Directed by Otto Preminger. Written by Frank S. Nugent and Oscar Millard
Few things are as aptly titled as Angel Face, a seemingly innocent film noir that proves itself capable of incredible savagery as an earnest ambulance driver gets involved with a younger, seemingly innocent woman.
Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum) is working at a hospital, trying to save up to start his own exotic car repair shop, and he’s dating his supportive, caring sweetheart Mary (Mona Freeman). One call sees him pull up at a mansion wherein a wealthy woman claims someone tried to murder her, only she was saved by her husband, a famous writer who hasn’t written anything in years.
While leaving, Frank sees Diane (Jean Simmons), the writer’s daughter, playing a mournful tune on the piano, upset by what almost happened to her stepmother. Frank comforts her and leaves, but Diane gets into her sports car and follows Frank’s ambulance, keen on involving herself in his life.
The people in Otto Preminger’s movie seem like solid, upstanding people. Frank, certainly. Diane’s father is a loving man to both his daughter and his wife. Even the rich stepmother, played by Barbara O’Neill, does seem sincere, if a little overbearing. Diane works hard to realize Frank’s dream, and in general, people get along.
This doesn’t sound like a film noir, and much of it takes place by the light of day. That’s also what makes Angel Face a striking counterpoint and expansion of what the genre’s capable of, portraying a dark heart with few of the genre tropes to lean on, delving instead into the look of innocence and the sordid behavior that hides just below.
Jean Simmons is a shark in the water, steadily getting closer and closer with inscrutable eyes until it’s too late and calamity strikes. She’s the disturbing sound that echoes around the house, the unsettling feeling that creeps up your neck when your back is turned. She’s not your usual film noir femme fatale, far more innocent, a lot less predictable, and she’s the sensation of Angel Face, the power and presence of her performance that lights its fire.
Robert Mitchum, no stranger to the genre, is on foreign soil as Frank Jessup, however. A strong man, a wise man often, hip to what’s afoot and unbothered, and never one to be caught unawares, Mitchum’s acting persona was one of resourceful strong man, even in roles where he comes up short. That gets upended as Frank, who despite feeling, and even seeming, in control at times, never is.
His insouciance and her insistence is such a curious and spellbinding combo in Angel Face that you get blindsided by its more action-packed elements, which are ferocious. Much of the tension of Preminger’s movie exists between Simmons and Mitchum, with the former applying the pressure.
Angel Face is a movie about deceptive appearances that is its own act of deception, lying in wait in the tall grass before it pounces on you with some of the most shocking bits of violence put to film. It has ice in its veins despite being sun-kissed, and Jean Simmons delivers the type of performance that defines you in the public eye.
Mikkel Frederiksen 