Black Angel

This article is about the 1946 film. For the statue in Iowa City, see Oakland Cemetery (Iowa City, Iowa). For the Rolling Stones song, see Sweet Black Angel.

Black Angel
Directed by	Roy William Neill
Produced by	Tom McKnight Roy William Neill
Written by	Cornell Woolrich (novel) Roy Chanslor
Starring	Dan Duryea June Vincent Peter Lorre Broderick Crawford Constance Dowling Wallace Ford Junius Matthews
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	August 2, 1946 (U.S. release)
Running time	81 min
Language	English

Black Angel is a 1946 film noir, based on the novel The Black Angel by Cornell Woolrich. The film was director Roy William Neill's last film.

Plot

A falsely convicted man's wife, Catherine (June Vincent), and an alcoholic composer and pianist, Martin (Dan Duryea), team up in an attempt to clear her husband of the murder of a blonde singer, who is Martin's wife. Their investigation leads them to face-to-face confrontations with a determined policeman (Broderick Crawford) and a shifty nightclub owner (Peter Lorre), who Catherine and Martin suspect may be the real killer.

Reaction

Dark City: The Film Noir, by Spencer Selby, calls Black Angel: "Important, stylish B-noir, featuring Dan Duryea as the ironic central character."

Writer Cornell Woolrich hated this adaption of his story which, aside from the conclusion, differed greatly from his book.

Main cast

• Dan Duryea as Martin Blair
• June Vincent as Catherine Bennett
• Peter Lorre as Marko
• Broderick Crawford as Captain Flood
• Constance Dowling as Mavis Marlowe
• Wallace Ford as Joe
• Junius Matthews as Dr. Courtney

Pop culture

Theatre marquee featuring Black Angel, June 2005.

Black Angel is referenced in the 2006 noir-influenced film The Black Dahlia starring Scarlett Johansson and Hilary Swank. It is the movie shown playing at the cinema featured in the rainy street scene.

References

• Eddie Muller (1998). Dark City The Lost World of Film Noir. St. Martin Press. ISBN 0-312-18076-4. 
• Spencer Selby (1984). Dark City The Film Noir. mcFarland Classics. ISBN 0-7864-0478-7. 

External links

• Black Angel at the Internet Movie Database