Another bit of film noir that I’ve recently discovered and it is one with a good plotline, good characters and a pretty interesting twist at the end. The Black Angel was made in 1946 and stars Dan Duryea, June Vincent and Peter Lorre. The story is about a man accused and then sentenced to death for the murder of a nightclub singer. The alleged killer, Kirk Bennett, played by John Phillips, is sentenced to death but the convicted man’s wife, Catherine, is convinced that her husband is innocent and should be immediately released. She tries on her own to gather evidence that will have Kirk’s conviction quashed but fails to turn up any new evidence that might exonerate her husband.

She doesn’t give up however and teams up with an unlikely helper in her quest to save her husband. She meets up with Martin Blair, the ex husband of the singer who had been murdered, and a happy go lucky drunk. Catherine works with him to try to ascertain who is the real murderer. Their suspicions lead them to wonder whether a local sleazy nightclub owner called Marko and played by Peter Lorre could either be the killer or be involved in the murder in some way.

Catherine and Martin, who by now is starting to fall in love with the condemned man’s wife, fail to nail Marko for the murder and Catherine and Martin go their separate ways. Catherine goes to spend some last hours with her husband and Martin to go on a drunken bar crawl around town.

It is during Martin’s alcoholic binge episode which sees him put in a mental hospital that information comes to light about the murder which reveals the the true identity of the murderer.

This one is a good film with a good script and a suitably unusual twist at the end to lift it above the normal run of the mill of B movies that were produced at the time.

I enjoyed this one and I hope you do to.