Fallen Angel (1945)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Otto Preminger

Writers:

Marty Holland (novel)
Harry Kleiner (writer)

Release Date:

5 December 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

The creator of "Laura" does it again!

Plot:

Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews), thrown off a bus for not having the fare, begins to frequent a diner called "Pop's Eats" ...

Plot Keywords:

Cheap Hotel | Jukebox | Sister Sister Relationship | Beautiful Woman | Diner

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dorothy Adams	...	Stella's Neighbor (uncredited)
Herbert Ashley	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Matthew 'Stymie' Beard	...	Shoeshine Boy (uncredited)
Betty Boyd	...	Bank Clerk (uncredited)
Paul E. Burns	...	News Vendor (uncredited)
Chick Collins	...	2nd Bus Driver (uncredited)
Jimmy Conlin	...	Walton Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	Extra (uncredited)
Gus Glassmire	...	San Francisco Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
William Haade	...	1st Bus Driver (uncredited)
Dick Haymes	...	Himself, Juke Box Vocalist (uncredited)
Olin Howland	...	Joe Ellis (uncredited)
Adele Jergens	...	Woman in audience (uncredited)
Tiny Jones	...	Audience Extra (uncredited)
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Bank Guard (uncredited)
Leila McIntyre	...	Bank Clerk (uncredited)
Mira McKinney	...	Mrs. Judd (uncredited)
Dave Morris	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Horace Murphy	...	Sheriff (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Audience Extra (uncredited)
Broderick O'Farrell	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Garry Owen	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Paul Palmer	...	Detective (uncredited)
Harry Strang	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Brick Sullivan	...	Honky Tonk Dance Extra (uncredited)
Hal Taggart	...	Extra (uncredited)
Hal Taliaferro	...	Gus Johnson - Police Officer (uncredited)
Max Wagner	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Martha Wentworth	...	Hotel Maid (uncredited)

Directed by
Otto Preminger

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Marty Holland		novel
Harry Kleiner		writer

Produced by
Otto Preminger	....	producer

Original Music by
David Raksin

Cinematography by
Joseph LaShelle

Film Editing by
Harry Reynolds

Art Direction by
Leland Fuller
Lyle R. Wheeler		(as Lyle Wheeler)

Set Decoration by
Helen Hansard
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Bonnie Cashin

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tom Dudley	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Bernard Freericks	....	sound
Harry M. Leonard	....	sound

Special Effects by
Fred Sersen	....	special photographic effects

Music Department
Emil Newman	....	musical director

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1945) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (1949) (France) (theatrical)
• Teakwood Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #10940)

Filming Locations:

Orange, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Alice Faye, married to Phil Harris and raising two young daughters, then tiring after nearly a dozen years of hectic moving-making, and disappointed with the outcome of this release, chose to leave Twentieth Century-Fox before her contract expired. Eventually, she would return to work at the studio once, playing the mother role in a bland filming of Rodgers and Hammerstein's State Fair (1962). Originally, Miss Faye had turned down the band-singer part in the more satisfying 1945 version.

Quotes:

June Mills: I need you, Eric.
Eric Stanton: [sarcastically] You need me, right.
June Mills: You're my husband, and I'm your wife.
Eric Stanton: Right out of a book, again.
June Mills: Yes, out of a book: "We were born to tread the earth as angels, to seek out heaven this side of the sky. But they who race above shall stumble in the dark, and fall from grace."
Eric Stanton: Go on. Sounds good.
June Mills: "Then love alone can make the fallen angel rise. For only two together can enter Paradise."

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Biography: Linda Darnell: Hollywood's Fallen Angel" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Paducah

Preminger does noir with a Fox cast

Otto Preminger used 20th Century Fox stars - Alice Faye, Linda Darnell, and Dana Andrews for "Fallen Angel," a film noir about a drifter who falls for a sultry waitress.

Since Linda Darnell's heyday was the 1940s, and she has now been dead for 40 years, her name doesn't appear on lists of all time beauties, but she was surely one of the most beautiful women ever to appear in films. Here she plays the object of many mens' affections, Stella, a slutty waitress in a coffee shop. Dana Andrews, passing through town, becomes obsessed with her, and in order to get money, he marries the wealthy Faye. He promises Darnell that he will rip off Faye and her sister to give Darnell the life she wants. Then Darnell ends up murdered, and Andrews becomes an instant suspect.

One thing about noir films that has always troubled me is the ease with which women fall for these nasty guys after about three seconds. It happens here as well, with Faye just gone on Andrews after one date.

The genre has been done better, but still, the film holds one's interest and is well done if not exciting. Apparently the ravaging it received by the critics caused Alice Faye to leave film work for some time. It was a nontraditional dramatic turn for her, and apparently some of her scenes were cut in favor of Darnell.

Despite it not being Preminger's best, it's worth a look.