It's fair to argue that the key film, the turning point of Preminger's cinema from that of a gifted film director of moody, dark crime films to an auteur of ambiguous, psychologically complex and rational examinations of irrational impulses and passion is with this 1952 film noir classic, the appropriately titled ''Angel Face''. While earlier masterpieces like ''Laura'', ''Daisy Kenyon'' and ''Where the Sidewalk Ends'' were original takes on melodrama and crime films, they were still missing the complex multi-dimensional style of Preminger's late-50's to early-60's films. With ''Angel Face'', Otto takes centre stage.
The plot is impossible to summarize. Even after seeing it twice. Mainly because the action of the film is totally character driven and the characters, even the supporting and bit players register as actual participants in the world of the film. The story revolves around the Tremaine family. The patriarch(the great Herbert Marshall) is a British novelist who lost his wife during the Blitz and who marries a richer, wealthier second wife and then comes to America with his daughter, Diane(Jean Simmons) from his first wife. Neither daughter and step-mother like each other very much. The film begins when the police answer a call at the Tremaine house when Mrs. Tremaine alleges an attempt at her life. An ambulance driver, Frank Jessop(Robert Mitchum) is also on the scene and his chance encounter with Diane Tremaine triggers the film forward.
Even this bare sampling of a plot doesn't really get the mood of the film which spirals forward increasingly into scenes bordering on the surreal and horrific, all the while Preminger keeps the film in check with his meticulous restraint and adept framing. Angel Face is a film that keeps you on the edge right from beginning to end in the original sense of the phrase. There is literally no way you can predict the motives and behaviour of these characters and that creates phenomenal levels of suspense and moments of strange beauty. Above all the scene of Jean Simmons wandering her empty house, all alone. The entire scene plays silently and more importantly isn't needed or demanded by the plot or screenplay. This totally avant-garde moment captured the heart and mind of Godard(who named it among the ten greatest American sound films) and it is the full triumph of both Preminger and Jean Simmons, who gives one of the best performances ever in this film, her beautiful angel face, black hair and deeply moving eyes remaining etched in your mind for days and years. Robert Mitchum in the Dana Andrews role isn't bad either.
The plot is impossible to summarize. Even after seeing it twice. Mainly because the action of the film is totally character driven and the characters, even the supporting and bit players register as actual participants in the world of the film. The story revolves around the Tremaine family. The patriarch(the great Herbert Marshall) is a British novelist who lost his wife during the Blitz and who marries a richer, wealthier second wife and then comes to America with his daughter, Diane(Jean Simmons) from his first wife. Neither daughter and step-mother like each other very much. The film begins when the police answer a call at the Tremaine house when Mrs. Tremaine alleges an attempt at her life. An ambulance driver, Frank Jessop(Robert Mitchum) is also on the scene and his chance encounter with Diane Tremaine triggers the film forward.
Even this bare sampling of a plot doesn't really get the mood of the film which spirals forward increasingly into scenes bordering on the surreal and horrific, all the while Preminger keeps the film in check with his meticulous restraint and adept framing. Angel Face is a film that keeps you on the edge right from beginning to end in the original sense of the phrase. There is literally no way you can predict the motives and behaviour of these characters and that creates phenomenal levels of suspense and moments of strange beauty. Above all the scene of Jean Simmons wandering her empty house, all alone. The entire scene plays silently and more importantly isn't needed or demanded by the plot or screenplay. This totally avant-garde moment captured the heart and mind of Godard(who named it among the ten greatest American sound films) and it is the full triumph of both Preminger and Jean Simmons, who gives one of the best performances ever in this film, her beautiful angel face, black hair and deeply moving eyes remaining etched in your mind for days and years. Robert Mitchum in the Dana Andrews role isn't bad either.