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{{short description|1953 film by Otto Preminger}}
{{short description|1953 film by Otto Preminger}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2014}}

{{Infobox film
{{Infobox film
| name = Angel Face
| name = Angel Face
| image = Angel face b.jpg
| image = Angel face b.jpg

| image_size =
| alt =
| alt =
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[Otto Preminger]]
| director = [[Otto Preminger]]
| producer = [[Otto Preminger]]
| producer = Otto Preminger
| screenplay = [[Frank Nugent]]<br> [[Oscar Millard]]
| screenplay = [[Frank Nugent]]<br> [[Oscar Millard]]
| story = [[Chester Erskine]]
| story = [[Chester Erskine]]
| starring = [[Robert Mitchum]]<br />[[Jean Simmons]]
| starring = [[Robert Mitchum]]<br />[[Jean Simmons]]
| music = [[Dimitri Tiomkin]]<br>(composed and conducted)
| music = [[Dimitri Tiomkin]]<br>''(composed and conducted)''
| cinematography = [[Harry Stradling]], [[A.S.C.]]
| cinematography = [[Harry Stradling]]
| editing = [[Frederic Knudtson]]
| editing = [[Frederic Knudtson]]
| studio = [[Howard Hughes Presents]]
| studio = [[RKO Radio Pictures]]
| distributor = [[RKO Radio Pictures]]
| distributor = RKO Radio Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1953|2|4|Premiere – ''Los Angeles''|1953|2|11|''US''| ref1= <ref name=AFI>{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=50392| title=Angel Face: Detail View | publisher=American Film Institute | access-date=May 31, 2014}}</ref>|ref2=<ref name=AFI />}}
| released = {{Film date|1953|2|4|Premiere – ''Los Angeles''|1953|2|11|''US''| ref1= <ref name=AFI>{{cite web | url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50392 | title=Angel Face: Detail View | publisher=American Film Institute | access-date=September 19, 2023}}</ref>|ref2=<ref name=AFI />}}
| runtime = 91 minutes
| runtime = 91 minutes
| country = United States
| country = United States
Line 24: Line 25:
| gross =
| gross =
}}
}}
⚫
'''''Angel Face''''' is a 1953 American [[film noir]] directed by [[Otto Preminger]].<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19530422&id=l6taAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WU8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4814,1803231&hl=en Blackstone, Lillian. "'Angel Face' Enthralls With Murder, Punishment" (''St. Petersburg Times'', April 24, 1953, p. 22)]</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Film Noir: The Encyclopedia |first=Alain |last=Silver |year= 2010 |isbn= 978-0715638804 |page= 28}}</ref> The drama, filmed on location in [[Beverly Hills, California]], stars [[Robert Mitchum]] and [[Jean Simmons]].<ref name=AFI/><ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1309&dat=19890120&id=ZqomAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Z5ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4798,1308859&hl=en Turner, Adrian. "Actress who has never 'gone Hollywood'" (''New Straits Times'', January 20, 1989, Times Two, p. Ten)]</ref>


⚫
'''''Angel Face''''' is a 1953 American [[film noir]] directed by [[Otto Preminger]], starring [[Robert Mitchum]] and [[Jean Simmons]], and featuring [[Leon Ames]] and [[Barbara O'Neil]].<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19530422&id=l6taAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WU8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4814,1803231&hl=en Blackstone, Lillian. "'Angel Face' Enthralls With Murder, Punishment" (''St. Petersburg Times'', April 24, 1953, p. 22)]</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Film Noir: The Encyclopedia |first=Alain |last=Silver |year= 2010 |isbn= 978-0715638804 |page= 28|publisher=Overlook Duckworth }}</ref> It was filmed on location in [[Beverly Hills, California]].<ref name=AFI/><ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1309&dat=19890120&id=ZqomAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Z5ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4798,1308859&hl=en Turner, Adrian. "Actress who has never 'gone Hollywood'" (''New Straits Times'', January 20, 1989, Times Two, p. Ten)]</ref>
⚫
==Plot==
Frank and Bill, two [[Beverly Hills, California|Beverly Hills]] ambulance drivers, arrive at the Tremayne mansion, where Catherine Tremayne has been affected by gas poisoning but has already been treated by the police. When Frank tries to reassure Catherine's stepdaughter, Diane, she becomes hysterical, causing them to trade slaps. After they leave, Diane follows Frank to a [[diner]], where they flirt and decide to go to dinner, despite the fact Frank already has a girlfriend, Mary.


⚫
== Plot ==
At dinner, Diane tells Frank about her father, and Frank tells her about Mary. We learn that Frank had been a race-car driver and that Mary was saving up money in order to help Frank to buy his own garage. The following day, Diane meets with Mary under the pretext of contributing to Frank's garage. In reality, she wants to make Mary jealous by letting it slip that they had dinner the prior evening.


Frank Jessup is an ambulance driver who dreams of running his own repair shop for sportscars. One evening, while responding to an emergency call at a posh estate, he meets beautiful heiress Diane Tremayne. Intrigued, Diane devises a series of seemingly happenstance meetings with Frank, and a relationship between them ensues. As a result, Frank alienates his girlfriend, Mary Wilton. When the Tremayne family offers Frank a job as chauffeur, with his own rooms on the estate, he accepts.
Mary loses confidence in Frank and agrees to go out with Bill, an old boyfriend. Frank tracks down Diane to berate her for telling Mary about their impromptu dinner. But when she tells Frank he can work at the estate as the chauffeur, as well as prepare and drive her sports car in an upcoming race, Frank forgets about what she has done. Diane convinces her parents to hire Frank as chauffeur and let him live in a small apartment on the estate grounds. She further ingratiates herself to Frank by getting her stepmother Catherine to agree to listen to Frank's proposal about investing in a garage. The two begin a romantic involvement.


One afternoon, as Diane's father and stepmother start their car to drive to town, their vehicle mysteriously reverses when geared to drive forward. It careens backwards down a steep cliff, killing both occupants. As Diane is the sole heir to their fortune, she comes under suspicion for murder. Frank is also suspected of having tampered with the vehicle's [[Propulsion transmission|transmission]]. Fred Barrett, their defense attorney, persuades them to marry to curry the jury's favor. Frank is reluctant but consents.
While Catherine is awaiting advice on Frank's proposal from her attorney, Diane lies to Frank, telling him that Catherine wants nothing to do with the project. She further attempts to alienate him from her stepmother by saying Catherine would fire Frank if she ever found out about his and Diane's romance and that Catherine would take it out on both her and Diane's sickly father if she were being defied. Diane claims Catherine even attempted to kill her by turning on the gas in the fireplace. Frank strongly suspects Diane is lying.


The prosecuting attorney has no concrete evidence, so Frank and Diane are found not guilty. Afterwards, Frank tells Diane he is ending their sham marriage. He tries to make up with his ex-girlfriend Mary, but she wants nothing to do with him. Diane, overcome with a sense of guilt, sees her lawyer, Barrett, and tells him she wishes to confess to the murder of her parents. However, Barrett informs her that, under the law, she cannot be tried again for the same crime. Later, Frank returns to the Tremayne estate to retrieve his belongings. He had arranged for a taxi beforehand, but Diane offers to drive him to the station. He accepts. After putting the car in gear, Diane accelerates backwards, crashing down the cliff, killing them both.
Frank goes to Mary and says he is getting out of both the chauffeur job and romantic entanglement, after which they reconcile. But when he goes back to the Tremayne estate to get his gear, Diane cries and begs him to run away with her. He is confused enough to agree to stay for a few more days, but will no longer work as the chauffeur.


⚫
== Cast ==
Catherine is about to drive herself to a bridge tournament when Diane's father, Charles, asks her for a ride to town. Instead of moving forward as expected, the vehicle speeds in reverse, crashing through a guardrail. It careens down a steep cliff, killing them both. As Diane is now the sole heir, she comes under suspicion for murder; police arrest her and Frank as well. Diane is genuinely devastated, as she never intended her beloved father to be in the car, and she is admitted to a hospital for treatment. She confesses that she planned and executed Catherine's murder. Doctors believe she is delirious.

Defense attorney Fred Barrett warns Frank that he will be found guilty of arranging the accident, since Diane's suitcase was found in his room. Barrett suggests Frank and Diane marry so that they cannot be compelled to testify against one another. This could allay suspicions as to why Diane and Frank were both packed to leave.

The tactic works. Barrett is able to convince the jury that Frank and Diane are simply lovebirds caught up by circumstance and they are both acquitted—this despite the expert testimony of evidence the car's drivetrain was tampered with before the crash.

Back at the mansion after the not-guilty verdict, Frank tells Diane he wants no part of her and will try to get Mary to take him back. Diane scoffs that Mary won't and bets her car on it. Frank accepts the bet, but when he talks things over with Mary she refuses him, saying she will stay with Bill. While that is happening Diane goes to attorney Barrett and confesses everything. He allows her to unburden herself, then tells her she cannot be re-tried because of the legal principle of [[double jeopardy]].

When Diane returns to the mansion, Frank is packed to leave and has called a taxi. She begs Frank to take her to [[Mexico]] with him, but he says no. Frank reluctantly agrees to let her drive him to the bus station. In the car, she again asks Frank to stay with her, and he again refuses. Diane gives him a steely look, then quickly shifts the car into reverse and steps on the gas pedal, sending them careening to their deaths over the same cliff where the previous murders occurred.

The taxi that Frank ordered to take him to the station arrives. The driver honks the horn, gets out and waits for Frank to arrive, not aware that he has just gone off the cliff.

⚫
==Cast==
{{col-begin}}{{col-break}}
* [[Robert Mitchum]] as Frank Jessup
* [[Robert Mitchum]] as Frank Jessup
* [[Jean Simmons]] as Diane Tremayne
* [[Jean Simmons]] as Diane Tremayne
* [[Mona Freeman]] as Mary Wilton
* [[Mona Freeman]] as Mary Wilton
* [[Herbert Marshall]] as Charles Tremayne, Diane's father
* [[Herbert Marshall]] as Charles Tremayne, Diane's father
* [[Leon Ames (actor)|Leon Ames]] as Fred Barrett, Frank and Diane's defense attorney
* [[Leon Ames]] as Fred Barrett, Frank and Diane's defense attorney
* [[Barbara O'Neil]] as Catherine Tremayne, Diane's stepmother
* [[Barbara O'Neil]] as Catherine Tremayne, Diane's stepmother
* [[Kenneth Tobey]] as Bill, Frank's fellow ambulance driver
* [[Kenneth Tobey]] as Bill, Frank's fellow ambulance driver
* [[Raymond Greenleaf]] as Arthur Vance, Catherine Tremayne's estate attorney
* [[Raymond Greenleaf]] as Arthur Vance, Catherine Tremayne's estate attorney
* [[Griff Barnett]] as judge presiding over the trial of Frank and Diane
* [[Griff Barnett]] as the judge
* [[Robert Gist]] as Miller, forensic expert on automobile mechanics who testifies during the trial
* [[Robert Gist]] as Miller, the forensic expert on automobile mechanics
* [[Morgan Farley]] as inquisitive juror who asks two questions during the trial
* [[Morgan Farley]] as a juror who asks two questions during the trial
* [[Jim Backus]] as District Attorney Judson, in charge of prosecuting Frank and Diane
* [[Jim Backus]] as Judson, the district attorney prosecuting Frank and Diane
* Frank Kumagai as Ito, the Tremaynes' butler
{{col-end}}

;Uncredited (in order of appearance)
⚫
== Production ==
{{col-begin}}{{col-break}}
[[Turner Classic Movies]] host [[Eddie Muller]] reported that [[RKO Pictures|RKO]] studio boss [[Howard Hughes]] hired director [[Otto Preminger]] expressly for the purpose of torturing [[Jean Simmons]] because she did not intend to renew her contract with RKO. However, according to Simmons' husband [[Stewart Granger]], "she enjoyed [making] the film. She adored Mitchum and used to tell me what a good actor he was."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=z-2-CQAAQBAJ&q=Otto+Preminger+jean+simmons Fujiwara, Chris. ''The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger''. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2015. p. 134.]</ref> [[Robert Mitchum]] was also reputed to have had a difficult working relationship with Preminger on the set.<ref name="books.google.com">[https://books.google.com/books?id=PfZJxlOdjg4C&q=Simmons Server, Lee. ''Robert Mitchum: "Baby, I Don't Care"''. New York: St. Martin's/Griffin, 2001. p. 239.]</ref>
{|class=wikitable

|-
Production began on June 18, 1952, with a budget of under $1,000,000 and a production schedule of just 18 days because of cinematographer [[Harry Stradling]]'s reputation for quick work.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=cQOEiGn76iwC&q=angel%20face Hirsch, Foster. ''Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King''. New York: Knopf Doubleday, 2011.]</ref> Principal photography ended in mid-July 1952, and editing and post-production were completed by the end of September. Previews were held in early December 1952, with notices appearing throughout the month in ''[[Box Office (magazine)|Box Office]]'', ''[[The Film Daily]]'', ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'', ''[[Motion Picture Herald]]'' and ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]''.
|[[Amzie Strickland]]||Woman in dance hall, alongside Frank and Diane

|-
Early in the film, there is a scene where the script called for Robert Mitchum to slap a hysterical Jean Simmons across the face. Because of Preminger's dissatisfaction with Simmons' reactions, the scene required multiple takes before Mitchum finally became fed up. When Preminger again called "Once more!", Mitchum spun around, faced Preminger, and shouted, "Once more?" He then slapped Preminger's face, hard. The director quickly retreated from the set, demanding Mitchum be fired. But instead, "he was told to go back and finish shooting the picture".<ref name="books.google.com"/>
|[[Lucille Barkley]]||Waitress serving Frank and Diane
|-
|[[Lewis Martin (actor)|Lewis Martin]]||Police sergeant on duty when Frank is brought in
|-
|[[Larry Blake (actor)|Larry Blake]]||Detective lieutenant Ed Brady who advises Frank to hire himself a lawyer
|-
|[[Gertrude Astor]]||Prison matron addressed as "Sergeant"
|-
|[[Theresa Harris]]||Prison nurse Theresa who is assigned to Diane's bedside
|-
|[[Grandon Rhodes]]||Prison chaplain who performs Frank and Diane's marriage
|-
|[[Frank O'Connor (actor)|Frank O'Connor]]||Bailiff at Frank and Diane's trial
|-
|[[Buck Young]]||Assistant district attorney at Frank and Diane's trial
|-
|[[Colin Kenny (actor)|Colin Kenny]]||Spectator at Frank and Diane's trial
|-
|[[Bess Flowers]]||Shirley, attorney Barrett's secretary who greets arriving Diane
|}
{{col-end}}
Character names are not indicated in on-screen credits.


The film was released on February 11, 1953.
⚫
==Production==
{{More citations needed|section|date=March 2019}}
In 2018 on [[Turner Classic Movies]] Noir Alley, host Eddie Muller claimed that Hughes hired Preminger expressly for the purpose of torturing Simmons. The film had a production schedule of just 18 days, starting June 18, 1952, and a budget of under one million dollars. Previews were held in December 1952, with write-ups appearing throughout the month in ''[[Box Office (magazine)|Box Office]]'', ''[[The Film Daily]]'', ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'', ''[[Motion Picture Herald]]'' and ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]''.


==Reception==
== Reception ==
In his review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', critic [[Howard Thompson (film critic)|Howard Thompson]] described ''Angel Face'' as a frustrating mix of real talent, occasional insight, and tedious psychological nonsense. He stated that a promising and tightly woven story idea had been lost in a pretentious Freudian haze, which permeated the beautifully presented film and led to disastrous outcomes. The film's baffling character motivations, deliberately perplexing events, and wandering pace were peculiar and undermined its overall quality. Furthermore, the incredibly gloomy ending served as a fittingly disappointing conclusion to everything that came before.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Thompson |first=Howard |date=1953-04-25 |title=The Screen in Review |page=11 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>
⚫
Nowadays the film receives mostly positive reviews.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1299&dat=19771031&id=-QBOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=94sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4331,2378117&hl=en "SNEAK PREVIEWS / A Critical Guide To TV Movies By Andrew Sarris / Friday, October 28" (''The Village Voice'', October 31, 1977, p.51)]</ref><ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1959&dat=19840221&id=x94qAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MYgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3016,4244014&hl=en Gaus, Andy. "9 days a week / Thursday 23" (''The Boston Phœnix'', Section Three, p. 15)]</ref><ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19870213&id=SxlVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yJMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3164,1413468&hl=en Flaus, John / Harris, Paul. "What's On / Buff's Choice / ''Angel Face''" (''The Age'', 13 February 1987, p.6)]</ref> Dave Kehr from the ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' writes: "This intense [[Freud]]ian melodrama by Otto Preminger (1953) is one of the forgotten masterworks of film noir... The film is a disturbingly cool, rational investigation of the terrors of sexuality...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."<ref>[http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/364_ANGEL_FACE.html Kehr, Dave], film review. Last accessed: December 3, 2009.</ref> Noir historian [[Alain Silver]] writes: "In Otto Preminger’s work sexuality may be either therapeutic or destructive. ''Angel Face'' epitomizes the latter quality.... Preminger does not suggest that Frank is a hapless victim. Rather his mise-en-scène, which repeatedly frames the figures in obliquely angled medium shots against the depth of field created by the expensive furnishings of the Tremayne mansion, and Mitchum’s subdued portrayal engender an atmosphere of fatality."<ref>{{cite book |title=Film Noir: The Encyclopedia |first=Alain |last=Silver |year= 2010 |isbn= 978-0715638804 |page= 29}}</ref>


⚫
Dave Kehr from the ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' wrote in 1985: "This intense [[Freud]]ian melodrama by Otto Preminger (1953) is one of the forgotten masterworks of film noir... The film is a disturbingly cool, rational investigation of the terrors of sexuality...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."<ref>[https://chicagoreader.com/film/angel-face/ Kehr, Dave], film review. Last accessed: December 3, 2009.</ref> Film noir historian [[Alain Silver]] wrote: "In Otto Preminger’s work sexuality may be either therapeutic or destructive. ''Angel Face'' epitomizes the latter quality.... Preminger does not suggest that Frank is a hapless victim. Rather his mise-en-scène, which repeatedly frames the figures in obliquely angled medium shots against the depth of field created by the expensive furnishings of the Tremayne mansion, and Mitchum’s subdued portrayal engender an atmosphere of fatality."<ref>{{cite book |title=Film Noir: The Encyclopedia |first=Alain |last=Silver |year= 2010 |isbn= 978-0715638804 |page= 29|publisher=Overlook Duckworth }}</ref>
Film critic Paul Brenner writes, "Preminger transforms a second rate [[James M. Cain]] murder plot, re-orchestrating this textbook tale of passion and murder into a haunting and haunted refrain. The by then clichéd story line is pared away and brought down to an elemental level—there is not a wasted scene in the film—and the story's familiarity breeds an aftertaste of inevitability and doom. The [[hallucinogenic]] nature of the proceedings is accented with Preminger's direction and camerawork, having actors drift from foreground to background or having the camera track to fluid and suffocating close-ups. Preminger, ever the mesmerizer, weaves his style into a half-dreamt haze of nightmare."<ref>[http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/reviews/Angel-Face Brenner, Paul]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''[[AMC (TV channel)|AMC]] filmcritic'', film review, 2009. Last accessed: December 3, 2009.</ref>


Shortly before his death, critic [[Robin Wood (critic)|Robin Wood]] named it as one of his top 10 films.<ref>[http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/?p=17784 Rosenbaum, Jonathan] Blog post. Last accessed: December 25, 2009.</ref>
Shortly before his death, critic [[Robin Wood (critic)|Robin Wood]] named ''Angel Face'' as one of his top 10 films.<ref>[http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/?p=17784 Rosenbaum, Jonathan] Blog post. Last accessed: December 25, 2009.</ref>


In 1963, [[Jean-Luc Godard]] listed it as the 8th best American Sound film.<ref>[http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/godard.html ''Cahiers du Cinema''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223044716/http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/godard.html |date=December 23, 2016 }} via ''Godard on Godard'', [[Da Capo Press]], March 22, 1986. Last accessed: February 26, 2011.</ref>
In 1963, [[Jean-Luc Godard]] listed ''Angel Face'' as the eighth-best American sound film.<ref>[http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/godard.html ''Cahiers du Cinema''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223044716/http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ejohnson/critics/godard.html |date=December 23, 2016 }} via ''Godard on Godard'', [[Da Capo Press]], March 22, 1986. Last accessed: February 26, 2011.</ref>


==References==
== References ==
{{reflist|2}}
{{reflist}}


==External links==
== External links ==
{{Commons category|Angel Face (1953 film)}}
{{Commons category|Angel Face (1953 film)}}
* {{AFI film|id=50392|title=Angel Face}}
* {{AFI film|id=50392|title=Angel Face}}
* {{IMDb title|id=0044357|title=Angel Face}}
* {{IMDb title|id=0044357|title=Angel Face}}
* {{Allmovie title|id=83708|title=Angel Face}}
* {{TCMDb title|id=2422|title=Angel Face}}
⚫
* [https://www.tvguide.com/movies/angel-face/2030198024/ ''Angel Face''] at ''[[TV Guide]]'' (1987 write-up was originally published in ''[[The Motion Picture Guide]]'')
* {{Tcmdb title|id=2422|title=Angel Face}}
⚫
* {{YouTube|da4jHmpKFU0 |''Angel Face'' film trailer}}
⚫
* [https://www.tvguide.com/movies/angel-face/review/114483/ ''Angel Face''] at ''[[TV Guide]]'' (1987 write-up was originally published in ''[[The Motion Picture Guide]]'')
⚫
* {{YouTube|rBo5WvyBBl4|''Angel Face'' film trailer}}


{{Otto Preminger}}
{{Otto Preminger}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Angel Face}}
[[Category:1953 crime drama films]]
[[Category:1953 crime drama films]]
[[Category:1953 films]]
[[Category:1953 films]]
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[[Category:American films]]
[[Category:American crime drama films]]
[[Category:American crime drama films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
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[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Film noir]]
[[Category:Film noir]]
[[Category:Films set in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Films set in Los Angeles]]
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[[Category:Films directed by Otto Preminger]]
[[Category:Films directed by Otto Preminger]]
[[Category:Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin]]
[[Category:Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin]]
[[Category:Films shot in Beverly Hills, California]]
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[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
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[[Category:1950s American films]]
[[Category:English-language crime drama films]]

Latest revision as of 16:42, 21 December 2024

Angel Face
Theatrical release poster
Directed byOtto Preminger
Screenplay byFrank Nugent
Oscar Millard
Story byChester Erskine
Produced byOtto Preminger
StarringRobert Mitchum
Jean Simmons
CinematographyHarry Stradling
Edited byFrederic Knudtson
Music byDimitri Tiomkin
(composed and conducted)
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release dates
  • February 4, 1953 (1953-02-04) (Premiere – Los Angeles)[1]
  • February 11, 1953 (1953-02-11) (US)[1]
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,039,000

Angel Face is a 1953 American film noir directed by Otto Preminger, starring Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons, and featuring Leon Ames and Barbara O'Neil.[2][3] It was filmed on location in Beverly Hills, California.[1][4]

Plot

[edit]

Frank Jessup is an ambulance driver who dreams of running his own repair shop for sportscars. One evening, while responding to an emergency call at a posh estate, he meets beautiful heiress Diane Tremayne. Intrigued, Diane devises a series of seemingly happenstance meetings with Frank, and a relationship between them ensues. As a result, Frank alienates his girlfriend, Mary Wilton. When the Tremayne family offers Frank a job as chauffeur, with his own rooms on the estate, he accepts.

One afternoon, as Diane's father and stepmother start their car to drive to town, their vehicle mysteriously reverses when geared to drive forward. It careens backwards down a steep cliff, killing both occupants. As Diane is the sole heir to their fortune, she comes under suspicion for murder. Frank is also suspected of having tampered with the vehicle's transmission. Fred Barrett, their defense attorney, persuades them to marry to curry the jury's favor. Frank is reluctant but consents.

The prosecuting attorney has no concrete evidence, so Frank and Diane are found not guilty. Afterwards, Frank tells Diane he is ending their sham marriage. He tries to make up with his ex-girlfriend Mary, but she wants nothing to do with him. Diane, overcome with a sense of guilt, sees her lawyer, Barrett, and tells him she wishes to confess to the murder of her parents. However, Barrett informs her that, under the law, she cannot be tried again for the same crime. Later, Frank returns to the Tremayne estate to retrieve his belongings. He had arranged for a taxi beforehand, but Diane offers to drive him to the station. He accepts. After putting the car in gear, Diane accelerates backwards, crashing down the cliff, killing them both.

Cast

[edit]

Production

[edit]

Turner Classic Movies host Eddie Muller reported that RKO studio boss Howard Hughes hired director Otto Preminger expressly for the purpose of torturing Jean Simmons because she did not intend to renew her contract with RKO. However, according to Simmons' husband Stewart Granger, "she enjoyed [making] the film. She adored Mitchum and used to tell me what a good actor he was."[5] Robert Mitchum was also reputed to have had a difficult working relationship with Preminger on the set.[6]

Production began on June 18, 1952, with a budget of under $1,000,000 and a production schedule of just 18 days because of cinematographer Harry Stradling's reputation for quick work.[7] Principal photography ended in mid-July 1952, and editing and post-production were completed by the end of September. Previews were held in early December 1952, with notices appearing throughout the month in Box Office, The Film Daily, The Hollywood Reporter, Motion Picture Herald and Variety.

Early in the film, there is a scene where the script called for Robert Mitchum to slap a hysterical Jean Simmons across the face. Because of Preminger's dissatisfaction with Simmons' reactions, the scene required multiple takes before Mitchum finally became fed up. When Preminger again called "Once more!", Mitchum spun around, faced Preminger, and shouted, "Once more?" He then slapped Preminger's face, hard. The director quickly retreated from the set, demanding Mitchum be fired. But instead, "he was told to go back and finish shooting the picture".[6]

The film was released on February 11, 1953.

Reception

[edit]

In his review for The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson described Angel Face as a frustrating mix of real talent, occasional insight, and tedious psychological nonsense. He stated that a promising and tightly woven story idea had been lost in a pretentious Freudian haze, which permeated the beautifully presented film and led to disastrous outcomes. The film's baffling character motivations, deliberately perplexing events, and wandering pace were peculiar and undermined its overall quality. Furthermore, the incredibly gloomy ending served as a fittingly disappointing conclusion to everything that came before.[8]

Dave Kehr from the Chicago Reader wrote in 1985: "This intense Freudian melodrama by Otto Preminger (1953) is one of the forgotten masterworks of film noir... The film is a disturbingly cool, rational investigation of the terrors of sexuality...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."[9] Film noir historian Alain Silver wrote: "In Otto Preminger’s work sexuality may be either therapeutic or destructive. Angel Face epitomizes the latter quality.... Preminger does not suggest that Frank is a hapless victim. Rather his mise-en-scène, which repeatedly frames the figures in obliquely angled medium shots against the depth of field created by the expensive furnishings of the Tremayne mansion, and Mitchum’s subdued portrayal engender an atmosphere of fatality."[10]

Shortly before his death, critic Robin Wood named Angel Face as one of his top 10 films.[11]

In 1963, Jean-Luc Godard listed Angel Face as the eighth-best American sound film.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Angel Face: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  2. ^ Blackstone, Lillian. "'Angel Face' Enthralls With Murder, Punishment" (St. Petersburg Times, April 24, 1953, p. 22)
  3. ^ Silver, Alain (2010). Film Noir: The Encyclopedia. Overlook Duckworth. p. 28. ISBN 978-0715638804.
  4. ^ Turner, Adrian. "Actress who has never 'gone Hollywood'" (New Straits Times, January 20, 1989, Times Two, p. Ten)
  5. ^ Fujiwara, Chris. The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2015. p. 134.
  6. ^ a b Server, Lee. Robert Mitchum: "Baby, I Don't Care". New York: St. Martin's/Griffin, 2001. p. 239.
  7. ^ Hirsch, Foster. Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King. New York: Knopf Doubleday, 2011.
  8. ^ Thompson, Howard (April 25, 1953). "The Screen in Review". The New York Times. p. 11.
  9. ^ Kehr, Dave, film review. Last accessed: December 3, 2009.
  10. ^ Silver, Alain (2010). Film Noir: The Encyclopedia. Overlook Duckworth. p. 29. ISBN 978-0715638804.
  11. ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan Blog post. Last accessed: December 25, 2009.
  12. ^ Cahiers du Cinema Archived December 23, 2016, at the Wayback Machine via Godard on Godard, Da Capo Press, March 22, 1986. Last accessed: February 26, 2011.
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