Fallen Angel (1945)

June Mills (Alice Faye) and her sister Clara live a quiet life in a small coastal town until Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews), a smooth-talking con man, comes into their lives. He seems to fall hard for June but Clara believes he?s only interested in the family fortune. Meanwhile, sultry waitress Stella (Linda Darnell) catches Stanton's fancy and thinks he might be her ticket out of town. The local cop (Charles Bickford) knows more than he's telling about his fellow citizens and their tangled relationships which draw even tighter after a shocking murder.

Great Atmospheric FIlm Noir with Dana Andrews

Excellent atmospheric Film Noir. Great cast Dana Andrews,John Carradine,Alice Faye, Linda Darnell. Dana is looking to marry Alice Faye for her money so he can ultimately leave her for Linda Darnell. But someone who is interested in Linda Darnell kills her because he couldn't have her. I thoroughly enjoyed the mood, the characters & Dana looking for ways to make a lot of money. I found the lack of music very creepy in a good way. Check this one out. Good to watch on a nice cold day with some hot coffee,tea or cocoa :) December 8, 2008

Film Noir

Seeing Alice Faye in something other than a musical was rare. She did a fine job along with Fox's male lead Dana Andrews. Linda Darnell plays a floozie and almost steals the picture. Add Charles Bickford, Anne Revere and Percy Kilbride in supporting roles and direction by Otto Preminger and you have an exellent thriller. November 30, 2008

OTTO PREMINGER, OPUS 9

****1/2 1945. Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, FALLEN ANGEL was based on Marty Holland's Fallen Angel. Walton, California. Eric Stanton is accused of the murder of Stella, a waitress he was attracted to. One year after Laura (Fox Film Noir), Preminger tells us once again the story of a woman adulated by all the men she meets and who becomes the source of a drama. The first apparition of Linda Darnell in Pop's coffee shop is unforgettable and Dana Andrews's cynical personification of Eric Stanton is the undeniable proof that, without this actor, the film noir genre in Hollywood movies wouldn't have been quite the same. Highly recommended. May 21, 2008

Kudos to Alice Faye in an unusual part

What this film lacks in suspense during the first half, it makes up for in the last 30 minutes. The lens of cameraman Joseph LaShelle coupled with the expertise of Otto Preminger's direction makes for a visually intriguing film -- easy on the eye and darkly atmospheric. The nice surprise is the performance of Alice Faye. Although her character seems to be robbed of screen time in the early portions, once the action moves to San Francisco, Faye's complexity and motivation makes for one of her best performances. I've read where Faye claims that many of her scenes were deleted to build up Linda Darnell's part. This may explain the film's slow start. Darnell establishes her one-dimensional character with relish and does well, but her scenes seem repititious after awhile. Dana Andrews' role suffers from focusing too much on his repellent nature and not enough on his inner conflicts. Overemphasis on Darnell and Andrews' relationship is the film's one drawback. This effects the tempo of the overall production. Still, it is great to see this overlooked noir get a second chance. (Scott O'Brien - author of "Kay Francis - I Can't Wait to be Forgotten") January 2, 2008

Fallen Angel

The film commentary on Fallen Angel is worth watching after the movie. It is a discussion between a noir film expert and the daughter of Dana Andrews and tells you that Dana Andrews used to teach his daughter how to walk tall, that Otto Preminger sets up three elements in every scene, that two of the main stars were alcoholics and knew the kind of characters they were playing from the inside, among other things. But the film doesn't really stand up on its own because the women are split evenly into 'good' and 'bad' and even Dana cannot make them believable. December 29, 2007

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