Black Angel (1946)

When Kirk Bennett is convicted of a singer's murder, his wife tries to prove him innocent...aided by the victim's ex-husband.

Director:

Roy William Neill

Writers:

Roy Chanslor (screenplay), Cornell Woolrich (novel)

Stars:

Dan Duryea, June Vincent, Peter Lorre

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dan Duryea	...	Martin Blair
June Vincent	...	Catherine Bennett
Peter Lorre	...	Marko
Broderick Crawford	...	Capt. Flood
Constance Dowling	...	Mavis Marlowe
Wallace Ford	...	Joe
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Jake
Freddie Steele	...	Lucky
John Phillips	...	Kirk Bennett
Ben Bard	...	Bartender
Junius Matthews	...	Dr. Courtney
Marion Martin	...	Millie
Archie Twitchell	...	George Mitchell (as Michael Branden)
Maurice St. Clair	...	Dancer (as St. Clair)
Vilova	...	Dancer

Storyline

Kirk Bennett is falsely sentenced to death for killing blackmailer Mavis Marlowe, ex-wife of nice-guy drunk Martin Blair. Bennett's stand-up wife Catherine tries to prove him innocent, enlisting the aid of Blair, who falls in love with her. Bennett's execution draws near as the two pose as piano player and singer, trying to get the goods on sleazy nightclub owner Marko, a prime suspect. Failing to nail Marko, Catherine goes off to meet with her husband, scheduled to die the next morning, and Blair slips into an alcoholic stupor before the real killer is revealed.

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Plot Keywords:

alcoholic | singer | murder | brooch | suspect | 

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Taglines:

Duryea! ...that fascinating tough-guy of "Scarlet Street"!

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Genres:

Crime | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 August 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Black Angel

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in The Black Dahlia (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Tiger Rag"
(uncredited)
Written by Edwin B. Edwards, Nick LaRocca, Tony Sbarbaro, Henry Ragas and Larry Shields
Lyrics by Harry DeCosta
Performed by Wally Webb

User Reviews

drinking, murder, and music

Dan Duryea plays a pianist and songwriter who seeks shelter in a bottle whenever he gets dumped. In the opening scene, his estranged wife gives him the brush off and he goes on the first of his binges. There's a great closeup of him stumbling from one bar to the next. In the final locale, he's drunk out of his mind and banging away at a piano, and when he hits the final chord, he passes out as his head crashes down on the keyboard. Somewhere during that blurred night, we see his wife get strangled in a grisly scene where we see the hands of the killer but not the face, setting up the main plot as to who actually was the responsible party. Duryea ties the film together nicely, not an easy task given that it gets contrived in the hurry to find the murderer before an innocent man is executed. Duryea falls in love with the man's desperate wife and sets up the second round of heavy drinking when she rejects him that leads to a night in the county hospital where he goes into a surreal dream state that unlocks the mystery of the murder, all captured in vintage 40's FX. There's just enough tension here to save the film from itself, not so much the pending execution, which uses the clock on the wall and the newspaper headlines to remind us of its impending presence, but the portrayal of drinking and drunkenness which looks pretty realistic, and Duryea's performance, which remains good even in the film's laughable musical numbers in Peter Lorre's upscale night club.