FALLEN ANGEL

 In 1944 director Otto Preminger and actor Dana Andrews combined to great effect with the film 'Laura', so I guess it's no surprise that the following year they got together again for another crime film.

In 'Laura', Andrews played a police detective who falls in love with a woman whom he's never met and whom he presumes has been murdered, only to discover that she is alive, whereas in this film he plays a drifter, Eric, who falls in love with a woman who's very much alive, only for her to be murdered.

The woman in question is a diner waitress, Stella, played by Linda Darnell who possessed the kind of sultry beauty that was big in the 1940s. Eric is so taken with her that he wants to marry her but for that he's going to need some big money.  No problem because even though he's only been in town a few days he's a bit of a charmer, and he already has his eye on June, who is rich, plays the church organ and reads books.

After just a couple of days Eric has romanced June so well that she agrees to a spur-of-the-moment wedding, only for Eric to desert her on their wedding night because he needs to tell Stella the good news about how he now has plenty of money at his disposal. However the key fact as far as she is concerned is that he is now married, and so despite his promising to get it annulled they have a row.

Next day it turns out that Stella was murdered in the early hours of the morning, with Eric a prime suspect.  He decides it's time to get away but to his surprise (and mine) June insists on accompanying him.

Out of the blue Eric does some nifty detective work off-camera so that he can hand over to the police the real murderer, another customer of the diner who had the hots for Stella. With Eric cleared the film ends on an upbeat note, it being implied that he and June will be happy together.

At the risk of stating the obvious this story strains credulity in several ways, such as the speed with which June marries Eric, and that she would be so forgiving of his treatment of her.

The way in which Eric is able to solve the murder so easily is so implausible that it comes across as just a contrived way to wrap the film up quickly.  

Andrews wasn't impressed with the script and had to be forced to make the film.  Even so he turns in a professional performance but Eric's relationship never catches fire, which could be said of the film overall which starts off as a film noir, but then suddenly takes a quite unexpected direction.

Darnell got well-deserved praise for her portrayal of Stella, and she went on to work four more times with Preminger.  

June is played by Alice Kaye who was trying to transition to dramatic roles.  She was so annoyed that a lot of her scenes were left on the cutting room floor that it was many years before she made another film.  Which is a bit of a shame because I think she does a great job of making June a believable and sympathetic character, and it is her relationship with Eric which I found most interesting. 

The black-and-white cinematography is very pleasing on the eye, and Preminger directs competently although I feel that he should have found a way to make the news of Stella's murder more dramatic than he does.

Although the structure of the story leaves something to be desired the dialogue is fine so that the film is quite an enjoyable watch.