When Kirk Bennett is convicted of a singer's murder, his wife tries to prove him innocent...aided by the victim's ex-husband.When Kirk Bennett is convicted of a singer's murder, his wife tries to prove him innocent...aided by the victim's ex-husband.When Kirk Bennett is convicted of a singer's murder, his wife tries to prove him innocent...aided by the victim's ex-husband.
Archie Twitchell
- George Mitchell
- (as Michael Branden)
Maurice St. Clair
- Dancer
- (as St. Clair)
Robert B. Williams
- Second Detective
- (as Robert Williams)
Florence Auer
- Madame
- (uncredited)
George Barrows
- Medic
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaLike 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.
- GoofsWhy didn't Marty's apartment caretaker go to the police about letting Marty back out of his room after his friend Joe had bolted him in for the night to sleep off his bender? Initially, he had no reason to suspect Marty of the crime of murdering a Mavis Marlowe, but he became aware that Marty was a suspect afterwards (and thus Marty's alibi didn't hold). He would not have been complicit in anything more than taking a quarter from Marty to be let out, the little game the two played behind Joe's back.
- 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?
- ConnectionsFeatured in Frances Farmer Presents: Black Angel (1958)
- SoundtracksHeartbreak
(uncredited)
Music by Edgar Fairchild
Lyrics by Jack Brooks
Performed on record, voice of character played by Constance Dowling (dubbed)
Featured review
An unjustly neglected noir gem
"Black Angel" (Universal, 1946) is one of the most entertaining films noir of the 1940s, that era when Hollywood discovered the genre and brought to it a high polish.
In this outstanding dark mystery, based on the novel of the same name by Cornell Woolrich, director Roy William Neill guides stars Dan Duryea and June Vincent through a byzantine plot that begins with murder and proceeds through the arrest and conviction of an innocent person, then finally ends with the true murderer being uncovered.
It sounds simple and straightforward, but Neill keeps the audience off balance throughout. Just when we think one piece of evidence will pay off, it doesn't. When we think another bit of business is benign, it turns out to be a crucial clue to the unraveling of the mystery.
Duryea and Vincent are compelling throughout, and they are supported by two excellent character actors, the always-sinister Peter Lorre and future Oscar winner Broderick Crawford.
And I like to think that with "Black Angel," Universal finally atoned for the fatal mistake it made with another Woolrich thriller, "Phantom Lady," in 1944. In the book "Phantom Lady," written by Woolrich under his pseudonym William Irish, the plot was a tightly woven murder mystery, with the revelation of the culprit coming as a surprise to all but the cleverest readers. But when the story was filmed in 1944, Universal made the outrageous decision to reveal the killer's identity to the audience from the start.
In "Black Angel," the murderer's identity is kept from the public until the end, the suspense is sustained, and the final scenes allow the audience to exhale after an hour and a half of diverting tension.
Now that "Black Angel" is available in VHS, you can enjoy one of the finest examples of American film noir on your own screen.
In this outstanding dark mystery, based on the novel of the same name by Cornell Woolrich, director Roy William Neill guides stars Dan Duryea and June Vincent through a byzantine plot that begins with murder and proceeds through the arrest and conviction of an innocent person, then finally ends with the true murderer being uncovered.
It sounds simple and straightforward, but Neill keeps the audience off balance throughout. Just when we think one piece of evidence will pay off, it doesn't. When we think another bit of business is benign, it turns out to be a crucial clue to the unraveling of the mystery.
Duryea and Vincent are compelling throughout, and they are supported by two excellent character actors, the always-sinister Peter Lorre and future Oscar winner Broderick Crawford.
And I like to think that with "Black Angel," Universal finally atoned for the fatal mistake it made with another Woolrich thriller, "Phantom Lady," in 1944. In the book "Phantom Lady," written by Woolrich under his pseudonym William Irish, the plot was a tightly woven murder mystery, with the revelation of the culprit coming as a surprise to all but the cleverest readers. But when the story was filmed in 1944, Universal made the outrageous decision to reveal the killer's identity to the audience from the start.
In "Black Angel," the murderer's identity is kept from the public until the end, the suspense is sustained, and the final scenes allow the audience to exhale after an hour and a half of diverting tension.
Now that "Black Angel" is available in VHS, you can enjoy one of the finest examples of American film noir on your own screen.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Black Angel
- Filming locations
- Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, USA(Opening establishing shot, looking East on Wilshire showing Gaylord Hotel and Little Tampico Mexican Restaurant. Specifically Wilshire Boulevard and Normandie Ave.)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 21 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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