1952
Directed by Otto Preminger
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Today was just a great day. I had to go into work on a Saturday. I also came to the realization that I am officially the only one of my friends that is single. And worst of all, THERE IS NO ICE CREAM IN MY HOUSE!
It is 4:23 and I have taken to my bed where I will spend my Saturday night watching so many movies that by the end, I will no longer know what reality is anymore.
Let's start with Angel Face (which is currently available in full on YouTube). This is a pretty standard film noir. Woman is evil but sexy. Man falls in love with evil woman. Evil woman gets stupid man to commit crime. Dire consequences. Dah dah dah!!!!
It seems weird that these movies are still coming out; I thought we said goodbye to them when we said goodbye to the fifties. This is not to say these films are bad, they are all just extremely similar. However, I really liked this movie even though I know it will fade quickly from my memory. Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons were both incredible leads. I guess the other thing that distinguishes this film is the boldness of it. For one thing, there are a couple of sexual innuendoes that I feel like no one would have gotten away with in the 40s. In addition, we have one of the most violent scenes shown in cinema so far, which I will not talk about because it is a spoiler.
Not super original but still a lot of fun.
RATING: ****-
Interesting Facts:
Mitchum slapped Preminger across the face because he was so sick of retakes. Preminger begged Howard Hughes to fire Mitchum but he refused.
Simmons wore a wig throughout the film. That explains the bangs.
Preminger did more or less whatever he liked to do and as far as I know was the first A-movie director to ditch the Hay's code. That alone makes his movies interesting.
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