Johnny Angel (1945)

Director: Edwin L. Marin, Stars: George Raft, Claire Trevor, Hoagy Carmichael, Marvin Miller, and Signe Hasso. Watched this twice now, its not very Noir-ish and sleep inducing 5/10 here is an IMDb review:

Angel never gets off the ground., 27 April 2011

Author: st-shot from United States

George Raft's performance is as starched as the sailor suit he strolls around in while Signe Hasso's anxiety seems to stem from her inability to understand or speak English rather than the mysterious woman with a past in the abysmal Johnny Angel.

When Captain Angel's ( Raft ) father, also a sea captain, is murdered for a gold shipment on his boat he sets out to solve and settle score. During his investigation he gets involved with Paulette (Hasso) and Lily (Claire Trevor), married to a child hood friend, to get some answers and a little face time. As he gets closer threat and violence ratchet up while his uniform remains crisp.

Raft's career had already self destructed by the time he took on the title role in this leaden clunker. Rejecting roles (High Sierra) that would make Bogart a star he had to settle for Ed Marin instead of Huston and Hawks but stylish and cool as he was in his Scarface days Raft was a flat and limited actor. He's no different in Angel but his performance has nothing on the clueless and stiff Ms.Hasso who looks like she could use a lot more rehearsing.

Claire Trevor gives her usual solid greedy tart performance while Marvin Miller as her unctuous doughy husband and the always memorable Margaret Wycherly introduce an Oedipal angle to the mix. But with the lifeless leads and Marin's slapdash, mood less direction Johnny Angel does a terrible job of winging it.

	Welcome, Guest. Please login or register. Did you miss your activation email? September 27, 2023, 05:57:21 PM

: