Angel Face
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Angel Face | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Otto Preminger |
| Produced by | Otto Preminger |
| Written by | Chester Erskine (story) Ben Hecht (uncredited) Oscar Millard Frank S. Nugent |
| Starring | Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Mona Freeman, Herbert Marshall |
| Music by | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| Cinematography | Harry Stradling Sr. |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures Inc. |
| Release date(s) | December 11, 1952 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Angel Face is a 1952 black-and-white film shot in the film noir style. The film was directed by Otto Preminger and is one of his many films noir that also include Laura (1944), Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950), and Fallen Angel (1945). The movie was filmed on location in Beverly Hills, California. Dimitri Tiomkin composed the music for the film.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Frank Jessup (Mitchum), an ambulance driver, meets 19-year-old (and mentally insane) Diane Tremayne (Simmons) while attending to her rich step mother after a strange accident. Diane is immediately attracted to former race car driver Frank and plans to use him to kill for her. When Diane follows Frank to his favorite diner, he tells her what he really wants to do is open a garage. Diane attempts to lure Frank with money and talks her father and stepmother to hire him as a chauffer. While working for the family Frank pitches the idea of a garage to Miss Wilson, who likes the idea. Diane finds out and instead tells Frank that the step mother hates her and has no intention of helping Frank with the finances. When Diane finally suggests that the pair team up to kill her step mother, Frank has enough and attempts to leave. Meanwhile Diane has rigged her mother's car to go backwards over a cliff when someone steps on the gas. The car indeed goes over, but her father was also unexpectedly in the car too. Now the young couple are arrested and charged with murdering the pair for money. While in jail, Frank and Diane get married as a ruse to help their case. They're eventually acquitted but Frank now doesn't want anything to do with the apparently insane Diane. Diane has other plans. She wants them to go over the cliff together too.
[edit] Critical reaction
The film today receives mostly positive reviews. Dave Kehr from the Chicago Reader writes: "The sets, characters, and actions are extremely stylized, yet Preminger's moving camera gives them a frightening unity and fluidity, tracing a straight, clean line to a cliff top for one of the most audacious endings in film history" while Cinematic Threads found the movie predictable and the end more silly then shocking "Not sure what the big deal is over this, using the plot of The Postman Always Rings Twice once again and with only minor deviations, like giving Jean Simmons an Electra complex."
[edit] Cast
- Robert Mitchum as Frank Jessup
- Jean Simmons as Diane Tremayne
- Mona Freeman as Mary Wilton
- Herbert Marshall as Mr. Charles Tremayne
- Leon Ames as Fred Barrett
