A film noir gem

I saw a very good movie tonight, the 1945 Fallen Angel, directed by Otto Preminger (one of my favorite directors), and starring Dana Andrews and Alice Faye. It’s an odd film in some ways, going off in peculiar directions that some people may feel do not work. But it worked for me. The main, though understated, theme is providence. Andrews is a fast-thinking con artist and promoter who, landing penniless in a small California town, falls for the mythically luscious and tough-as-nails Linda Darnell, a coffee shop waitress who is the object of many men’s longings but insists on marriage. In order to get the money to marry her, he conjures up a vile scheme to fool Alice Faye, a refined woman on the cusp of spinsterhood, into marrying him in order steal her money. Just as the wicked act of Joseph’s brothers in selling Joseph into slavery ultimately results in their own salvation, Andrews’s heartless act of fraud ends up saving him and transforming his life. That sounds sentimental, but is not. It is film noir.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at February 04, 2008 01:58 AM | Send