Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Good movie but grossly overrated

A Disappointing Continuation

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Young middle-age Eric Stanton is down on his luck: broke after squandering his substantial savings on gambling. He's found a young knockout waitress(Linda Darnell, as Stella) at a bus stopover, on the way to San Francisco, who he would like to marry. But, he has competition. She wants a home and other things right away. Since he is jobless, he will have to use his imagination to come up with the dough. His competition seems to be mostly several middle-aged men who are regulars at Pop's drugstore, where she works. They take her out on dates with their car. But Eric has no car and no money to take her out. Then, he finds out about a pair of spinster sisters: June(Alice Faye)and Clare( Anne Revere) Mills, who inherited their house and considerable money. He schemes to marry one, take most of her money, then divorce her, and marry Stella. Easier said than done, as he discovers. After establishing a relationship with 'Professor' Matley(John Carradine): a spiritualist, Eric contacts the pair and offers them tickets to a séance, which will feature their deceased father. They reluctantly agree, but are not impressed with the 'show'. However, Eric continues to engage their attention. Soon, it's plain that June, the better looking sister, is interested in him. Soon, they shock everyone, especially sister Clara, by announcing they got married that day. That evening, Eric goes to Stella, and tells her the story and that he will soon have the money for a house, and then will divorce June. But Stella doesn't buy it , and goes on her planned date with Dave Atkins(Bruce Cabot). The next morning, everyone is dumbfounded by the news that Stella was murdered last night. Her estimated time of death is an important detail in ruling out various suspects, including Eric. Nonetheless, the investigator Mark Judd(Charles Bickford) keeps Eric in mind as a prime suspect. Thus, the remainder of the film is mostly devoted to trying to prove who murdered Stella, and to strengthening the Eric/June relationship.......We can understand why Stella would want to date a variety of men, with her ultimate goal of marrying one who can immediately provide her with a home. In contrast, June seems not particularly interested in men. She already has a home and plenty of money she inherited. Thus, she's not dependent on a man to provide these things. Why then would she fall for Eric, who had the smell of a con man? My guess is she saw in Eric a handsome man, about her age, whom she thought had potential to be a good provider, if he was given some help to get back on his feet, and hopefully reign in his weaknesses(especially gambling). She didn't know he was a compulsive gambler until after they were married. Now, she has to fear he could gamble away her inheritance. Both Eric and Stella seem narcissistic, in contrast to June, who seems nurturing. I suspect she hopes she can convert Eric into being nurturing too, after he gets on his feet, financially. See the movie, available at YouTube, to find out who murdered Stella.

Penniless con-man Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews) gets thrown off the bus in the seaside town of Walton between L.A. and San Francisco. He is taken with sultry waitress Stella (Linda Darnell). He joins forces with spiritualist con-men Professor Madley and his assistant Joe Ellis. They have been trying to scam the town in spite of the powerful disbelieving spinster Clara Mills (Anne Revere) and her younger sister June (Alice Faye). The Mills lost their father and Madley pretends to have a public seance to contact the late Mr. Mills. Eric needs money to marry Stella and decides to get it out of June in a quickie marriage. He is terribly jealous of Stella's flirtations with other men.This is a noir directed by Otto Preminger coming a year after Laura. The dialog and performances are hard-boiled. The movie is pulpy goodness. The character June would work better as a young innocent. Alice Faye is playing a spinster and it's hard to see her falling for his simple self-assured flirtations. She has more worldliness than the role seems to suggest. Apparently, she didn't like the movie and left Hollywood for awhile over it. This has many of the trappings of good noir. Perminger's early prowess is on display.

Someone commented that this film is better than 'Laura'. I'd have to say that I agree, but that is no ringing endorsement for 'Fallen Angel', because there are at least two too many unbelievable characters.We get quite early on that Dana Andrews is your quintessential ne'er do well con artist. His cheeky move of marrying a virtuous girl with money (Alice Faye) to eventually use his new-found wealth to romance the very sexy Linda Darnell, is a tad outrageous.The only believable character is the teasing Darnell. She looks very fresh and lovely here.Alice Faye looks out of place in this film noir, as she had that oh so sweet blonde innocent look. I was literally scratching my head trying to figure out why such a nice girl would be so taken with the obvious bum Andrews.So, no, I didn't 'buy' the movie, as i didn't 'buy' 'Laura'. But the ending I must admit was very clever and a wonderful bit of off-type casting.The ending is almost as good as Preminger's ambiguous finish to his masterpiece 'Anatomy of a Murder'.I recently rewatched this film and I found myself enjoying it even more. Darnell is gorgeous in her role...someone's review talked about Linda as 'out of place' playing a 'bad girl' but I think she fits it perfectly.I fell in love with Ms. Darnell as 'Stella', much like every male in the cast did! 'Stella' is the classic film noir femme fatale. I came to appreciate Charles Bickford's role as the sadistic cop, but I still could not make heads or tails of Alice Faye's blind faith in the greasy Dana Andrews' character.This is a flawed film, but I must say, I enjoy it much more than 'Laura'. Preminger seems to have a real affection for the genre. The con man/spookchaser role played by John Carradine allows the actor to ham it up magnificently as only Carradine can.Poor Alice Faye still seems out of place. She at first appears as your Cardboard Virtuous Blonde. It's interesting that Faye tried to reinvent herself in this film noir film, it may have worked with a better screenplay. Closer examination of Ms. Faye reveals a very lovely woman. Her appeal is still quite obvious in this mid forties' flick.

While traveling to San Francisco, the drifter Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews) is thrown off the bus late night in Walton for not having the necessary money to buy the complete ticket. He wanders to the "Pop's Eats" diner, where he meets the sexy waitress Stella, an easy woman that uses to date clients after-hours. Eric has a crush on her but the cynical Stella tells that he can not afford to have her. Eric decides to seduce the lonely June Mills (Alice Faye), a wealthy woman that lives with her controller sister Clara Mills (Anne Revere), to have money to move with Stella. Eric goes to San Francisco with June and Clara, and gets married with June. They return to Walton and in the wedding night, Eric sneaks out to meet Stella that has a date. On the next morning, Stella is found murdered and the brutal investigator Mark Judd (Charles Bickford) is assigned for the case. When Eric becomes the prime-suspect, he investigates the murder seeking the identity of the real killer."Fallen Angel" is a disappointing film-noir by Otto Preminger. The unreasonable story has only unlikable characters and situations very hard to believe. The conclusion with Eric Stanton resolving the case by distance is awful. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Anjo ou Demônio" ("Angel or Demon")