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 (based on novel by)

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	...	Police Captain 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.

---

Plot Keywords:

dubbed singing | drunken stupor | strangler | posing as a piano player | posing as a singer | 

---

Taglines:

HATING HER -YET FASCINATED BY HER...HE HAD TO BE RID OF HER! (reissue three-sheet poster-all caps)

---

Genres:

Adventure | Crime | Film-Noir | Music | Mystery | Thriller

---

Did You Know?

Trivia

Like her character Mavis, Constance Dowling would die at a relatively young age. She passed away at age 49 due to cardiac arrest. The same fate would befall her son Peter Tors, who died in 1998 at age 41.

---

Goofs

When Mr. Marko is talking on the telephone with George Mitchell, the columnist, he hangs up the phone while he is still talking to him. Mr. Marko says the words "Be seeing you" as he is placing the receiver in the cradle.

---

Quotes

Catherine Bennett: I had to see you.
Martin Blair: Why... because I had a wife who needed killing and you had a husband who took care of it?

---

Connections

Referenced in The Black Dahlia (2006)

---

Soundtracks

Time Will Tell
(uncredited)
Music by Edgar Fairchild
Lyrics by Jack Brooks
Performed by June Vincent (dubbed) with Dan Duryea

User Reviews

Mr. Duryea's Better Side

It wasn't that Dan Duryea never played nice people. He could be typecast as an evil villain most of the time, but occasionally he got cast as a nice guy. The best examples of this is the movie executive in KATHIE O (1958), who helps a young child actress save her normal life from her mother's clutches, and this film, where he tries to help a condemned man's wife prove the man is innocent. The chief suspect is a crooked nightclub owner (Peter Lorre), and Duryea and the young lady attempt to get the proof to convince a police detective (Broderick Crawford) that Lorre did the the crime. Duryea (a musician) is the boyfriend of the murdered woman, and has an interest in finding the perpetrator. And he does at the end, but at considerable cost.

A superior film noir, and well worth the watching.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 August 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

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