Fallen Angel (1945)

A slick con man arrives in a small town looking to make some money, but soon gets more than he bargained for.

Director:

Otto Preminger

Writers:

Harry Kleiner (screen play), Marty Holland (novel)

Stars:

Alice Faye, Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Alice Faye	...	June Mills
Dana Andrews	...	Eric Stanton
Linda Darnell	...	Stella
Charles Bickford	...	Mark Judd
Anne Revere	...	Clara Mills
Bruce Cabot	...	Dave Atkins
John Carradine	...	Professor Madley
Percy Kilbride	...	Pop

Storyline

Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews), thrown off a bus for not having the fare, begins to frequent a diner called "Pop's Eats" , whose main attraction is a beautiful waitress by the name of Stella seems disinterested in Eric, he decides if he had money she would pay attention to his advances. He marries June Mills ( Alice Faye ) for her money, and Stella is mysteriously murdered. Even though June learns of Eric's dishonest plans, she still loves him. It is with her support that he investigates the killing on his own, eventually discovering the shocking identity of the real killer.

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Plot Keywords:

drifter | police violence | deception | small town | con man | 

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Taglines:

The creator of "Laura" does it again!

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Genres:

Crime | Film-Noir | Mystery | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 March 1946 (Argentina)

Also Known As:

¿Ángel o diablo?

Filming Locations:

409 N Shaffer Street, Orange, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While on their date, Dana Andrews and Alice Faye exit a movie theater and walk past a Rexall Pharmacy. Beginning less than a year after the film was released, Faye would co-star on a weekly radio show with her husband Phil Harris, sponsored by Rexall.

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Goofs

Among the works listed on the church reader board for June Mills's upcoming organ recital are a Stabat Mater by Beethoven and a Requiem by Brahms. Beethoven never wrote a Stabat Mater, and the only Requiem by Brahms is a massive choral work, highly unlikely to be played as an organ solo.

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Quotes

Joe Ellis: Get in.
Eric Stanton: I'm not going.
Professor Madley: Not going? What's wrong?
Eric Stanton: Nothing. You go ahead. I'll meet you.
Professor Madley: But Eric - we need you for the advance publicity. San Francisco's a tough town on spooks.
Joe Ellis: Come on! hit 'em like the earthquake!
Eric Stanton: When I feel like it. I made it clear to you when I took this job. You can't tie me down. Cramps my style. I always work best when a certain feeling comes over me, and right now I haven't got it.
Joe Ellis: [under his breath] Genius!
Professor Madley: Eric my boy, you're an artist. You have my sympathy. And a bus ...

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits appear on the screen as a series of road signs seen through the windshield of a bus driving at night time.

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Connections

Referenced in Altered Carbon: Fallen Angel (2018)

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Soundtracks

Slowly
Music by David Raksin
Lyrics by Kermit Goell
Sung by Dick Haymes (uncredited)

User Reviews

Preminger at his Prime

Those who continue to place the over-rated Otto Preminger in the pantheon of great film auteurs can certainly point to this stylish film as a splendid example of this erratic director's talent at its prime. Before Preminger became famous as the self-promoting independent director/producer of controversial, censorship-busting films, he was under contract to Fox studios where he had the good fortune to be surrounded by many of the gifted technicians Zanuck had hired --foremost among them the staff cinematographer Joe LaShelle (Oscar for "Laura") whose shadowy lighting and inventive long moving camera takes add enormously to the "noir" atmosphere of this film. As always, there is no way to tell whether LaShelle or Preminger came up with these images, but they are exceptional. What's more, the film is perfectly cast down to the smallest role: Linda Darnell is particularly effective as the slutty tough girl who knows what she wants; and Alice Faye, having put on a little weight since her Don Ameche musical days, looks and acts exactly like a lonely and desperate woman of a certain age who can't help loving the wrong man. Unfortunately, the plot has even more holes in it than the average swiss-cheese film noir of its day, but if you are willing to suspend lots and lots of disbelief this film has many wonderful atmospheric moments. Today lots of people think that Preminger was a consummate cinematic con-artist. In this film, for once, the artist outweighed the con.