The Tarnished Angels

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The Tarnished Angels

1958,

1h 27m,

Drama

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Watchlist

100%

11 Reviews

Tomatometer

70%

250+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

11 Reviews

70%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

Heroic World War I pilot Roger Shumann is all but forgotten by the 1930s, but flying is all he knows, so he takes work as an air show stuntman. Roger's job is demeaning, low-paying and dangerous. Perpetually frustrated, he takes his anger out on his gorgeous wife, Laverne. Journalist Burke Devlin chances upon the once-great pilot at one of his shows and becomes fascinated by Roger's undying devotion to flight -- and by the alluring Laverne.

Mark Kermode

Observer (UK)

Sep 15, 2013

One of Douglas Sirk's masterworks.

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Richard Brody

The New Yorker

Jan 21, 2013

An enduring philosophical strain of proto-feminist endurance in a land that's both made and menaced by its intrepid warriors.

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

Sep 25, 2020

3.5/4.0

Sirk's film is easily one of the earlier examples of a film that committed itself to such a stark and authentic presentation.

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Aug 14, 2020

3.5/5

The Tarnished Angels also retains its Faulkneresque signature of three damaged souls who feed off one another's misery, and it's an interesting leap from his more famous barn burning for the archaic sport of barnstorming.

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Michael Barrett

PopMatters

Apr 1, 2019

As a purely physical spectacle, the movie is worth anyone's time... that style was substance, or rather that style was philosophy, and he conveys emotions through this mise-en-scène as substantially as through acting, dialogue or plot.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Mar 30, 2019

3/4

Sirk, known for his rich use of colors, opted to employ black-and-white for The Tarnished Angels -- it was a sound and strategic choice, further amplifying the overcast quality that permeates these characters' lives.

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Albus R

Apr 16, 2017

Terrific Douglas Sirk melodrama from the William Faulkner novel "Pylon." I have not read the Faulker book, but I'm guessing it was nowhere as soapy as the film, but as soapy melodrama's go, no one does them better than Douglas Sirk. Robert Stack plays a boozy disillusioned WWI flying ace who now spends his days as a barnstorming pilot at rural carnivals with his neglected parachutist wife, Dorothy Malone, who he only married as a result of a literal roll of the dice. Rock Hudson plays a reporter doing a story on this dysfunctional traveling family of flyers that also includes Jack Carson, Troy Donahue, and William Schallert. Sirk's perchance for over-the-top drama is probably not going to look great to modern viewers, but for fans of classic Hollywood and fans of Sirk in particular, this film is a must see!

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Luke M

Jan 16, 2017

Somber and tragic, but well made.

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Douglas Sirk

Director

Rock Hudson

Burke Devlin

Robert Stack

Roger Shumann

Dorothy Malone

LaVerne Shumann

Jack Carson

Jiggs

Robert Middleton

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Synopsis

Heroic World War I pilot Roger Shumann is all but forgotten by the 1930s, but flying is all he knows, so he takes work as an air show stuntman. Roger's job is demeaning, low-paying and dangerous. Perpetually frustrated, he takes his anger out on his gorgeous wife, Laverne. Journalist Burke Devlin chances upon the once-great pilot at one of his shows and becomes fascinated by Roger's undying devotion to flight -- and by the alluring Laverne.

Director: Douglas Sirk
Producer: Albert Zugsmith
Screenwriter: William Faulkner, George Zuckerman
Distributor: MCA/Universal Pictures [us], Universal International Pictures
Production Co: Universal International Pictures
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 11, 1958, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 4, 2021
Runtime: 1h 27m

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