244. Angel Face (1952)

Directed By Otto Preminger

Synopsis

Tsk, women drivers.

Review

In this cautionary about the dangers of letting a woman take the wheel, Otto Preminger graces us with what is really a reworking of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Mitchum is a regular guy who dreams of having a garage who falls in love by an alluring girl and it all ends badly, but not before they are acquitted of the crime she committed.

That said I found this film just as riveting as Postman, Preminger is particularly good at shooting car crashes and there are two of the most violent scenes in cinema history up until now in the two great car crashes here, and for some reason I just love Robert Mitchum (actually it is probably because of Night Of The Hunter, but we'll get there eventually).

So a very good late noir film, a classic that you should watch and try not to make to many comparison with Postman or it can start getting a bit annoying. Still the voyeuristic qualities of the car crashes are really the best about this film, that and the great soundtrack.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

The film today receives mostly positive reviews. Dave Kehr from the Chicago Reader writes: "The sets, characters, and actions are extremely stylized, yet Preminger's moving camera gives them a frightening unity and fluidity, tracing a straight, clean line to a cliff top for one of the most audacious endings in film history."

Well the only video of the film on Yourtube can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbdlAqsPXCI

embedding is disabled, spoil-sports.