Black Angel (1946)

Definitely a noir and actually an apropo title for the theme of this L.A. twisty film. We get Dan Duryea(Martin Blair) in a rare good guy roll, albeit a heavy drinking piano player(and for the record I believe his piano chops are sick) as a lovelorned drunk husband trying…

pirateneckbeard

Black Angel is a tense noir that manages to lead you on for most of its runtime. It offers a suspenseful story and features a strong cast, with a charismatic Dan Duryea and a smug Peter Lorre (seriously, he plays the most badass characters, doesn't he?). From a technical…

Lara Pop

A pulpy little noir and the final film of Roy William Neill, who directed the bulk of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films. Black Angel is based on a novel by Cornell Woolrich and focuses on the common noir trope of a man falsely accused of a murder he didn't commit;…

Slig001

Not a bad little Film Noir. Short and with a nice twist at the end. But despite the short runtime the middle part drags a little and it doesn’t help that narratively, that part of the film lead nowhere. I like the cast especially Dan Duryea and there are some very cool…

Gregor Kreyca

Seeing Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man recently reminded me that I had seen Roy William Neill’s masterpiece (and, alas, final film), Black Angel, only once. It is often characterized as a minor noir but it has all of the essential elements: a wrongly accused man (with a…

noir1946

Black Angel tells the story of a woman (June Vincent) who's husband is wrongly on death row and the murdered woman's husband (Dan Duryea) working together to find the real killer. And somehow Peter Lorre figures into it also. It's a bit of an unusual story, and though you…

RetroHound

"You'd think the people in this town would have something better to do than figure out ways to get rid of each other" Swaying Underwater in a Memory Under Waves of Pain After a murder, a woman teams up with a drunk piano player/songwriter in a race against time to clear…

Jesse Snoddon

Criterion Channel rewatch thoughts: Dan Durea delivers a standout performance playing largely against type as a sympathetic figure looking for redemption in Black Angel. Peter Lorre gives a compelling turn in a supporting role and June Vincent really pulls out all the…

Chris Hughes

"It's a pretty big haystack for one little needle." I appreciate the possibilities of Dan Duryea getting top billing in a noir as much as the next devotee, so I'm glad that I gave Black Angel a try via TCM's Noir Alley screening. I have to agree with original novelist…

theironcupcake