Fallen Angel (1945)

June Mills (Alice Faye) and her sister Clara live a quiet life in a small coastal town until Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews), a smooth-talking con man, comes into their lives. He seems to fall hard for June but Clara believes he?s only interested in the family fortune. Meanwhile, sultry waitress Stella (Linda Darnell) catches Stanton's fancy and thinks he might be her ticket out of town. The local cop (Charles Bickford) knows more than he's telling about his fellow citizens and their tangled relationships which draw even tighter after a shocking murder.

 Kudos to Alice Faye in an unusual part
What this film lacks in suspense during the first half, it makes up for in the last 30 minutes. The lens of cameraman Joseph LaShelle coupled with the expertise of Otto Preminger's direction makes for a visually intriguing film -- easy on the eye and darkly atmospheric. The nice surprise is the performance of Alice Faye. Although her character seems to be robbed of screen time in the early portions, once the action moves to San Francisco, Faye's complexity and motivation makes for one of her best performances. I've read where Faye claims that many of her scenes were deleted to build up Linda Darnell's part. This may explain the film's slow start. Darnell establishes her one-dimensional character with relish and does well, but her scenes seem repititious after awhile. Dana Andrews' role suffers from focusing too much on his repellent nature and not enough on his inner conflicts. Overemphasis on Darnell and Andrews' relationship is the film's one drawback. This effects the tempo of the overall production. Still, it is great to see this overlooked noir get a second chance. (Scott O'Brien - author of "Kay Francis - I Can't Wait to be Forgotten") January 2, 2008

 Fallen Angel
The film commentary on Fallen Angel is worth watching after the movie. It is a discussion between a noir film expert and the daughter of Dana Andrews and tells you that Dana Andrews used to teach his daughter how to walk tall, that Otto Preminger sets up three elements in every scene, that two of the main stars were alcoholics and knew the kind of characters they were playing from the inside, among other things. But the film doesn't really stand up on its own because the women are split evenly into 'good' and 'bad' and even Dana cannot make them believable. December 29, 2007

 Happy Ending Film Noir
A very slick production, but with Alice Faye and a happy ending it is not realy film noir. Still quite enjoyable. December 21, 2007

 Stick With It!!
It should be stated clearly at the outset that "Fallen Angel" requires careful and patient viewing: Dana Andrews arrives in a small California town in the dead of night. He was actually evicted from a Greyhound bus-he didn't have the fare to ride all the way to Frisco! It becomes immediately obvious that DA is a con man and not a terribly likeable one at that. His first stop is the local diner where he falls for the sultry waitress, Linda Darnell. LD is perfectly cast here. She wants nothing to do with the struggling hustler. DA turns to nice girl Alice Faye, who happens to be loaded! The blonde Faye is in perfect contrast to the dark haired Darnell. DA plans to marry Faye, steal her $$ and marry LD! However, this reviewer felt that the movie had no spark until Darnell is murdered- on Andrews' wedding night no less! Afraid of being framed for the untimely demise, Andrews and his new bride flee to San Francisco. During that intense trip, the movie takes shape. DA realizes he has married a nice, classy girl who loves him. The hotel room scenes are actually quite romantic, given the moral codes of the time. DA returns to the small town and FA is quickly wrapped up. Good reviews should not give away resolutions but the ending to "Fallen Angel" is fast and satisfying. This reviewer can cite only two weaknesses to FA: 1) it takes awhile to gel. The most critical scenes are in the final 10 minutes; the careful and patient viewing stated above will be rewarded. 2) One wonders how interesting a second watching would be, once the improbable perp is identified. Amazoners are encouraged to scroll down and read the preceding reviews! There are several nice fascinating tidbits about FA listed! There are certainly some knowledgeable classic movie fans out there! A final thought: Wouldn't Lizabeth Scott have been perfect for the Darnell role? She could have sung the theme song! And if she wound up dead, it would not have been the first time Liz met her demise while the cameras rolled! August 5, 2007

 A MUST FOR ANY FILM NOIR COLLECTION!!!
This excellent film deserves to be considered among anyone's list of the best film noir movies ever made. The script is not standardized, so the unexpected is always occurring. There is always a twist in the plot. You never know what is coming.

Otto Preminger's direction is taut, focused and he certainly knew how to get the best performances out of all of his actors. As a follow up to the classic film "Laura," also starring Dana Andrews, he etched his name indelibly on the film noir genre.

David Raksin, who wrote the song "Laura" for the movie of the same name, also wrote the theme song for this film.

And the actors are wonderful. Dana Andrews gives his usual fine performance, turning from a hardened con man into a person who can love. The character actors also carry the film: all of them are magnificent. Anne Revere, Charles Bickford, Bruce Cabot and even Percy Kilbride give three dimensional performances that are awesome.

I mention the two female stars last because the situation was interesting. They are as different as night and day from each other. Linda Darnell, dark, beautiful and smouldering, is cast opposite Alice Fay, fair, serious and loyal. Now Ms. Faye was very angry when she saw the final version of the film, feeling her best moments had been edited out and, although she had no hard feelings for Ms. Darnell, she felt the film focused on Ms. Darnell's performance and kind of left her out, or at least placed her at second string. She did not make another film for 16 years.

I believe that, regardless of the cut scenes, Alice Faye made a perfect, not lesser, compliment to Linda Darnell, and each equally gave sterling performances. Neither played second fiddle to each other. Both of their performances were of very high quality and admirable.

You can't miss with this one. It's really enjoyable to watch such quality film making. July 28, 2007

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