You're in the swing when nothing daunts you

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.)