Stella, who is also attracted to him, but demands that he earn enough money to support her.  Eric gets involved with a traveling fortune teller and medium (Carradine) and in that process meets sisters Clara and June Mills (Anne Revere and Alice Faye), the wealthy unmarried daughters of the town's former mayor. He sweeps the virginal June off her feet, but only intends to fleece her and skip town with Stella. Unfortunately, the same day he ties the knot with June, a key character is murdered and Eric becomes a prime suspect.

Production Background
Director/Producer Otto Preminger had a major hit for Fox, Laura, in 1944 with Dana Andrews and another brunette bombshell, Gene Tierney. So he was invited back the following year, along with many key crew members, including cinematographer LaSelle and composer Raksin, and leading actor Andrews, to helm Fallen Angel. In this melodrama propelled by a love triangle, the 'bad' love interest was cast with a star on the rise, sultry beauty Linda Darnell, who was romantically linked to Fox boss Darryl Zanuck. The 'good' girl went to a rather unusual choice: Alice Faye was known mostly from her musical films. But although Faye had begged to be cast in this to broaden her range, she apparently so disliked the finished film and her role, reduced to give Darnell more screentime, that she abruptly halted her career and didn't appear in a film again until 1962. 

While the film garnered generally good reviews, especially for the actors, it didn't make as much of an impression as Laura, and didn't earn any Oscar nominations. Preminger went on to work with Linda Darnell again in the romantic melodrama Forever Amber (1947), while Darnell and Andrews were paired as a married couple forced to fly a commercial airline flight in trouble due to incapacitation by the cockpit crew in Zero Hour! in 1957. Sadly, Darnell died in 1965 at age 41 in a house fire.

Some other notable film-related events in 1945 (from Filmsite.org):

• Roberto Rossellini's influential landmark film Open City (1945, It.) formally introduced Italian Neo-Realism, marked by a gritty, authentic and realistic post-war film style. Characteristics included the use of on-location cinematography, grainy low-grade black-and-white film stock and untrained actors in improvised scenes. The socially-aware, documentary-style film captured the despair and confusion of post-World War II Europe.
• Joan Crawford, who had developed a reputation for being mannered and difficult (and had been let go two years earlier by MGM for a slumping decline), pleasantly surprised everyone at Warners when she delivered one of the best performances of her career in Mildred Pierce (1945). In an astonishing comeback part (and debut role for Warners), Crawford won the film's sole Academy Award Oscar.
• The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), created by major US film studios in 1922 to police the industry, was renamed as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). It was responsible for implementing the voluntary film rating system.
• Pathe newsreel footage of the liberated German concentration camps was released - Radio City Music Hall declared it "too gruesome to be shown at a family theater."

My Random Observations

• One of the things I learned from the TCM/Ball State U. course on film noir was that in a noir film, you're likely to see rooms with horizontal window blinds. This is a great piece of set design for the cinematographer, because they can use low lighting and shadow effects to cast what looks like jail bars across their subjects. Blinds show up early and often in Fallen Angel. In particular, in the diner Pop's Eats, where all the film's less savory characters meet. We're clued into the unhealthy relationships that play out at Pop's and will likely lead to serious problems.  Below are just a few of the shots featuring the prominent blinds.
  
  

  

  Stanton walks into "Pop's Eats"

  
  

  

  At "Pop's" counter is Pops (Kilbride, left), Stella, Mark Judd (Bickford)
  and Stanton. Blinds and their shadows dominate the screen.  
  

  
  

  

  Stanton and Stella get to know each other at "Pop's"

  
  

  

  Shadows galore as Prof. Hadley (Carradine, right) enters "Pop's"

  
  
• On the other hand, the abode of the Mills sisters is Victorian -- we almost lose the two demure and secluded sisters in this shot at breakfast:
  

  

  June (Faye) and Clara (Revere) blend into their curtains
  while discussing their private lives while breakfasting.

  
  
• Despite the near-identical production team, and the same leading actor, this film doesn't feel much like Laura. I attribute that first to the dominance of the musical score in the earlier film (courtesy of composer David Raksin), which sets an ethereal mood and gets stuck in your head pretty quickly. Second, Laura plays out in a mostly upper-class milieu, unlike the gritty, grimy feel of much of Fallen Angel. Yet, blinds show up in Laura, too!
  
  

  

  Laura (Gene Tierney) in her office.

• In the reviews I've read, it's common to criticize Alice Faye's character's angelic, compliant, and loyal qualities that defy credulity. That didn't bother me, although I did find her June a bit of an enigma. For a character that started out as a spinster church organist, she took a huge leap to become a savvy, down-to-earth guardian angel who's willing to live with Eric Stanton's duplicitous misogynist. To make this transition she must have had a far more complex interior life than we see on screen. This was a miss for me, although I do appreciate that the film was primarily concerned with Stanton's character arc.
  

  

  June plans to play an organ recital at the church.

  
  

  

  June, the steely organist.

  
  

  

  June lets her hair down for Eric Stanton.

  
  
  
  And...June's costume neckline takes a major drop.
• The best black and white films are just gorgeous to look at -- and this one should rank among those cited for the beauty of the shot composition. Here are just a few more screenshots highlighting the art of black-and-white cinematography in the studio era.

Where to Watch
A very nice print is streaming for free on YouTube at present. You can watch at this link. It's also available for free streaming on Archive.org, and can be purchased on Fox Home Entertainment DVD from the usual vendors.

Further Reading
Go to TCM's articles on the film, which served as one of my sources of production tidbits, for more detail. 

Five Favorite films from the Fabulous Fifties!

The 1950s was a fertile decade in Hollywood--despite the blacklist and anti-Communist hysteria--with pictures made to wow audiences to lure them away from their TV sets and back into cinemas. Some movies seemed to underscore the dominant image of a cohesive American family, while others exposed the deep troubles beneath. Societal troubles were often thematic in the best French and Italian films of the decade as well.

In honor of National Classic Movie Day, I'm delighted to share five 1950s films I recommend be on the watchlist of any film fan. I've decided to include one film from each of five genres: Western, the musical, film noir, melodrama, and suspense. Check out all the posts compiled by Rick at the Classic Film & TV Cafe, and create your own personal 1950s watch list!

Western: 3:10 to Yuma (D. Delmer Daves, 1957)
Here's a gripping character-driven Western playing out a tense drama between two flawed men: Dan Evans (Van Heflin) and Ben Wade (Glenn Ford); the latter is a charming outlaw on the run from a stagecoach hold-up and murder who gets caught and is given to Dan to escort him to the titular train to Yuma (site of the state prison) over a few hours. It's not a particularly realistic or overly violent Western (those would become more the fashion in the 1960s). And it's not meant to be. Instead it's a piece of visual and storytelling art that imbues every stylized scene with tension. The high-contrast black and white cinematography by Charles Lawton Jr. is stunning. As the plot revolves around a drought in Arizona, you'll want to have a tall glass of water nearby as you watch, as the dry harsh beauty of the landscape is almost overwhelming.

I love that the characters (at least the main male ones) are three dimensional and underplayed. Glenn Ford apparently was cast originally as Dan Evans, but requested to take on the role of the villain here, and what a great choice. The economy of the script forces all the actors to do much with face and body to convey the struggles of will they face during the running time. The ending is so much more cathartic and satisfying as a result.

I love the composition of this shot.

This film also has that special something, which for me is the score. The song '3:10 to Yuma' is sung by Frankie Laine over the title credits, and the haunting theme repeats during the film in various arrangements--my favorite is the guitar, flute and violin trio.

If you've seen the 2007 remake with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, expect a similar story, but resist the comparisons. The later film is a much more realistic Western and the vibe is different. Watch the original for a compelling cinema experience on its own.

Noir: Angel Face (D. Otto Preminger, 1953)

Robert Mitchum as Frank Jessup in Angel Face

It's a noir and it stars Robert Mitchum. Sold yet? He's the chump taken in by Jean Simmons' rich spoiled girl Diane Tremayne, who ratches up the concept of the 'femme fatale' several orders of magnitude. Her face is angelic but her soul is anything but. ('Kathy' in Out of the Past could take lessons in evil from Diane.) A dominant theme here is that all is not well in the great American family of the 1950s.

Diane turns on the charm to lure Frank Jessup (Mitchum), an ambulance driver, to ditch his earnest girlfriend (Mona Freeman) for her, and the problems (and body count) begin to mount.  It's a terrific thriller, as all along we think that Mitchum is somehow going to escape her clutches, but he keeps getting drawn back in. Mitchum is mesmerizing as usual, and Jean Simmons, the talented English actress who was still early in her career with roles such as Ophelia under her belt, commits fully to her psychopathic character. Herbert Marshall, a favorite of mine, is delightful as her deluded, indulgent father. By the end of this part psycho-thriller, part courtroom drama, you may never want to get into a convertible again.

Jean Simmons surveying the scene of the future crime(s).

Cary Grant being driven along the Riviera by
Grace Kelly

Suspense: To Catch a Thief (D. Alfred Hitchcock, 1955).
I'll admit that I watched this one for the first time ever last month. It's not the most acclaimed Hitchcock, and having been left cold by some of Grace Kelly's other performances, I had put off watching it. But it was free on Amazon Prime, and I decided to give it a whirl. And I loved it. It's not your typical Hitchcock film in that it's not scary in the slightest, and any minor suspenseful scenes hardly quicken the pulse. But it's a romp and a romantic fantasy that sweeps you away.

In case the color wasn't bright enough, a key
scene takes place in a flower market.

Former jewel thief/cat burglar John Robie (Cary Grant) has gone straight and is enjoying life in Southern France; due to a rash of thefts, he's pressured into cooperating with the local authorities to set a trap for the yet unknown serial burglar. Along the way he must work with visiting wealthy American widow Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis) and her beautiful but aloof daughter Frances (Kelly). The action hops along Hitchcock style with literal and figurative twists and turns until the puzzles are solved.

Arguably the best thing about the film was its location setting - the gorgeous coast of Southern France, in complete bloom with flowers everywhere. I don't think there is another film that can come close to being as colorful. And Grace Kelly seems to be at home in the locale--perhaps that is why I enjoy her so much here. (As everyone knows, she was soon to take up residence as the new Princess of Monaco the year after this film was released.). Just look at some more fabulous images:

Musical: Singin' in the Rain (D. Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1953)

I was hoping to find a lesser-known musical to highlight here. But because I'm not a huge fan of musicals, even though I've enjoyed many during this decade, none did I enjoy nearly as much as this one. There's a reason that it tops the American Film Institute's best musical film of all time. So if you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for? With Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, and Jean Hagan, it's colorful, rollicking, hysterically funny...and those songs! The story revolves around a silent film star (Kelly) who must find a way to succeed during the conversion to sound films. Hollywood is thoroughly enjoying spoofing itself here while celebrating the wonder of a good movie.

Michel Hazanavicius's 2011 Oscar winner The Artist owes much in plot and characterization to this film. Yet I hope that no one ever attempts to remake this fabulous Hollywood love letter to the best of itself. Check out one of my favorite musical numbers "Good Mornin" with all three stars:

Melodrama: The Earrings of Madame De... (D. Max Ophuls,1953)
It's a French film by acclaimed director Max Ophuls, and like many French films of the era, it's filled with ambiguity in character and motivation, but it's so tightly drawn and elegant. I had the opportunity to see this on the big screen at the Harvard Film Archive last year and I've not been able to get it out of my mind since. The lead character, whose full name is never revealed, is portrayed by stunning Danielle Darrieux. She's partially content with her Parisian life at the end of the 19th century with wealthy husband Charles Boyer, but is rather bored and is seeking other company. When Boyer gifts her an exquisite pair of diamond earrings, they become a pawn multiple times in a series of deceits aimed to help conceal her infidelities.

Critic Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that the film is “one of the most mannered and contrived love movies ever filmed. It glitters and dazzles, and beneath the artifice it creates a heart, and breaks it.” Perhaps it's the 'manneredness' of the film that makes it such a pleasure for me. The camera is almost like a character the way it glides around the others in a film - as a viewer it's like being in a waltz with everyone on screen, even if the music grows continually darker and is played in a minor key.

I also particularly enjoyed Vittorio de Sica, the famed director who was also an actor, and just a year removed from his successful and acclaimed Bicycle Thieves, he is so charismatic here as one of Madame's lovers. 

Vittorio de Sica and Danielle Darrieux

So break out a bottle of Burgundy, dip into some fois gras, and treat yourself to the best of 1950's French filmmaking. And while you're indulging visit the Classic Film & TV Cafe for more great Fifties films.