i caught
BLACK ANGEL (1946) this morning- a 1946 Universal noir starring
DAN DURYEA with a small, strange role for
PETER LORRE- who was of course himself small and strange, so it was a good fit.
the wife of a man convicted for killing an up-and-coming female vocalist in a Hollywood Hotel teams up with the victim's alcoholic estranged songwriter husband (DURYEA) to go undercover as a nightclub act at the SUNSET STRIP ESTABLISHMENT of prime suspect PETER LORRE in order to prove her husband's innocence before he GETS GASSED IN QUENTIN.
does it get any more HOLLYWOOD in the 40's than that, I ask you?
this is a tricky movie, because it's got a fun story and it moves at a clip, it draws you in (especially with an opening shot that is animated and an homage (i presume) to the opening of
KING VIDOR'S THE CROWD) and it's nicely stylized with some catchy songs- BUT OVERALL, IT'S A PASTICHE OF OTHER FILMS AND LARGELY PIFFLE (albeit fun, fast-moving piffle)..
.UNTIL THE ENDING.
It's got ONE HELL of an ending, so much so, I had a hard time remembering just what had transpired before it in writing this review (it came back to me, as through a glass dimly)
BRODERICK CRAWFORD is in this(IN A SMALL PART, THANKFULLY) and I can't believe it, but the director MADE HIM ALMOST WHISPER HIS LINES and it's so nice when BRODERICK CRAWFORD ISN'T SHOUTING (which i HERETOFORE THOUGHT WAS NEVER)
also, a HIDEOUSLY TACKY PIECE OF JEWELRY plays a MAJOR PART IN THE PLOT. Seriously, JOAN RIVERS wouldn't hawk this thing on QVC back in the day if you were holding a gun to MELISSA'S HEAD just off-camera.
(Spoilerish)
30'S LEADING MAN
WALLACE FORD is in this as well, in what amounts to a small part that seemed as if perhaps got cut down- and I'm not sure if their casting him in the WILLIAM BENDIX BEST FRIEND PART wasn't something of a RED HERRING which worked on me because I totally thought this thing was gonna end like
THE BLUE DAHLIA (also 1946)- to which this film is a sister (in more ways than one)