Angel face (1953) - lesser known film noir directed by Otto Preminger, starring Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Mona Freeman, Barbara O'Neil, Herbert Marshall and Leon Ames
Rating 7.2/10
Runtime: 91 min
Language: English
Country: USA
Directed by: Otto Preminger
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044357/
Cast
Robert Mitchum ... Frank Jessup
Jean Simmons ... Diane Tremayne Jessup
Mona Freeman ... Mary Wilton
Herbert Marshall ... Mr. Charles Tremayne
Leon Ames ... Fred Barrett
Barbara O'Neil ... Mrs. Catherine Tremayne
Kenneth Tobey ... Bill Crompton
Raymond Greenleaf ... Arthur Vance
Description: In California, the ambulance driver Frank Jessup and his partner head to a mansion in Beverly Hills to assist the millionaire Mrs. Catherine Tremayne that was poisoned with gas, but her doctor had already medicated her. When Frank is leaving the house, he meets Catherine's twenty year-old stepdaughter Diane Tremayne that follows him in her Jaguar. After-hours, they go to a restaurant and Frank finds an excuse to his girlfriend Mary Wilton to not visit her and he dates Diane and they go to a night-club. Diane has a crush on Frank and on the next morning, she meets Mary and tells to her what Frank and she did. Frank and Mary are saving money to open a garage since he is an efficient mechanic. Diane convinces Frank to be better paid working as a chauffeur for her family. Soon Frank learns that Diane hates her stepmother and he decides to quit his job. But Diane seduces him and he stay with the Tremayne family. When Mr. and Mrs. Tremayne have a fatal car accident, Diane and Frank become the prime suspect of the police and they go to court charged of murder. Now their only chance is the strategy of the efficient defense attorney Fred Barrett.
Screens:
https://workupload.com/file/khxjJkvthYM
Also extra material included:
* One Moment's Inattention – Otto Preminger's "Angel Face" - Tag Gallagher's 26-minutes video-essay from 2005, released as an extra on the Kinowelt DVD edition of Preminger's movie. The inattentive moment from the title refers to Robert Mitchum's falling to the spell of Jean Simmons which will complice him into a story of jealousy and murder. Gallagher's video starts with fast paced provision of the production's context. See the following quotes from the introductory scenes:
Howard Hughes was an excentric billionaire who had bought the RKO-studio in order to date Hollywood acresses. He bought Jean Simmons’ contract from J. Arthur Rank, for whom she had made Hamlet. ›Hughes just wanted to screw her‹, said her husband, Stewart Granger, so Jean Simmons, after a violent quarrel with Hughes, grabbed a pair of scissors and cut her hair to the roots, knowing Hughes despised short hair on women. Only 18 days remained of her contract. Hughes phoned Otto Preminger at 3 o’clock in the morning and drove him around Los Angeles in his battered old Chevrolet begging him to direct Jean Simmons in »Murder Story«, a script Preminger had already rejected as Scheiße. [...] Hughes told Preminger: ›I’m going to get even with that little bitch, you’re the only director I can rely on to complete her role in 18 days. Look, you walk into the studio tomorrow morning like Hitler. It’s yours. [...] All I want to see is the Lady wearing a wig of long, beautiful black hair.«
Video and audio information:
Video : 2.45 GB, 3812 Kbps, 23.976 fps, 790x576 (1.37:1), V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC x264 core 164
Audio : 59/125 (main/commentary), 91/192 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 2/2 channels, 0x55 = AAC/AC3, CBR/CBR
Subtitles (English hearing impaired closed captions embedded, to play them choose Subtitle=>Sub Track in VLC Player and separate English (including hearing impaired), Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Finnish, Serbian, Czech) posters and screenshots included
Double audio track information
This movie contains two audio tracks, one is original English and other is commentary by film noir historian and TCM host Eddie Muller. You can use VLC Player to easily choose between any of audio tracks (Audio => Audio track and switch to main audio track on Track 1, additional track on Track 2)
