Underrated Film Noir from Preminger

I found this by accident the other day.  I had recommended a friend watch Laura and I couldn't remember for the moment how it began so I cued up part 1 on youtube just to check.  On the side were other selections, one of which was this movie Fallen Angel, from 1945, which I had never heard of.   The cast surprised me.  I know Alilce Faye as mostly a musical comedy star.  I was surprised to see her in what appeared to be a film noir.  And to tell the truth, I didn't consider her performance the strongest, although it is just strange enough to work with the plot in the sense that you can't quite tell what her part in the crime really is.
The rest of the cast immediately screamed classic film noir.  Dana Andrews and Linda Darnell.  The rest of the cast is equally fine.  Anne Revere, (the mom from National Velvet and Gentlemen's Agreement) giving another great performance.  Charles Bickford as the hard-as-nails (and scary) cop, Bruce Cabot and even a surprisingly good Pa Kettle in an atypical but fine performance.  I know good writing is imperative but I also firmly believe that excellent performances can really make a picture.  This film is a case in point.  Some of the plot turns don't necessarily make as much sense as they should (especially to today's audiences) but the performances make them work by bringing it all to life so realistically.
When the titles showed that it was a Preminger film, I became excited because I realized that I was in the hands of a master and I'm happy to say I was not disappointed.  I really enjoyed this film, partially just from the joy of discovering something you haven't seen and having it not suck.   Dana Andrews, the detective from Laura, plays the lead in his simple, understated but strong way.  Linda Darnell is sexier than Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice.  I was actually surprised to see this portrayal in a post-code film.  There are very strong implications to her having relations with several men that she's not married to, unusual for the time.  Another cast member from Laura is the actress who played Laura's faithful maid and who here plays Linda Darnell's downstairs neighbor.  Look for her in a scene towards the end of the film. 
I would definitely reccomend this to any Noir lover.   True, it is full of cliche's and improbabilities, but somehow this cast makes it all work.  The scene where Charles Bickford questions Bruce Cabot in Linda Darnell's kitchen is unforgettable and chilling, no matter how hackneyed.  Clearly Preminger was trying to recreate his success with Laura,  he even goes so far as to have a particular song constantly being played on the jukebox and of course, Linda Darnell strongly resembles Gene Tierney.  I wonder if he originally wanted Tierney for the role?  Does anyone know this?  By the way, the singer of that song that keeps getting played is Bing Crosby.
For some interesting additional insights, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_Angel_(1945_film)

The Reckless Moment

Although my first love will always be screwball comedies, especially of the late '30s, there are several other genres that I am interesed in.  The one thread I will try to hold to in this blog is that the films I mention will not be the best known.  There is already much written and many have seen for themselves the famous classic films.  So this blog is for those that might have been missed.  The Reckless Moment is a film noir from 1947 starring James Mason and Joan Bennett.  Joan Bennett may be most known for her role in the classic Father of the Bride in which she played the wife of Spencer Tracy and the mother of Elizabeth Taylor.  Here she is again a wife and mother of a typical American family, only this time the spotlight is on her. 

James Mason, famous for his role in Lolita, is here a soft spoken, sympathetic albeit criminal character.

Both Joan and James were stars at this time having been around for a few years.  Joan was perhaps better known, she was the sister of 30's star Constance Bennett, and had lured Edward G. Robinson to his ruin in Woman in the Window, another classic film noir from 1944.  Here she is in 1940.

 

In Reckless Moment, she plays a respectable woman faced with an impossible situation.  A man with no morals, who has tried to date her 17 year old daughter, dies accidentally after falling near her house.  In a "reckless moment" she decides to hide the body in order to protect her teenage daughter.  Enter James Mason, a suave blackmailer who in developing feelings for Bennett surprises even himself.  As usual it's the tight timing and good acting that carries the story.   As they become more entangled, the characters remain true, unlike in many films where about faces are made that don't make sense for the character or the film.  The one overactor is Geraldine Brooks, who plays the daughter a little too hysterically and never quite realistically enough.  But Mason and Bennett save the picture from fallinig apart.   A key moment is the first time Mason and Bennett meet.  Something about the way he looks at her even before he speaks lets you know that she has stirred something in him.  This is mild film noir that also manages to give a feeling for what American family life might have once been like.  Bennett, even while distracted by dead bodies and financial worries, remains the perfect mother, ever aware of her children's manner and attire.

The Rage of Paris

This a quick, fun, little-known movie with some cute performances from some Hollywood stalwarts like Helen Broderick and Mischa Auer and starring the underrated Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and the gorgeous Danielle Darrieux.  Micha Auer was the the mother's 'protege' in My Man Godfrey and Helen Broderick has been the wisecracking 'aunt' or friend in countless movies like this one including Top Hat with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  Louis Hayward is also here in what would have been the Bob Cummings role as a rich, but not too bright, playboy.

The plot is wafer thin and sounds awfully familiar, but the execution here is so precise and the whole thing floats along so quickly that one doesn't really have time to think about whether it all makes sense.   Danielle is a poor but honest French girl stuck in NY after losing her chorus job.  She tries to be a model and embarrassingly mistakes Doug Fairbanks, a wealthy businessman, for a photographer.  Subsequently she is befriended by Helen Broderick who suggests she masquerade as the "rage of Parisian society" to catch a rich husband.  Unfortunately, the man they choose, Hayward, is a friend of Fairbanks, who remembers Danielle all too well from when she tried to pose in his office.  His efforts to expose her make up the rest of the plot with of course the usual result, and all ends happily for this French "Cinderella". 
Doug Fairbanks Jr., perhaps remembered more for his swashbuckling in the 1937 version of The Prisoner of Zenda and some others roles, made excellent use of 1938, making not only this picture but Joy of Living with Irene Dunne and Having Wonderful Time with Ginger Rogers.  All three are delightful period romantic comedies, and he shines in all of them.   The late 30's was the classic romantic screwball comedy heyday and most people who know a little about this period are familiar with Bringing up Baby or My Man Godfrey.  If you like those movies you will like the ones I write about in this blog and you will probably enjoy The Rage of Paris.