In Praise of Linda Darnell

Just finished watching Otto Preminger's 1945 film noir Fallen Angel starring Darnell, Dana Andrews, and Alice Faye. Was blown away by Darnell's sultry femme fatale.

She was one of the most beautiful actresses Hollywood ever produced. Smoking hot describes her perfectly. Her life was filled with sadness, however, and her end was one of Hollywood's most poignant tragedies.

Any fans here?

 

From Fallen Angel. Check out the lighting, the smoke, and Darnell's entrance. Preminger was a genius.

 

She's good in My Darling Clementine and No Way Out - two great films

 

Wow she’s a beauty. I knew her name but not much more. Just looked her up on Wiki and was sorry to read she died really young at 41 in a fire. I’ll look out now for her movies on TCM.

 

Fallen Angel is one of my favorite noir films and it's mostly for Linda Darnell's presence and performance. I've seen a few of her films and she was very versatile as an actress, doing musicals and comedies as well. Such a tragic end to her life.

 

Also, A Letter to Three Wives — like No Way Out, a Joseph L. Mankiewicz film. The former is already available on BD from Masters of Cinema. The latter will be released by MoC on 11 June 2018.

 

DVDBeaver on the beauties of Film Noir:

Beauty Lurking in the Shadows - Women of Film Noir

I can’t choose a favourite, but I particularly like Rita Hayworth, Veronica Lake, Colleen Gray, Gene Tierney, Joan Bennett ... hell, I love them all!

 

Actually, if you’re particularly taken with Linda Darnell, you could go for the U.S. Fox BD of A Letter to Three Wives, which includes a 44-minute featurette on the actress:

A Letter to Three Wives Blu-ray

 

I didn't know this existed. Thanks! Would love to see this mini-bio.

 

Doh, I just read the Wikipedia bio -- Darnell had a very sad life and far less success than she deserved. Awful story.

 

Linda was quite an actress.

 

I had no idea about her life story but have known her for years from Mark of Zorro. I need to see more of her films now.

 

She was the leading lady in Preston Sturges' Unfaithfully Yours, and in the film's very last line Rex Harrison gives her one of the all time great romantic moments:

A thousand poets dreamed a thousand years, and you were born... My Love

 

Pa Kettle! Always thought those films were pretty lousy. This is, indeed, a prime Preminger classic and, yep, she is hot and quite sultry.

 

A beautiful actress, gone far too young and in such a terrible way!

 

For a guy thrown off a bus into small town, nowheresville... Dana Andrews sure moves in fast!

 

Fallen Angel is one of my favorite noirs, and Darnell contributed a lot to the film's appeal. I wish we'd get a blu-ray of it.

 

She reteamed with Dana Andrews in Zero Hour!, the '57 film that Zucker/Abrams/Zucker parodied in Airplane! She gained a lot of weight after that; shortly before her death she was in an episode of Burke's Law and I had to look twice to realize it was her. Very sad indeed.

 

Doris Dowling.

 

Not my type, but she had supporting roles in some great films:

The Lost Weekend
The Blue Dahlia
Othello (Orson Welles)

 

Eh? No comprendo, mi Caballero.

 

We need some clarification ... there are at least eight bands that I know of called Fallen Angel/Fallen Angels. Everything from a psychedelic band from the '60s to several thrash metal bands. And a number of others as well. C'mon Steve ... don't leave us hanging.

 

Francis Farmer springs to mind.

 

Bitter Rice(1949).