Black Angel – Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[t1g3r5fan]

Though he’s mostly overlooked and forgotten today, director Roy William Neill was one of Hollywood’s prolific directors during their formative years; over the course of four decades, he made over 100 films, the most notable being 12 of the 14 Sherlock Holmes movies starring Basil Rathbone, The Black Room (1935), and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). Made right at the end of his career, Black Angel was one of the movies that helped to launch the burgeoning genre of film noir after WWII. Previously released on DVD by Universal, Arrow has licensed the film for Blu-ray release as part of their Academy line.



Black Angel (1946)



Released: 02 Aug 1946
Rated: Passed
Runtime: 81 min




Director: Roy William Neill
Genre: Adventure, Crime, Film-Noir, Music, Mystery, Thriller



Cast: Dan Duryea, June Vincent, Peter Lorre, Broderick Crawford...

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[Robert Crawford]

t1g3r5fan submitted a new blog post

Black Angel - Blu-ray Review

Continue reading the Original Blog Post.

Thanks for the fine review now I have to watch my Blu-ray again because I didn't notice that authoring error so I need to double-check.

 

[Robin9]

I've been holding fire on ordering this disc until the situation regarding the two discs has stabilized. I notice there's an Arrow sale on. Now might be the time to buy.

I love the film although, having read the novel, I understand why Cornell Woolrich was unhappy. The back cover of my paperback reads: Her husband calls her Angel Face - but when they arrest him for the murder of his "mistress" she turns into a dark angel of death. To prove her husband innocent, she descends into the black world of drugs, prostitution and gambling, bringing doom and destruction to all she meets . . . Purple prose and a bit of an exaggeration, but it gives a general idea of why, when uploading June Vincent into the Blondes thread, I said the film could be remade today to advantage.

I agree that this is probably the best role June Vincent ever played.

 

[lark144]

June Vincent, in this film, has an almost stoic, Bressonian kind of reserve, which immeasurably helps sell her character. It also helps to create a dream-like quality to the film, in which everything is slowed-down and floating, which is part of the original novel. I'm assuming Roy William Neil had something to do with this.

btw, great review! I was going to pass on this because of the stretching, but am happy to hear Arrow has addressed this matter.

 

[RBailey]

It's a B-western from 1952 but June Vincent turns in a nice performance in William Witney's COLORADO SUNDOWN, a Rex Allen - Slim Pickens Republic picture.

 

[mackjay]

Enjoyable film, and review! Is this the only film noir in which the composer Shostakovich is mentioned?

 

[Traveling Matt]

I'm looking into getting this on the secondary market and am curious if there's any way to tell if I'm ordering the corrected disc or not. The link for the replacement program above is a 404 error now. Anyone know?