Angel Face - Robert Mitchum

directed by Otto Preminger
USA 1952

This intense Freudian melodrama by Otto Preminger (1953) is one of the forgotten masterworks of film noir. Jean Simmons, beautifully blank, plays the ultimate femme fatale, a rich girl who seduces her beefcake chauffeur (Robert Mitchum) when daddy (Herbert Marshall) resists her advances. The film is a disturbingly cool, rational investigation of the terrors of sexuality, much as Preminger's later masterpiece Bunny Lake Is Missing is a detached appraisal of childhood horrors. 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.

Excerpt from Dave Keher's review at the Chicago Reader located HERE

Diane (Jean Simmons) is the daughter of wealthy Charles Treymayne (Herbert Marshall). She has an angelic appearance that masks an unbridled psychotic personality who'll let nothing stand in the way of her perceived happiness. When her hated stepmother, Catherine (Barbara O'Neal), threatens to take Charles away from her, Diane attempts to kill her stepmother, making it look like a gas leak. The attempt fails. Responding to the “accident” is ambulance driver Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum), whom Diane becomes infatuated with, is eventually hired as the family chauffeur at her request. She steals Frank away from his sweetheart Mary and forces him to become supportive, but unaware, accomplice in the wealthy stepmother's successful murder plot. When she is killed, it is unfortunately with the father in a rigged auto accident. A trial ensues with both Frank and Diane as defendants. They are eventually acquitted but Frank quickly rebukes Diane soon after and when she finally realizes that she'll never be able to keep him, she decides to punish him as she does anyone who keeps her from what she wants….

This lost Film Noir directed by Otto Preminger in 1953 marks a stunning character turn for actress Jean Simmons, who was normally cast for her innocent looks and charming nature. Here she plays a cold-blooded psychopath, nearly on par with co-star Robert Mitchum’s 'Max Cady' in Cape Fear.

Posters

Theatrical Release: December 11th, 1952- USA

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DVD Comparison:

Warner - Region 1,4 - NTSC vs. 5-Minutes To Live - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Montparnasse Editions (France) - Region 2 - PAL

(Warner - Region 1,4 - NTSC LEFT vs. 5-Minutes To Live - Region 0 - NTSC MIDDLE vs. Montparnasse Editions (France) - Region 2 - PAL RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
	The Warner is also available as part of the Robert Mitchum - The Signature Collection . It includes Angel Face / Macao / The Sundowners / Home from the Hill / The Good Guys and the Bad Guys and The Yakuza.
Distribution	Warner Region 1,4 - NTSC	5-Minutes to Live (Bootleg) Region 0 - NTSC	Montparnasse Editions (France) Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	1:31:13	1:30:42	1:31:18 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.91 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 4.51 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.4 PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Warner
Bitrate: 5_Minutes to Live
Bitrate: Montparnasse
Audio	English (mono), DUB: French (mono)	English (mono)	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), DUB: French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
Subtitles	English and none	none	French and none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner / Turner Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Commentary by Eddie Muller DVD Release Date: January 23rd, 2007 Keep Case (in Signature Boxset - slim transparent keepcase) Chapters 21	Release Information: Studio: 5-Minutes to Live Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: unknown Keep Case Chapters 1	Release Information: Studio: Montparnase Editions (France) Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Biography of Robert Mitchum (5 text screens in French) • Mitchum Quotes (5 text screens in both French and English) • 3 Trailers of other Montparnasse DVDs with Mitchum DVD Release Date: March 14th, 2001 Keep Case Chapters 12

Comments:

ADDITION: Warner - Region 1- NTSC - January 07': As we anticipated - the Warner edition is superior to the other available releases in every category. It is still single-layered and exhibits a few artefacts but it shows more detail and more of the frame than the Montparnasse (and especially the 5-Minutes To Live).

The gem I was waiting for with this was the Eddie Muller commentary... and it was no disappointment. Eddie, the best at Noir commentaries, gives us anecdotes of feuding between Mitchum and Preminger and much more! It really is chocked full of information and a favorite Noir commentary to match a favorite Noir - no, strike that - favorite film period! This is so dark and devious - contrary to most anything produced by Hollywood at this time. A truly authoritative representative of the 'black cinema'.

***

I don't have to say too much here... do I?

The "5-Minutes to Live" looks to be bootlegged by some guy in his basement. It is horrible in every respect - a decent VHS tape would even blow it away. The Montparnasse PAL version is far superior, but not at perfection levels itself. It shows some weakness and damage now and again and I think it may be taken from a NTSC source (look at the times) so there are scenes with "ghosting". The French version is at least an honest attempt and this is a pretty 'culty" Hollywood films showing Jean Simmons as the evil girl (a deviation from other roles at the time for her). Bottom line: and don't ever buy anything from "5-Minutes to Live"... ever.

- Gary W. Tooze

Recommended Reading in Film Noir (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)

Film Noir: An Encyclopedia Reference to the American Style
by Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward

The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir

by Foster Hirsch

Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City

by Nicholas Christopher

Film Noir Reader 4 : The Crucial Films and Themes (Film Noir Reader)
by Alain Silver

The Art of Noir: The Posters and Graphics from the Classic Era of Film Noir
by Eddie Muller

The Little Black and White Book of Film Noir: Quotations from Films of the 40's and 50's
by Peg Thompson, Saeko Usukawa

Film Noir
by Alain Silver

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(Warner - Region 1,4 - NTSC)

(5-Minutes to Live - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Montparnasse Editions - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

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