ANGEL FACE is a dark and brooding film noir mystery featuring a likable, laconic Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons as the object of his love/nemesis. The story begins with paramedic Mitchum showing up as a result of a case of suspected gas poisoning, but before long he soon begins to fall in love with the victim's stepdaughter, who rekindles his love of fast cars.What follows is a brooding slow-burner of a film with murky photography and even murkier character intentions. Mitchum essentially plays the viewer's role, a newcomer to the almost Gothic mysteries surrounding this rich household, while Simmons bags a typically complex role and one she ably succeeds with. Otto Preminger's direction brings out the atmosphere of the tale while the slow-building suspense is punctuated by outbursts of sudden violence which shock the viewer to the core.

Apparently shot in 18 days to ensure Jean Simmons filmed her part while still under contract to producer Howard Hughes, this is a fine film noir with a particularly memorable ending.I wasn't sure I could believe Robert Mitchum, the king of world-weary sardonic-ism, falling so readily for the youthful charms of evil step-daughter Simmons, especially with a smart, pretty and loving girl of his own, but once I surrendered this point, it was easy, rather like Mitchum's ambulance-driver, to be persuaded to follow the plot here through to the bitter end.I actually considered both leads to be somewhat miscast in the film, Simmons effect dulled somewhat by a rather ugly helmet of a wig and the dialogue lacks the snap of a Hammett, Chandler or even a Spillane, but the narrative is intriguing and the ambivalent natures of both the main parts strangely compelling, plus, like I said there's a surprise, no make that shock ending, to finish things off with a knockout punch.Director Preminger mixes up some staple noir elements of a femme fatale, her stooge of a male admirer, sex, murder and mystery, employing big-close-ups, atmospheric lighting and crisply shot monochromatic sets, perhaps only faltering over a slightly dull, over-technical courtroom scene, and the miscasting already mentioned. Nevertheless, the story crackles along and I doubt many will anticipate the climax, which certainly caught me off-guard and yet in retrospect, delivers a finish true to the genre's often nihilistic traits.Mitchum of course is naturally very good as the ensnared Frank, the piano-playing Simmons, dressed throughout in black and white outfits, perhaps stressing the duality of her nature, a little less so.

I must dissent a bit here. While I don't think this is a bad film, to me there's just something not quite right about it.First off, about the cast. Robert Mitchum is very good here as the target of Jean Simmons' affections. Although, maybe this is what is bothering me. In the role, Mitchum's character is a pretty street-smart guy. Would he really fall for Simmons' scheming? Somehow I don't think so.Jean Simmons is interesting here. She's nuts, obsessing about killing her stepmother, but doesn't overplay the part...as is often done in this type of plot. In fact, it takes you awhile to see where she is going.The parents get a bum steer here in terms of the story. Despite being the target of Jean Simmon's hate, the mother (Diane Tremayne) gets little screen time. Likewise, the venerable Herbert Marshall (as father) gets little screen time, and has one good scene (coincidentally, I watched Marshall's appearance on "What's My Line?" after viewing this film (he appeared in 1954, and in one of his answers he alluded to having reached that point in life where he had become a character actor, rather than the star).Leon Ames, pretty much always a character actor, continues as that here as the defense attorney, although he is outdone by Jim Backus playing the prosecutor. The courtroom scenes here have been given high marks, and I tend to agree. Morgan Farley has an interesting little part as a juror.As to the story, it's a good one, although in spots -- particularly early on -- it hardly has the sophistication of Preminger's "Laura", "Stalag 17", or even "The River Of No Return". Worth watching, but it won't find its way onto my DVD shelf.

With Otto Preminger directing and Robert Mitchum as your star how can you go wrong? OK this film does take a while to get into gear, but when it does there is no shifting back into reverse. Unique great films like this one are the reason I'm doing this project to watch every single classic film noir I can get my hands on. There is no way a major Hollywood studio would ever tell a story like this today. The big Hollywood studio that produced this film was the faltering Howard Hughes-helmed RKO. The box office takings from this 1952 film certainly didn't help and the studio fell over the cliff a few years later. The 'Angel Face' of the title, Jean Simmons was under contract with RKO but wanted to bat her eyelashes for a different studio. She tried to sabotage her unwanted contract by cutting her hair short. but Hughes wasn't defeated that easily, he just forced her to wear a wig for this film.