Angel Face (AF) is probably Otto Preminger's best film noir after Laura (1944). That it turned out so well is a small Hollywood miracle. Preminger was loaned by Twentieth Century-Fox to RKO (and studio head Howard Hughes) to film a script entitled Murder Story (AF's original title). Jean Simmons was cast to play the female lead opposite Robert Mitchum. Preminger disliked the original script and Mitchum wanted out of the assignment. The picture had to be completed in 18 days, because that was the length of Simmons's remaining contractual obligation to Hughes. Simmons and Hughes were then antagonistic toward each other; she demonstrated her attitude about this by cutting her long dark hair down to its roots.
Somehow, all the stress and difficulty that accompanied this production never appeared on the screen. Simmons (cast against type) was beautiful and scary as a psychopath who hates her step-mother, and Mitchum in a sensitive and nuanced performance was perfect as the strong character who ultimately falls prey to the Simmons femme fatale. Although AF was not well received at the time of its initial release, its reputation has grown over the years and it has become a film noir cult classic.
As other reviewers have pointed out, AF has a number of plot and other similarities to The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) including the leading man's first name (Frank Jessup in AF and Frank Chambers in Postman). Another coincidence is the fact that Leon Ames played lawyers in both films (the defense attorney for Mitchum and Simmons in AF and the DA in Postman). Death by auto crash also figures prominently in both movies.
Preminger made excellent use of the good girl/bad girl plot device, and Mona Freeman was quite splendid in her few but compelling scenes as the former. Jim Backus was also effective in his brief but showy part as the prosecuting DA.
And what did Preminger finally think about the movie upon completion? As explained in The Cinema of Otto Preminger by Gerald Pratley (1971), Preminger tended to be dismissive of his films after finishing them because he was always consumed by his next project. Pratley relates an anecdote about AF that is worth repeating. Some time after AF's initial release, Preminger saw it for the first time in Paris. He admitted that he "really had forgotten most of it" upon viewing the movie. He went on to say that when he saw it "it all came back, but because it is past, I don't remember how I did it.... I just don't know why, I want to go on to something new."
AF may not have the same reputation as Laura as a film noir classic, but it is a fine example of Mitchum's and Simmons's best screen work. Don't pass it up the next time TCM chooses to show it.
Somehow, all the stress and difficulty that accompanied this production never appeared on the screen. Simmons (cast against type) was beautiful and scary as a psychopath who hates her step-mother, and Mitchum in a sensitive and nuanced performance was perfect as the strong character who ultimately falls prey to the Simmons femme fatale. Although AF was not well received at the time of its initial release, its reputation has grown over the years and it has become a film noir cult classic.
As other reviewers have pointed out, AF has a number of plot and other similarities to The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) including the leading man's first name (Frank Jessup in AF and Frank Chambers in Postman). Another coincidence is the fact that Leon Ames played lawyers in both films (the defense attorney for Mitchum and Simmons in AF and the DA in Postman). Death by auto crash also figures prominently in both movies.
Preminger made excellent use of the good girl/bad girl plot device, and Mona Freeman was quite splendid in her few but compelling scenes as the former. Jim Backus was also effective in his brief but showy part as the prosecuting DA.
And what did Preminger finally think about the movie upon completion? As explained in The Cinema of Otto Preminger by Gerald Pratley (1971), Preminger tended to be dismissive of his films after finishing them because he was always consumed by his next project. Pratley relates an anecdote about AF that is worth repeating. Some time after AF's initial release, Preminger saw it for the first time in Paris. He admitted that he "really had forgotten most of it" upon viewing the movie. He went on to say that when he saw it "it all came back, but because it is past, I don't remember how I did it.... I just don't know why, I want to go on to something new."
AF may not have the same reputation as Laura as a film noir classic, but it is a fine example of Mitchum's and Simmons's best screen work. Don't pass it up the next time TCM chooses to show it.