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By
NICK ZEGARAC
A sexy singer, an ex lover
and a dutiful wife: classic film noir lover's
triangle tinged with a race against time and
singed in sparkling performances from a stellar
cast.
In "Black Angel" femme fatale chanteuse Mavis
Marlowe (Constance Dowling) turns up dead. Kirk
Bennett (John Phillips) who used to be her lover
seems the natural choice for the police's prime
suspect and their latest blackmail victim. No one
believes Kirk's story -- it is a little hard to
swallow -- that he found Mavis already a goner on
the floor of her apartment. However, when Kirk is
sentenced to death, his long-suffering,
too-good-to-be-true wife, Catherine (June Vincent)
begins to investigate the crime for answers of her
own. She's aided by Martin Blair (Dan Duryea)
Mavis' husband. The film is riddled with rich
curiosities of character; Kirk's philandering
innocence, Mavis' evil vixen turned victim,
Catherine's never wavering devotion to her wayward
hubby and Blair's nonchalant, noncommittal
dedication to discovering who really killed his
wife. At one point Blair even goes so far as to
offer himself as Kirk's replacement, should
salvation not come in time to spare him from the
electric chair. It must be love! An outstanding
cameo comes by way of Peter Lorre as Marco, the
always spurious, never to be trusted seedy
nightclub owner who happened to visit Mavis
Marlowe on the night she bought the farm. It
should be pointed out however, that the suspense
of finding the killer gets somewhat diffused in
the process and never quite reaches the par
excellence caliber of say, "The Asphalt Jungle" or
"Laura."
Another solid effort from Universal. The transfer
is remarkably solid and clean. The gray scale is
very well balanced with deep solid blacks and
whites that are almost pristine. There's a hint
film grain and some age related artifacts. Also,
some edge enhancement and pixelization occur as
well but nothing that will distract. The audio is
mono and very well represented. There are no
extras on this disc. Nevertheless, it is a good
disc to add to your library of classic cinema. |
