Angel Face

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Angel Face

1952,

1h 31m,

Crime/

Drama

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Watchlist

82%

11 Reviews

Tomatometer

78%

500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

82%

Tomatometer

11 Reviews

78%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Beautiful Diane Tremayne (Jean Simmons) is a sophisticated, wealthy young woman capable of manipulating anyone who crosses her path. She also has a dark side she manages to conceal behind her appearance and her good manners. Soon after the untimely death of her stepmother (Barbara O'Neil), Diane pursues handsome Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum). Before long, she starts to win him over -- but Frank quickly suspects that the manic Diane had more to do with her stepmother's death than she lets on.

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Feb 9, 2006

Superb Freudian crime thriller, noir-inflected in theme but shot by and large in crisp, bright drawing-rooms.

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Mar 31, 2003

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.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Jul 10, 2023

3.5/4

Film buffs smile knowingly at the mere mention of this title, for two reasons.

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Manny Farber

The Nation

Nov 24, 2020

Angel Face is a congested thriller that kills off all its actors with modern sports cars.

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Allen Almachar

The MacGuffin

Aug 11, 2020

The dark themes quietly wrap themselves around us, pulling us into this story of love, anger, and madness.

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Paul Brenner

Filmcritic.com

Mar 16, 2009

4/5

Preminger transforms a second rate James M. Cain murder plot, re-orchestrating this textbook tale of passion and murder into a haunting and haunted refrain

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Luke R

Sep 22, 2018

A tad slow and a trifle long, but see it anyway. Robert Mitchum is an ambulance driver-turned-chauffeur for a wealthy young heiress with mommy and daddy issues (that is, she hates her mommy, who's really her stepmom, but loves her daddy--we think). Mitchum, sleepy-eyed and laconic as usual, is fine, and a very young Jean Simmons, lovely and fetching but simmering inside and very clearly, despite the title, no angel at all, matches him every step of the way. Noir-ish in its plot and tone more than in its look and imagery, this isn't Otto Preminger's finest foray into the genre, but it's no disaster, either. With Herbert Marshall as Simmons' sweet and kindhearted father, and Barbara O'Neil as the bane of her existence, her father's new wife, Catherine. And oh, that ending...even if you see it coming from the proverbial mile away, there's just one word for it--wow.

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Leia W

Jan 31, 2018

Stay for the final scene - this Film Noir may just surprise you. Another Preminger classic.

Finn S

Dec 7, 2014

Women pulling a man's strings to get him to do the undoable. 1001 movies to see before you die.

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Otto Preminger

Director

Robert Mitchum

Frank Jessup

Jean Simmons

Diane Tremayne Jessup

Mona Freeman

Mary Wilton

Herbert Marshall

Mr. Charles Tremayne

Leon Ames

Fred Barrett

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Synopsis

Beautiful Diane Tremayne (Jean Simmons) is a sophisticated, wealthy young woman capable of manipulating anyone who crosses her path. She also has a dark side she manages to conceal behind her appearance and her good manners. Soon after the untimely death of her stepmother (Barbara O'Neil), Diane pursues handsome Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum). Before long, she starts to win him over -- but Frank quickly suspects that the manic Diane had more to do with her stepmother's death than she lets on.

Director: Otto Preminger
Producer: Otto Preminger
Screenwriter: Frank S. Nugent, Oscar Millard
Production Co: RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (DVD): Jan 23, 2007
Runtime: 1h 31m

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