You're in the swing when nothing daunts you

[sovay]

Tonight on TCM at their usual midnight EST, Noir Alley is premiering Black Angel (1946). Eight years after catching it as half of a Cornell Woolrich double bill at the Brattle Theatre marked the point of no return of my interest in film noir, this picture remains one of my small, shadow-sided, favorite examples. It's full of uneven chances and bittersweet echoes. I wrote about it for my nascent Patreon and then I wrote it a ghost poem. I would cheerfully purchase an EP of its original songs, torchily or catchily attributed to the hard-luck musician played by Dan Duryea in one of his most bruised and romantic roles. June Vincent, Peter Lorre, Constance Dowling, and Wallace Ford fill out the rest of the screen, along with a marvelously tilting bender of a montage. If you can tune in, you should check it out.



(If you cannot tune in, please feel free to resort to the usual suspects of your choice. For the second time this year, I have discovered the Blu-Ray restoration of a favorite movie only after it's already sold out.)

Comments

[sovay]

Ahh, Black Angel and its ghost marriage. <3 <3 <3

♥

(I'm not really designed for emojis, but I thought just saying augh! would not be helpful.)

I still find myself periodically coming back to your poem, and I keep thinking it would be neat to write another ficlet or two for the film, but so far no solid ideas have struck.

I'm still honored that the poem stays with you. And glad of the fic you have written.

(Though the parallel universe aspect of my last fic for it seems to have taken on a new significance, now that I've been made aware of the parallel universe aspects of Woolrich's I Married a Dead Man when compared to its precursor novella...)

See? AUs are canonical in Woolrich. You could totally get away with it.

On that note, did you ever get around to reading the original novel (The Black Angel) the film was adapted from?

I have not! Nor have I made it around to Too Late for Tears, although I keep eyeing the list of Stark House's Film Noir Classics and hoping. It remains much easier for me to read paper books than e-books, which puts me in the minority of just about everyone literate nowadays.

No shade if the answer is no--I still haven't gotten around to either reading or watching Phantom Lady, ahahaha (mostly because I keep getting distracted by Woolrich's shorter works, oops).

Anything you haven't been writing about lately?

On the topic of the soundtrack, someone on tumblr a while ago made an edit of "Heartbreak," turning it into something resembling a full song, that I'm sure you'll appreciate.

I appreciate that immensely! I am delighted someone took the time to piece it together, background noises and all. I am still surprised none of the film's songs really escaped into the wild. I've heard themes plugged much harder that don't get stuck in my head like "I Want to Be Talked About."

[konstantya]

(I'm not really designed for emojis, but I thought just saying augh! would not be helpful.)

By all means respond in whatever way that makes you comfortable. I've been known to use an all-caps "UGH" (or the more extreme "UGHHH") plenty of times in my day. ;)

I am still surprised none of the film's songs really escaped into the wild.

Seriously! I remember I did such a deep dive on youtube (and then the greater internet) a couple years ago, trying to find something, ANYTHING, only to come back with disappointment.