Angel Face (1953)

I liked Anger Face. But for once, I'd rather have seen someone other than Robert Mitchum as the male lead. He tends to dominate his scenes to such an extent that the other characters, except for Jean Simmon's Diane, end up as a backdrop of wallflowers.Frank's role calls out for a more nuanced, less self-assured presence, maybe a Dana Andrews or Richard Widmark. Mitchum definitely brings his wry humor and maverick attitude to the role; but that has the effect of mitigating the noir suspense and atmosphere with an almost comic slant. I agree with the reviewer who feels that Barbara O'Neil's and Herbert Marshall's characters are two-dimensional and uninteresting. It's Mitchum's love interests who animate the plot.As it is, Frank's spin between Mary and Diane makes little sense. Mary has the obvious good nature and girl-next-door prettiness that would seems such a better match for the everyman Frank than Diane, who has only wealth. Okay, she's certainly attractive too, but seems incredibly immature compared to Mary, and looks young enough to be Frank's daughter. Plus there's the little matter of needing her parents dead in order for her to realize her wealth.Why would Mitchum be eager to take up with Simmons when she obviously hates the stepmother for no good reason, and he suspects, based on the opening sequence, that she has tried already to kill her? He has plenty of opportunities to go back to Mary, but ultimately burns his bridges. Mary's right that he can't expect her to drop everything, including her new boyfriend/fiancee, just because he becomes available. Frank's last scene with Mary seems stiff and formal from his perspective; he's forvever lost the casual familiarity she now shares with Frank's former friend and coworker.There's two possibilities for Frank: either he's 'fallen between two stools' by losing both women, or he really doesn't care that much for relationships anyway. That explains his last-minute decision to split to Mexico. And that puts Diane in the driver's seat, literally, just long enough for her to kill both of them.That leads us to Simmon's character. If we accept that she's a budding sociopath, then the murder/suicide makes some sense. If she can't have Mitchum, then no one will. Still, since sociopaths are inherently selfish, wouldn't she want to live? Also, If she's just having a sudden nuts/jealous impulse, why not kill just him? At least there was a point to setting up her stepmom's murder. She gets closer to the family money.On the technical side, Angel Face hits on all cylinders: both of the car crashes follow-through with the actual car (first the Chrysler, then the Jaguar) tumbling down the hill, not the usual substitute-a-jalopy-for-the-expensive-car deal. Even better, in the courtroom scene when the engine from the wrecked Chrysler is used as evidence, we get an authentic and properly banged-up early Chrysler hemi.Anyway, a watchable but not-so-noir film noir. There's an interesting plot, which, as others have pointed out, shows up in better company in other noir thrillers. I was disappointed enough with the way the cast interacted, or rather failed to interact convincingly, to rate Angel Face higher. Good title, though.

Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, with a screenplay by Oscar Millard and Frank Nugent that was based on a Chester Erskine story, this slightly above average crime drama film-noir features Robert Mitchum as working class Frank Jessup and Jean Simmons (in the title role) as Diane Tremayne, a seemingly sweet 'debutante' daddy's girl who's used to getting what she wants.After her mother was killed in Lorraine, France during a World War II bombing, Diane's novelist father Charles (Herbert Marshall) remarried the wealthy Catherine (Barbara O'Neil); they moved to the States where he stopped writing, becoming a henpecked husband dependent on her money. Some nine years later, Diane now feels neglected by her father and controlled by her step-mother, a situation she's compelled to change by using Mitchum's character.The film opens with ambulance drivers Jessup and Bill Crompton (Kenneth Tobey) being called to the Tremayne estate where it's suspected that Catherine has just tried to commit suicide with her fireplace's gas, despite the fact that she claims someone's tried to murder her. While leaving the residence, Frank meets Diane, who's playing the piano and acting forlorn, even hysterical. She later follows him to a restaurant where she charms him into cancelling his date with his steady girlfriend Mary Wilton (Mona Freeman) and the two enjoy an evening of dining and dancing. Diane learns that Frank is a former race-car driver and is working odd jobs while trying to save enough to open his own garage. The next day, Diane invites Mary to lunch and tells her that she wants to help them by giving Frank $1,000 for his future plans. Mary sees through Diane's manipulation and is later angry with Frank for lying to her about the previous evening. Still, Diane convinces Catherine, a notoriously poor driver, into hiring Frank as their family's chauffeur.But after some time living over the garage and witnessing Diane's ways, even dim-witted Frank sees that something's not right and suspects he's being used by her as part of a larger scheme. However, she's able to convince him to stay a little longer, to contemplate taking her away with him. Shortly thereafter, she executes her plan, successfully killing her step-mother Catherine when her car accelerates in reverse off an embankment. Unfortunately, she'd also accidentally killed her father in the process, which causes her to have a mental breakdown. Since Diane's suitcase was found in Frank's room, both are accused of murder. A clever defense attorney, Fred Barrett (Leon Ames), convinces Diane not to confess to the crime, that Frank too would be incarcerated. He also persuades Frank to marry Diane to explain the suitcase as part of their planned elopement. He then successfully battles District Attorney Judson (Jim Backus) in the trial to prove reasonable doubt exists, that a cotter pin could have failed, such that the rendered verdict is "not guilty".Diane then learns that her husband Frank doesn't want her; he wants to try to go back to Mary, but learns that she is engaged to Bill. Meanwhile, Diane insists that lawyer Barrett record her confession of guilt, but he informs her that, due to double-jeopardy, she can't be convicted of the crime. She returns home feeling there's no reason to live, but is then excited to see that Frank is there too. However, he is packing and planning to head to Mexico to get away from her. She insists on taking him to the bus station and he reluctantly agrees. She has champagne in the car and asks him to pour them one last drink. She starts the car forward causing him to spill it, he snaps at her and then she snaps - she throws the car in reverse and jams on the accelerator, hurling them backwards off the same embankment and killing them both, as the story ends.

As the movie opens, an ambulance is responding to an accident--or an attempted murder, or a suicide—at the mansion of the wealthy Catherine Tremayne (Catherine O'Neil). One of the drivers is Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum). After a brief police investigation of her husband (Herbert Marshall) and stepdaughter Diane (Jean Simmons), the case is essentially closed as an accident. As Frank leaves the house, he meets Diane and briefly talks to her. She then follows him to a coffee shop and tries to win him over by various ploys. One ploy is to get her stepmother to invest a in garage with Frank—he is a former sports car driver and seems to love Diane's Jaguar!! Finally, she talks him into becoming the family chauffeur—even though they really don't need one. In sprite of her attempts to manipulate him, Frank is no fool: he sees right through her. One day, as Diane's stepmother starts to go to her bridge club, her father asks his wife for a ride into town. As the two drive away, the car sticks in reverse and plunges over a cliff killing the two instantly. Following this, Diane—who had been devoted to her father--is hospitalized for depression. Frank is tired and convicted of rigging the car. Thanks to their clever lawyer (Leon Ames), Frank is acquitted by marrying Diane. Once acquitted, the two are left alone with each other. Frank leaves Diane for his old girlfriend. When Diane is left alone, she wants to plead guilty to the double murder but can't legally do it.This movie has so many elements in common with The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) where Leon Ames also plays the clever lawyer—that it basically seems like a poor remake of it and it's even better predecessor, Ossessione (1943). Is Simmons is the femme fatal of this film noir, she gives a strange performance as a young sociopath who adores her father and hates her stepmother. The fact that her motives seem unclear for these feelings made the plot confusing and unconvincing If anything saves this movie at all, it is the cool and steady performance from Robert Mitchum.

In California, the ambulance driver Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum) and his partner head to a mansion in Beverly Hills to assist the millionaire Mrs. Catherine Tremayne (Barbara O'Neil) 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 (Jean Simmons) that follows him in her Jaguar. After-hours, they go to a restaurant and Frank finds an excuse to his girlfriend Mary Wilton (Mona Freeman) 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 (Leon Ames)."Angel Face" is among the best film-noir I have seen, with a perfect female fatale, amoral story and dark conclusion. Jean Simmons is impressive, with Oedipus complex and her angel face that manipulates Frank and even her stepmother. The melancholic music score completes this great movie. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Alma em Pânico" ("Soul in Panic")