BLACK ANGEL

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 403, 14 March 1947, Page 15

BLACK ANGEL

(Universal)

"HIS minor murder mystery is considerably more enjoyable than a gdod many more pretentious efforts, almost the least satisfactory thing about it being the

title. This presumably refers to a jewelled brooch worn by and stolen from a blackmailing woman (Constance Dowling) on the evening when she is murdered by a person or persons un- ~ known. The police, however, and a jury are in no doubt about who did it: a man who was being blackmailed is condemned to die. But while he is awaiting execution, his wife (June Vincent) starts looking for the missing brooch in the hope that she will find the real killer attached to it. She is assisted in her search by the husband of the murdered woman (Dan Duryea), and the trail leads them into some tight corners and the audience inte some pretty exciting suspense. The tightest corner is ‘occupied by Peter Lorre, asa _ nightclub owner with a murky past and a tough bodyguard. While trying to find a satisfactory solution to the classic problem of whodunit, the story develops an interesting romance between the husband of the murdered woman and the wife of the condemned man: interesting, and quite refreshing, in that the wife remains faithful while obviously susceptible, to Mr. Duryea’s slightly saturnine charms. And Mr. Duryea isn’t a simple type himself: he has a fondness for the bottle which makes parts of Black Angel resemble parts of The Lost Weekend. By withholding the reprieve of the condemned man until the last possible minute, even after the real murderer has revealed himself, the film prolongs itself almost to the point of anti-climax; but what with bouts of dipsomania, thirdparty romance, and visits to a nightclub, a director who appreciates the importance of detail, and skilled performances by Duryea, Lorre, Miss Vincent and others, Black Angel adds up to a neat and reliable thriller,