Themes: Love Triangles, Women During Wartime, Living With Disability
Main Cast: Fredric March, Merle Oberon, Claud Allister, Louise M. Bates, Jimmy Baxter, Janet Beecher, George Breakston, Jimmy Butler, Colin Campbell, Robert Carleton, Denis Chaldecott, Fay Chaldecott, Phyllis Coghlan, Cora Sue Collins, Edward Cooper, Henrietta Crosman, Philip Dare, Roy Darmour, Gunnis Davis, Jack Deery, Vernon P. Downing, Sarah Edwards, Bud Geary, Douglas Gordon, Lawrence Grant, Robert Hale, John Halliday, Sam Harris, Holmes Herbert, Harold Howard, Olaf Hytten, Frieda Inescort, Colin Kenny, Claude King, Murdock MacQuarrie, Herbert Marshall, John Miltern, Tom Moore, Vesey O'Davoren, Albert Russell, C. Montague Shaw, Doris Stone, Charles Tannen, Francis Palmer Tilton, David Torrence, Clare Verdera, Carl Voss, Douglas Walton
Release Year: 1935
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
Plot
Samuel Goldwyn's The Dark Angel is a sumptuously produced soap opera with a poignant "Enoch Arden" style denouement. Fredric March, Merle Oberon and Herbert Marshall star respectively as Alan Trent, Kitty Vane and Gerald Shannon, friends since childhood. Though Gerald is deeply in love with Kitty, it is Alan who wins her hand in marriage. But before the wedding can take place, WW I intervenes, and both Alan and Gerald march off with their regiments. Blinded on the battlefield, Alan gallantly pretends to have been killed so that Kitty will not feel obligated to care for him. Eventually, however, she discovers that he's still alive, which leads to the film's most memorable scene, in which the proud Alan painstakingly arranges all the furniture and bric-and-brac in his room to make it seem as though he can still see. Though the film is set in the late teens and early '20s, Merle Oberon is garbed throughout in the latest 1935 fashions -- an endearingly anachronistic Sam Goldwyn trademark. Oscar nominations went to star Oberon and art director Richard Day, with the latter taking home the gold statuette. Adapted by Lillian Hellman and Mordaunt Sharp from a stage play by Guy Bolton (written pseudonymously as H. B. Treveleyen), The Dark Angel was previously filmed by Goldwyn in 1925. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Too often romantic melodramas sink beneath the suds of their soapy stories, but The Dark Angel is that rare thing, a first rate heart tugger that remains remarkably good drama. Granted, Angel definitely strains credulity when looked at dispassionately. There's a bit too much coincidence in places, and the noble self-sacrificing actions of the hero would smack of masochism in the real world. But Angel isn't about the real world; it's about the emotional world, a fantasy land where Fate (with a capital "F") simply cannot be thwarted and where the dictates of the heart are the only laws that matter. For those viewers willing to fall head first into this world, Angel is a glorious way to pass the time. Even those who may be resistant to giving in can enjoy the stunning beauty of Merle Oberon, an actress whose performances were a bit hit-or-miss but who was never less than lovely. It's a bonus that Angel contains one of her finest performances. Even better are Fredric March and Herbert Marshall, two very fine actors who are in peak form here. The age difference between Marshall and Oberon is a bit offputting, as they are supposed to be basically contemporaries, but this is a small flaw. Sidney Franklin's direction is solid, the production values are top notch and Gregg Toland's cinematography is striking. And even after these many years, the climactic scene, as manipulative as it is, is powerful. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
The Dark Angel (1935) is a film which tells the story of three childhood friends, two male, one female. When the woman chooses one of the men to marry, the other, jealous, sends his rival off into a dangerous situation during wartime. The film stars Fredric March, Merle Oberon, and Herbert Marshall.
The movie was adapted by Lillian Hellman and Mordaunt Shairp 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.
