Fallen Angel (1945)

Director
Otto Preminger

Main cast
Alice Faye; Dana Andrews; Linda Darnell; Charles Bickford; Anne Revere

Genres
Romance, Crime, Mystery

Description
Otto Preminger's classic film noir offering captures the common postwar struggle to get ahead, and one man's balancing act between two women. Dana Andrews stars as a drifter named Eric Stanton, who, after landing in a small California town, falls in love with Stella (Linda Darnell), a diner waitress. She makes it clear that she'll have nothing to do with Eric unless he has some money, so he hatches a plan to marry June Mills (Alice Faye), a wealthy reclusive spinster who is in love with him. Unfortunately, right after the wedding, Stella turns up dead, and the blame is placed on Eric.


Similar movies

A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.
Bud Corliss (Wagner) is an ambitious student who is wooing Dorothy Kingship (Woodward) purely for her father's mining fortune. When he discovers that Dorothy is pregnant with his child, he realizes she is quite likely to be disinherited by her wealthy family. He assures Dorothy that he'll take care of her, yet he hesitates when Dorothy insists on marrying. Bud then murders Dorothy and stages it in a way that it appears to be a suicide. He then reaches out to her sister Ellen (Leith) with the hopes of marrying her in order to ingratiate himself with her father. After a couple of months Ellen finds evidence to question the suicide verdict, and then discovers Bud knew Dorothy. Ellen struggles to avenge her sister and save her own life.
After her cheating husband leaves her, Mildred Pierce proves she can become independent and successful, but can't win the approval of her spoiled daughter.
Danny Haley's bookie operation is shut down, so he and his pals need money; when Danny meets Arthur Winant, a sucker from out of town, he decoys him into a series of poker games where eventually Winant loses $5000 that isn't his... then hangs himself. But it seems Winant had a shadowy, protective elder brother who believes in personal revenge.
Private Detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love.
Two professional killers invade a small town and kill a gas station attendant, "the Swede," who's expecting them. Insurance investigator Reardon pursues the case against the orders of his boss, who considers it trivial. Weaving together threads of the Swede's life, Reardon uncovers a complex tale of treachery and crime, all linked with gorgeous, mysterious Kitty Collins.
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
Ex con turned private investigator Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens) suspects someone is following him and maybe even trying to kill him. With the assistance of his spunky secretary, Lucille Ball, he dives deep into a mystery in search of answers.
This unusual and worthwhile black-and-white film noir was one of the first movies to deal with issues of anti-Semitism.
The Naked City portrays the police investigation that follows the murder of a young model. A veteran cop is placed in charge of the case and he sets about, with the help of other beat cops and detectives, finding the girl's killer.
Frederick Manion, an Army lieutenant, is arrested for the murder of bartender Barney Quill. In his defense, he claims that Quill raped and beat up his wife Laura. Although Laura supports her husband's story, the police surgeon cannot find evidence of rape. Manion is defended by Paul Biegler, a humble small-town lawyer. During the course of interviews, Biegler discovers that Manion is violently possessive and jealous, and that his wife has a reputation for giving her favors to other men. Biegler realizes that the prosecution will try to make the court believe that Laura was the lover of the bartender and that Manion killed him and beat her up when he discovered them together. Manion pleads "not guilty" and Biegler, who knows that his case is weak, sets his assistants to try to find a witness who will save Manion.
Frenzy is the penultimate film from Hitchcock and at the same time the first film that brought his emigration to the USA back to Great Britain.
A tough cop meets his match when he has to guard a gangster's moll on a tense train ride.
Two carefree young travellers make the mistake of their lives when they pick up a mysterious, and slightly psychotic, hitch-hiker who never closes his right eye -- even when he sleeps!
A drunk cop investigates the murder of a sexy blonde. The policeman -who can't remember the night before - starts getting worried when all fingers began pointing at him.
Orson Welles plays an escaped Nazi war criminal. After the war, he fled to the United States and assumed the name of Charles Rankin. Engaged to the unsuspecting daughter of a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and posing as a college professor, he had the perfect cover. No one would think to look for a notorious Nazi war criminal in the sacred precincts of the Harper's School...
Bogey's on the lam and Bacall's at his side in Dark Passage, Delmer Daves' stylish film-noir thriller that's the third of four films Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made together. Bogart is Vincent Parry who, framed for murder, escapes San Quentin and soon emerges from plastic surgery with a new face. Bacall is Irene Jansen, Vincent's lone ally. In a supporting role, Agnes Moorehead portrays Madge, a venomous harpy who finds pleasure in the unhappiness of others. The chemistry of the leads is undeniable, and they augment it here with exceptional tenderness. Exceptional too are the atmospheric San Francisco locations and the imaginative camera work that shows Vincent's point of view - but not his face - until the bandages are removed. Lest Irene get ideas, the post-surgery Vincent tells her: "Don't change yours. I like it just as it is."
After a woman shoots a man to death, a damning letter she wrote raises suspicions.
Female born, Teena Brandon adopts his male identity of Brandon Teena and attempts to find himself and love in Nebraska.
A ambulance driver gets involved with a rich girl that might have a darker side.
Orville "Gabby" Denton is an alcoholic drifter with a chronic gambling problem. Despite his flaws he is beloved by his family. Gabby's brother-in-law Beef gets Gabby work as a mechanic at the Metropolitan Garage. The shop is a front to a stolen car ring. His brother-in-law Beef, who is otherwise honest, is aware of this. One day, Gabby is sent to pick up Silver, Jenkins's girl friend, whose car has broken down. Both Gabby and Silver start a relationship, after which Silver leaves Jenkins.
A young drifter working on a river barge disrupts his employers' lives while hiding the fact that he knows more about a dead woman found in the river than he admits.
A drifter becomes both a bank robber and a hero in this crime thriller. Andrew McCarthy stars as Wade Corey, who hitches a ride on a freight train already occupied by Doyle Kennedy (Matt Dillon), a charming ex-con who convinces Wade to accompany him to his hometown. Once there, Wade realizes too late that Doyle is intent on robbing the local bank. After they are separated following the crime, Wade hides the money. Happening upon a drowning in progress, he saves a young girl who just happens to be the daughter of the state governor, and he becomes an unlikely hero. Finding work at a nearby farm, the meandering Wade becomes a hired hand, falls for the beautiful daughter (Leslie Hope) of his boss, and dreads the return of Doyle, who is sure to come looking for his money.
Two cunning and manipulative drifters venture into Farifield County, Connecticut looking to seduce wealthy and lonely housewives.
Some thirty years after Arlis witnesses his father murdering a family, he runs into Kay, who happens to be the family's baby who was spared. Kay and Arlis suspect nothing about each other, but when his father returns, old wounds are reopened.
Based on the Gothic romance novel by Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca is a classic tale of love and hate. Maxim De Winter marries a woman half his age only a year after his first wife, the beautiful and accomplished Rebecca, dies. She finds herself in an aristocratic social world her middle class upbringing did not prepare her for, and housekeeper Mrs Danvers despises her for taking her darling Rebecca's place. But these are not the only problems to face... Written by
A young Navy sailor has one night to find out why a woman was killed and he ended up with a bag of money after a drinking blackout.
Two drifters contend with love and murder in a small town.
This remake of the 1946 movie of the same name accounts an affair between a seedy drifter and a seductive wife of a roadside cafe owner. This begins a chain of events that culminates in murder. Based on a novel by James M. Cain.
Pierre Hunter (Anton Yelchin), a bartender with unyielding optimism, returns to his tiny hometown after his parents' death. When he falls for the enigmatic Stella (Zooey Deschanel), Pierre is unknowingly pulled into a cat-and-mouse game that involves a duffel bag full of cash, a haphazard yet determined criminal (John Hawkes), and a mystery that will determine all of their fates. With Alia Shawkat, Frank Langella, Aubrey Plaza, and Ciarán Hinds. Zachary Sluser's film, based on the novel by Tom Drury, is a contemporary fable about the ways we struggle to control time and fate in a possibly predetermined universe.
A marksman living in exile is coaxed back into action after learning of a plot to kill the president. Ultimately double-crossed and framed for the attempt, he goes on the run to track the real killer and find out who exactly set him up, and why.
A disillusioned killer embarks on his last hit but first he has to overcome his affections for his cool, detached partner. Thinking it's dangerous and improper to become involved with a colleague, he sets out to find a surrogate for his affections. Against the sordid and surreal urban nightscape, he crosses path with a strange drifter looking for her mysterious ex-boyfriend and an amusing mute trying to get the world's attention in his own unconventional ways.
A nightclub owner frames a romantic rival for murder.
Dual follows drifter Luke Twain in the late 1800s when he discovers a town where all the inhabitants has been brutally murdered. Making a choice to remain and uncover what took place there, he finds himself in a strange game of cat and mouse with a mysterious man that still has one final mission...
Ray Sturgis, leader of the fashionable Long Island jazz set, is engaged to "Egypt" Hagen, an up-to-date girl in every respect. Egypt is arrested at a roadhouse raid, and at her mother's bidding, the Reverend Norman Lodge arranges for her freedom. At a fancy-dress ball, when Ray wears a costume made of newspaper headlines concerning her arrest, Egypt is offended. Seen constantly in the company of Reverend Lodge, her reputation causes church people to take up the matter with the bishop. Leaving the country club, Egypt goes to the Lodge home and hides behind the door when the bishop arrives; Reverend Lodge wants to marry her, and they admit their love; but humiliation causes her to leave with Sturgis that night. Their yacht is wrecked, but Lodge and the bishop follow and rescue Egypt, though Sturgis is drowned. The bishop, realizing the depth of their love, consents to marry them.
Gigolo and drifter, Chance Wayne, returns to his home town as the accompaniment of a faded movie star, Alexandra Del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. Chance runs into trouble when he finds his ex-girlfriend, the daughter of the local politician Tom 'Boss' Finley, who more or less forced him to leave his daughter and the town many years ago.
A WWII Coast Guard veteran, Lt. Scott Burnett (Robert Ryan), is plagued by nightmares of his combat days. One day, he meets a woman, Peggy Butler (Joan Bennett), walking on a beach, picking up pieces of wood. Butler is married to a grumpy, blind painter, Ted Butler (Charles Bickford). Despite his affections for his fiancée Eve (Nan Leslie), whose father is a boat builder, Scott falls in love with Peggy and soon breaks off the engagement. Peggy reveals that she blinded her husband years earlier by throwing a glass at him during an ugly spat, ruining his career and her own ambitions to be an upper-class socialite. Scott fears that Ted is suspicious that he is having an affair with Peggy and becomes so paranoid that he begins to believe that Ted is faking his blindness — and sets out to prove it. This was the fifth and final American film by the great French writer-director Jean Renoir.
A suicidal girl falls in love with a fallen angel.
When his father dies, Terry (Gary Sinese) returns to the house where he grew up, planning to stay only long enough to clean and settle the estate. Yet something indescribable keeps him there longer than expected. Soon, he is reunited with memories and people from his past and his life is changed forever.
Recently graduated from high school, 17-year-old Shiro (Yagira Yuya) decides to put off college and work at a gas station instead. Shy and introspective, Shiro understands he is at a turning point of his life, but is unsure of what lies ahead. Though his parents disapprove of his decision, he has the support of his flower child grandmother (Natsuki Mari) who declares that a gas station is a romantic place for life's drifters. Surely enough, soon a new co-worker, college student Noriko (Erika Sawajiri), drifts into Shiro's life. He falls headfirst into a bittersweet first love that ushers him into the world of adulthood.
A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent-film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.
In the Summer of 1965 a young man is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port Broome - fishing, hanging out with his mates and his girl. However his mother returns him to the religious mission for further schooling. After being punished for an act of youthful rebellion, he runs away from the mission on a journey that ultimately leads him back home.
A man on the run in the Far East is mistaken for an undercover cop.
The singing/dancing Angel sisters, Nancy, Bobby, Josie, and Patti, aren't interested in performing together, and this plays havoc with the plans of Pop Angel to buy a soy bean farm. They do accept an offer of ten dollars to sing at a dubious night club on the edge of town where a band led by Happy Marshall is playing.
A young man, Jason, is on his way home and meets two beautiful women, Hope and Alexis. He falls for Hope, but has sex with Alexis. He doesn't know that Alexis' husband has hired a private detective to trail her, and the man reports back to Alexis' husband about her affair with Jason. The husband kills Alexis but the police suspect Jason. He and Hope have to clear his name and find enough evidence to prove the husband is the killer.
Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - London's Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night's end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.
Dr. Sullivan Travis is a man at the top of his game, a rich and successful Dallas gynecologist whose "religion" is women. Dr. T. worships women. In his immediate family and in his office, they surround him. He is loving and giving to each and every one at all times -- he is their savior. And sure enough, as in the story of Job, one day a higher force decides to test his faith. Once a man in complete control of his universe, Dr. T. now finds himself buffeted by chaos and confusion.
It tells the story of a romance between a young drifter named Strip Harrison (John Travolta) and an older wealthy woman, Trish Rawlings (Lily Tomlin).
Carnival dancer Lane Bellamy finds herself stranded in a southern town ruled by corrupt political boss Sheriff Titus Semple. Lane becomes romantically involved with Deputy Sheriff Fielding Carlisle, a weakling whose career is being driven by Titus. Seeing Lane as a liability to his own political ambitions, Titus mounts a campaign to get her driven out of town. She finds she can't get a job and even gets arrested on a trumped-up morals charge. Released from jail, Lane finds work as a "hostess" at Lutie-Mae's road house, where she meets Dan Reynolds, another member of the town's political machine. They marry and move to a home on Flamingo Road, the town's social pinnacle. Their marriage is soon marked by scandal when a drunken Carlisle visits Lane at home one evening and shoots himself.
Playboy Andy Mason, on leave from the army, romances showgirl Edie Allen overnight to such effect that she's starry-eyed when he leaves next morning for active duty in the Pacific. Only trouble is, he gave her the assumed name of Casey. Andy's eventual return with a medal is celebrated by his rich father with a benefit show featuring Eadie's show troupe, at which she's sure to learn his true identity...and meet Vivian, his 'family-arrangement' fiancée. Mostly song and dance.
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
A drifter enters a small town looking for employment. While working at the local cattle ranch, he meets and falls in love with the beautiful Kitty and becomes involved in a deadly yet erotic love triangle.
A jealous piano teacher Orville Spooner sends his beautiful wife, Zelda, away for the night while he tries to sell a song to a famous nightclub singer Dino, who is stranded in town
Pit violinist Claudin hopelessly loves rising operatic soprano Christine Dubois (as do baritone Anatole and police inspector Raoul) and secretly aids her career. But Claudin loses both his touch and his job, murders a rascally music publisher in a fit of madness, and has his face etched with acid. Soon, mysterious crimes plague the Paris Opera House, blamed on a legendary "phantom".
Kay is a girl living in a small rural town whose life is just too dull and repetitious to bear. One night, she meets young, handsome, and rich Bob Dakin, who asks her for directions while drunk and then proceeds to take her out on a night on the town. Kay likes the stranger, and when the drunken Bob decides that they should get married, Kay hesitates little before consenting. The morning after the affair, Bob, once sober, regrets his mistake. His strict and upright parents, however, insist that the young couple pretend marriage for 6 months before divorcing, in order to avoid bad publicity. Bob resents Kay for standing in the way of him and his fiancée, Priscilla, but Kay still hopes that he'd have a change of heart.
Lucinda Price is sent to a reform academy under the assumption that she has killed a boy. There, she meets two mysterious boys, Cam and Daniel, to whom she feels drawn to both. But as the love triangle unfurls, it is Daniel that Luce cannot keep herself away from, and things begin to take a darker turn when she finds out his true identity.
This light-hearted musical romance follows the exploits of Nikki Martin (Lily Pons), a beautiful French opera star who stows away on an ocean liner in hopes of escaping her jealous fiancee. Once aboard, she joins an American swing band and falls in love with its leader (Gene Raymond), who, after hearing her sing, eventually comes to reciprocate her feelings. That Girl From Paris received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Sound, and includes musical highlights such as, "Seal It With a Kiss," "The Blue Danube," "Una Voce Poco Fa," and "The Call to Arms." Directed by Leigh Jason, this movie also features actors Mischa Auer, Frank Jenks, Lucille Ball and Jack Oakie.
Sandra and Pete elope but their marriage is invalid since she's not yet divorced. Sandra is, however, pregnant by Pete. Pete marries his former fiancée Maggie, then flies to South America where his plane crashes. Maggie pays Sandra to let her adopt Pete's baby. Pete returns "from the dead". Sandra and Maggie contend for Pete and the baby.
When a nameless drifter girl steps off a bus, she enters into the lives of two lonely brothers.
An epic portrait of late Sixties America, as seen through the portrayal of two of its children: anthropology student Daria (who's helping a property developer build a village in the Los Angeles desert) and dropout Mark (who's wanted by the authorities for allegedly killing a policeman during a student riot)...

© Valossa 2015–2024