The Boundaries of an Angel's Memory

In talking about films noir and works of fiction dealing with memory problems, I often reference 1946's Black Angel, despite the fact that it somehow remains relatively obscure. The Criterion Channel's very appropriately showing it on their Blackout Noir playlist this month so I watched it again to see if it's still as good as I remember it. It is.

Dan Duryea stars as a drunken nightclub pianist whose cold-hearted ex-wife tells her doorman not to let him in to see her. While he drinks and bangs angrily at a piano, she does let other men in to see her. One of these is Kirk (John Phillips), who's having an affair with her despite the fact that he's married to the pretty sweetheart Catherine (June Vincent). When Duryea's ex-wife is murdered and it seems clear Kirk did the deed, Catherine nonetheless sticks by him.

She enlists the aid of Duryea's character, Martin, and their amateur investigation leads them to none other than Peter Lorre as a shady nightclub owner called Marko. Everything seems to be falling in place as you'd expect before the film pulls the rug out from under you with one of the darkest endings of any film noir. Of course it involves a blackout and memory loss.

Duryea usually plays thugs but always with plenty of nuance and here he shows he could truly sink his teeth into a more complicated character. The supporting cast is all good, particularly Lorre, but it's Duryea's hopeless bitterness mixed with instinctive selflessness that makes this movie a real heartbreaker. I'll go right along referencing this as an unrecognised landmark in film history.

X Sonnet 1967

The infiltration leaks between the seams.
A brittle box could break and yet refrains.
Nothing goes the way a mollusc seems.
In ev'ry arm there hides a tasty brain.
At dawn, the water burns a greenish blue.
The horizontal eight became an eye.
Its tranquil gaze discerns the morning's hue.
A ruddy sun announced the rolling die.
The glowing bloody air has soaked the grass.
Misfortune paired with luck on ev'ry blade.
Another star emerged from roiling gas.
A fickle god demands a price be paid.
But flotsam flies about the endless deep.
Exhaustive search ensures some secrets keep.