The Dark Angel (1935 film)

Last updated
The Dark Angel
Poster of the movie The Dark Angel.jpg
Directed by Sidney A. Franklin
Written by Lillian Hellman
Mordaunt Shairp
Based onThe Dark Angel
1925 play
by Guy Bolton
Produced by Samuel Goldwyn
Starring Fredric March
Merle Oberon
Herbert Marshall
Cinematography Gregg Toland
Edited by Sherman Todd
Music by Alfred Newman
Production
company
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • September 8, 1935 (1935-09-08)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1 million [1]

The Dark Angel is a 1935 film that tells the story of three childhood friends, Kitty (Merle Oberon), Alan (Fredric March), and Gerald (Herbert Marshall) who come of age in England during the First World War. The script was written by Lillian Hellman and Mordaunt Shairp, adapted from the play by Guy Bolton. It was directed by Sidney Franklin, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and released by United Artists. A silent film version of the same play, also produced by Goldwyn, was released in 1925 and is now a lost film. [2]

Contents

The Dark Angel won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Merle Oberon) and Best Sound, Recording (Thomas T. Moulton). [3] [4] A mixed race woman who passed as white, Oberon became both the first Māori actress, and the first of Asian ancestry, to be nominated for Best Actress. [5]

Plot

Kitty Vane, Alan Trent, and Gerald Shannon have been inseparable friends since childhood. Both Alan and Gerald are in love with Kitty, who in turn has been infatuated with Alan her entire life.

Gerald and Alan are drafted into World War I. They return home for ten days, during which time Alan proposes to Kitty and she joyously accepts. Despite his own love for Kitty, Gerald gives the couple his blessing. However, the newly engaged couple's happiness is cut short when Gerald and Alan are ordered back to the front the very next day. Kitty and Alan search for somebody to marry them, but there is not enough time. They decide they do not need to marry officially, and agree to spend the night together before Alan must return to the war.

Alan and Kitty book a room in an inn. Kitty's cousin Lawrence sees Alan taking champagne and flowers up the room and works out that Alan has a woman there, unaware that it is Kitty. The next day, Lawrence teases Alan about the previous night. Gerald misunderstands and believes Alan has cheated on Kitty. When Gerald confronts him, Alan does not reveal that he spent the evening with Kitty. Even though they are engaged, it would ruin her reputation.

Gerald, furious for Kitty's sake, refuses to grant Alan leave so he can return home and marry her properly. Instead, Gerald inadvertently pressures Alan to join him on a dangerous mission. Alan nobly volunteers.

Months later, Gerald returns home to Kitty. They both mourn Alan's death, believing that he was killed in an explosion. Together, they work out Gerald's misunderstanding and conclude that they are both, in a way, to be blamed for Alan's death. Consumed with grief, they grow closer and develop feelings for one another.

Meanwhile, we see that Alan did not die. He lost his eyesight and was cared for in a German hospital, adopting the name “Roger Crane” so that his family could not locate him. Sir George Barton, a physician who specializes in helping blind patients, not only by healing them but also by helping them adjust to their new lives, finds a photograph of Alan, Kitty and Gerald and realises that Alan has changed his name to escape his past. Sir George discharges "Roger" , assigning a specially trained orderly to him.

Alan plans to return to Kitty, but changes his mind at the last minute, believing that people will pity her and that she will only care for him out of duty. He leaves town and stays in an inn. He becomes friendly with the innkeeper's children, Betty, Joe and Ginger. Inspired by his friendship with them, he begins to write a series of successful children's books, and is eventually able to move into his own home, with a private secretary.

Sir George visits Alan, who is still living as "Roger", and sees in the paper a photograph of Kitty and Gerald with the announcement that they are to be married. Recognising them as the couple from Alan's photograph and realising that Alan is still in love with Kitty, Sir George contacts them. Gerald at first does not recognise the name Roger Crane, but works out who he really is. Gerald and Kitty go to visit Alan, who attempts to conceal his blindness from them. At first, they do not realise he cannot see, and Kitty believes that Alan has distanced himself from her and no longer loves her. Wishing to part as friends, she holds her hand out to him, but he cannot see it. She believes that he has rejected her and leaves, but Gerald realizes the truth and encourages her to go back into the house. Hearing footsteps, Alan believes that his secretary is in the room and begins talking to her. Kitty realizes that Alan is blind. She does not care and hurries over to him. They finally profess their love for each other. Gerald leaves them to their reunion.

Cast

Reception

It was the 12th most popular film at the British box office in 1935–1936. [6]

In the September 6, 1935 issue of The New York Times, Andre Sennwald declared the film to be “… a happy adventure in sentimental romance…(The) highly literate screen adaptation of Guy Bolton's play, (skirts) all the more obvious opportunities for tear-jerking and overemphasis, and (tells) the story with feeling and admirable good taste… if you know your cameramen at all, you quickly guess that the superb clarity of the photography is the work of Gregg Toland. If you are thoughtful enough to bring along a spare handkerchief, you will find (this) an engaging sentimental journey into martial romance….It is sad and sweet and brave and very sacrificial. the reunion of the blind man and his two friends… is the high point…Awaiting his visitors, the blind man plans to conceal his affliction from them by memorizing every detail in the room and arranging an elaborate stage business for receiving them. He almost gets away with his deception, but betrays himself in one unexpected detail. It is a high-powered dramatic situation and the film manages it beautifully and effectively. Both Mr. March and Mr. Marshall contribute their best performances in months, and Miss Oberon …plays with skill and feeling. … Sidney Franklin, director of that earlier sentimental masterpiece "Smilin' Through," enshrouds the photoplay in the peculiarly warm emotional haze which he manages so well. It promises to be one of the popular pictures of the season.” [7]

In the November 1, 1935, issue of Maclean's, Ann Ross observed: “If his picture doesn’t have you sobbing before it is over it isn’t the fault of the producers and director. They don’t go at it, to be sure, in the savage spirit of We’re-going-to-make-you-cry-and-like-it. On the contrary, the whole thing is managed with the greatest tact and modesty, as though everyone concerned, while determined to wring as many tears as possible, was a little ashamed to be caught doing it... The point most likely to break you down is where the hero is discovered by his former sweetheart and pretends that he still has his sight—a trying moment which is handled with great considerateness by Miss Oberon and Mr. March. It’s all reasonably interesting, agony though it is from start to finish; rather as an operation might be interesting when conducted in nice surroundings under circumstances as merciful and competent as possible.” [8]

At the 8th Academy Awards, Richard Day won Best Art Direction. Merle Oberon was nominated for Best Actress, [9] and Thomas T. Moulton was nominated for Best Sound Recording.

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 94% from 49 reviews with the consensus: "Led by a trio of powerful performances, The Dark Angel offers a well-crafted love story set against the backdrop of World War I." [10]

Proposed Remake

In 1962, Ross Hunter announced that he would remake the film from a script by John Lee Mahin, with Rock Hudson in the lead. The action would be relocated to Japan in the post-Korean-War period. [11] Hunter says he paid $100,000 for the rights and only used the last ten minutes of the film. [12] The film was never made.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Korda</span> British film director (1893–1956)

Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian–born British film director, producer and screenwriter, who founded his own film production studios and film distribution company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merle Oberon</span> British actress (1911–1979)

Merle Oberon was a British actress who began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). After her success in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), she travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel Goldwyn. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Dark Angel (1935). Oberon hid her mixed heritage out of fear of discrimination and the impact it would have had on her career.

<i>Wuthering Heights</i> (1939 film) 1939 film by William Wyler

Wuthering Heights is a 1939 American romantic period drama film directed by William Wyler, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, starring Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier and David Niven, and based on the 1847 novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. The film depicts only 16 of the novel's 34 chapters, eliminating the second generation of characters. The novel was adapted for the screen by Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht and John Huston (uncredited). The supporting cast features Flora Robson and Geraldine Fitzgerald.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reginald Owen</span> British actor (1887–1972)

John Reginald Owen was a British actor, known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs.

<i>Barbary Coast</i> (film) 1935 film

Barbary Coast is a 1935 American historical Western film directed by Howard Hawks. Shot in black-and-white and set in San Francisco's so-called Barbary Coast during the California Gold Rush, the film combines elements of the Western genre with those of crime, melodrama and adventure. It features a wide range of actors, from hero Joel McCrea to villain Edward G. Robinson, and stars Miriam Hopkins in the leading role as Mary 'Swan' Rutledge. In an early, uncredited appearance, David Niven plays a drunken sailor being thrown out of a bar.

<i>Lydia</i> (film) 1941 American drama film directed by Julien Duvivier

Lydia is a 1941 drama film, directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Merle Oberon as Lydia MacMillan, a woman whose life is seen from her spoiled, immature youth through bitter and resentful middle years, until at last she is old and accepting. The supporting cast features Joseph Cotten, Edna May Oliver and George Reeves. The picture is a remake of Duvivier's Un carnet de bal (1937), which starred Marie Bell as the leading character.

<i>Three Blind Mice and Other Stories</i> Collection of short stories written by Agatha Christie

Three Blind Mice and Other Stories is a collection of short stories written by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1950. The first edition retailed at $2.50.

<i>A Midsummer Nights Dream</i> (1935 film) 1935 film by William Dieterle and Max Reinhardt

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1935 American romantic comedy fantasy film of William Shakespeare's play, directed by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle, and starring James Cagney, Mickey Rooney, Olivia de Havilland, Jean Muir, Joe E. Brown, Dick Powell, Ross Alexander, Anita Louise, Victor Jory and Ian Hunter. Produced by Henry Blanke and Hal B. Wallis for Warner Brothers, and adapted by Charles Kenyon and Mary C. McCall Jr. from Reinhardt's Hollywood Bowl production of the previous year, the film is about the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors, who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the story is set. The play, which is categorized as a comedy, is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world. Felix Mendelssohn's music was extensively used, as re-orchestrated by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The ballet sequences featuring the fairies were choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niles Welch</span> American actor

Niles Eugene Welch was an American performer on Broadway, and a leading man in a number of silent and early talking motion pictures from the early 1910s through the 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Farrell MacDonald</span> American actor and director (1875–1952)

John Farrell MacDonald was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. He appeared in over 325 films over a four-decade career from 1911 to 1951, and directed forty-four silent films from 1912 to 1917.

<i>The Scarlet Pimpernel</i> (1934 film) 1934 British adventure film directed by Harold Young

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a 1934 British adventure film directed by Harold Young and starring Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, and Raymond Massey. Based on the 1905 play by Baroness Orczy and Montagu Barstow and the classic 1905 adventure novel by Orczy, the film is about an eighteenth-century English aristocrat (Howard) who leads a double life, passing himself off as an effete aristocrat while engaged in a secret effort to rescue French nobles from Robespierre's Reign of Terror. The film was produced by Alexander Korda. Howard's portrayal of the title character is often considered the definitive portrayal of the role. In 1941, he played a similar role in "'Pimpernel' Smith" but this time set in pre-WWII Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Stuart (actor)</span> Scottish actor (1898–1979)

John Stuart, was a Scottish actor, and a very popular leading man in British silent films in the 1920s. He appeared in three films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

The Cowboy and the Lady is a 1938 American Western romantic comedy film directed by H.C. Potter, and starring Gary Cooper and Merle Oberon. Written by S.N. Behrman and Sonya Levien, based on a story by Frank R. Adams and veteran film director Leo McCarey, the film is about a beautiful socialite masquerading as a maid who becomes involved with an unpretentious, plain-spoken cowboy who is unaware of her true identity. The Cowboy and the Lady won an Academy Award for Sound Recording, and was nominated for Original Score and Original Song.

<i>The Lodger</i> (1944 film) 1944 American horror film by John Brahm

The Lodger is a 1944 American horror film about Jack the Ripper, based on the 1913 novel of the same name by Marie Belloc Lowndes. It stars Merle Oberon, George Sanders, and Laird Cregar, features Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and was directed by John Brahm from a screenplay by Barré Lyndon.

<i>Dark Waters</i> (1944 film) 1944 film by André de Toth

Dark Waters is a 1944 American Gothic film noir based on the novel of the same name by Francis and Marian Cockrell. It was directed by Andre de Toth and starred Merle Oberon, Franchot Tone, and Thomas Mitchell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melville Cooper</span> English actor (1896–1973)

George Melville Cooper was an English actor. His many notable screen roles include the High Sheriff of Nottingham in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice (1940) and the wedding-rehearsal supervisor Mr. Tringle in Father of the Bride (1950).

<i>The Good Fairy</i> (1935 film) 1935 film by William Wyler

The Good Fairy is a 1935 romantic comedy film written by Preston Sturges, based on the 1930 play A jó tündér by Ferenc Molnár as translated and adapted by Jane Hinton, which was produced on Broadway in 1931. The film was directed by William Wyler and stars Margaret Sullavan, Herbert Marshall, Frank Morgan and Reginald Owen.

<i>The Wedding Night</i> 1935 American romantic film by King Vidor

The Wedding Night is a 1935 American romantic drama film directed by King Vidor and starring Gary Cooper and Anna Sten. Written by Edith Fitzgerald and based on a story by Edwin H. Knopf, the film is about a financially strapped novelist who returns to his country home in Connecticut looking for inspiration for his next novel and becomes involved with a beautiful young Polish woman and her family. The film was produced by Samuel Goldwyn and filmed at Samuel Goldwyn Studios from early November to early December 1934. It was released in the United States on March 8, 1935.

<i>The Dark Angel</i> (1925 film) 1925 film

The Dark Angel is a 1925 American silent drama film, based on the play The Dark Angel, a Play of Yesterday and To-day by H. B. Trevelyan, released by First National Pictures, and starring Ronald Colman, Vilma Bánky, and Wyndham Standing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Lane (actor, born 1869)</span> American actor

Charles Willis Lane was an American stage and film actor, active from 1914 to 1929. Like many film performers born before 1900 Lane had extensive prior Broadway stage or regional theatrical experience stretching back to his youth in the 1890s.

References

  1. "FILM UNITS WILL EXPAND: Outlay for Year $25,000,000 Production Plans of United Artists and Reliance Pictures Disclosed". Los Angeles Times. Aug 21, 1935. p. A1.
  2. "The Dark Angel". www.tcm.com. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
  3. "The 8th Academy Awards (1936) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  4. "The Dark Angel". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
  5. "Native Affairs: The Mystery Of The Māori Hollywood Star". Māori Television. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
  6. "The Film Business in the United States and Britain during the 1930s" by John Sedgwick and Michael Pokorny, The Economic History ReviewNew Series, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Feb., 2005), pp.97
  7. Sennwald, Andre (1935-09-06). "Samuel Goldwyn Presents a New Edition of "The Dark Angel" at the Rivoli Theatre". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-08-28.
  8. "Shots and Angles | Maclean's | November 1st 1935". Maclean's | The Complete Archive. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
  9. "1936 | Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on July 9, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  10. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dark_angel_1935
  11. HOWARD THOMPSON (May 16, 1962). "FILMMAKER TALKS ABOUT 5 PROJECTS: Hunter, Here in Visit, Tells of MacDonald-Eddy Plan 'Tammy Takes Over' Is Next Joanne Woodward to Star British Film Opens Today 7 Vie for Golden Laurel Albert Lamorisse Visits". New York Times. p. 33.
  12. ARKADIN. "Film Clips". Sight and Sound. Vol. 32, no. 3 (Summer 1963). London. p. 140.