The Tarnished Angels [Blu-ray]

Director: Douglas Sirk Douglas Sirk

Overview

In this film, Robert Stack is a disillusioned WWI ace eking out a living as a barnstorming pilot/parachutist during the early 1930s. New Orleans newspaperman Rock Hudson runs across Stack at a two-bit carnival. He becomes fascinated with Stack's fall from grace and latches onto him.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/26/2019
UPC:	0738329233921
Original Release:	1957
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	1:31:00
Sales rank:	2,337

Special Features

Audio commentary by film historian Imogen Sara Smith; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Rock Hudson	Burke Devlin
Robert Stack	Roger Shumann
Dorothy Malone	LaVerne Shumann
Jack Carson	Jiggs
Robert Middleton	Matt Ord
Alan Reed	Col. Fineman
Alexander Lockwood	Sam Hagood
Christopher Olsen	Jack Shumann
Bob Wilke	Hank,Hank
Troy Donahue	Frank Burnham
William Schallert	Ted Baker
Betty Utey	Dancing Girl
Phil Harvey	Telegraph Editor
Steve Drexel	Young Man
Eugene Borden	Claude Mollet
Stephen Ellis	Mechanic
Steve Pendleton	Jiggs
Chris Olson	Jack Shumann
Henry Mancini	Composer
Herman Stein	Composer
Frank Skinner	Composer

Technical Credits

George Zuckerman

William Faulkner

Douglas Sirk	Director
Clifford Stine	Special Effects
Albert Zugsmith	Producer
George Zuckerman	Screenwriter
William Faulkner	Screenwriter
Leslie I. Carey	Sound Effects
Edward L. Sandlin	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Palpable desire fills the screen in The Tarnished Angels, but it's a desire that comes with strings attached to it. The four characters that form the basis of the plot each desire something or someone so badly that it passes into the realm of torture, and Angels, thanks to the guiding hand of director Douglas Sirk, revels in that torture. Tension, lust, and frustration practically drip from the screen, especially when Dorothy Malone is on hand. Even when her emotions are held in check, she never lets the viewer forget that a well of anguish lies beneath those tightly composed features. Malone's performance is utterly compelling, and she gets excellent help from Robert Stack, who brings just the proper intensity to his part. Even a puffy Jack Carson turns in a surprisingly well-judged performance. Unfortunately, Rock Hudson, in the crucial role of the reporter, falls far short; he's not bad, but he lacks a convincing passion. His character, we are told repeatedly, is obsessed with these people; the actor merely goes through the motions of being obsessed, and this throws much of the film out of kilter. Still there's enough in the film to make up for this (and some other) flaws, and Sirk creates some unforgettable images (a Mardi Gras reveler with a death mask interrupting Hudson and Malone, the carnival airplane sequence accompanying the crash of Stack's airplane). Angels is far from perfect, but it's almost always compelling.