JohnnyLee1 Hudson is mesmerising as newspaper reporter Burke Devlin who is besotted by fly-by-night characters, especially sultry daredevil parachutist LaVerne Schumann (Dorothy Malone). His character is worth all of the others put together. In the acting stakes too he shines brightly, adding nuance to his performance. Unfortunately the script is tarnished especially if we are to believe Hudson's infatuation for LaVerne who proves herself to be mostly unlovable. If you like Depression era dramas, that will help you enjoy this more. And if you like the early world of flying, that will help too. But mostly watch it for Rock Hudson's intelligent performance. Based on a story by William Faulkner.

gavin6942 Story of a friendship between an eccentric journalist (Rock Hudson)and a daredevil barnstorming pilot (Robert Stack).The Universal-International film reunited director Sirk with Stack, Malone, and Hudson, with whom he had collaborated on "Written on the Wind" two years earlier. Sirk chose to shoot "Angels" in black-and-white to help capture the despondent mood of the era in which it is set. Faulkner considered the film to be the best screen adaptation of his work.The reviews on this film have improved with age, due in part to Sirk really not getting respect until much later (thanks in part to Fassbinder). I found the film to be solid, and would rank it among the very best of Sirk's work. Truly a must-see. Not quite a noir, but still on the edges of that world.

Holdjerhorses Starring Rock Hudson, Dorothy Malone, Robert Stack, Jack Carson and an uncredited offscreen violinist hired, apparently, to let us know when we're supposed to feel moved during certain scenes.Otherwise, without that violinist, who could tell? Douglas Sirk directed this in between (starring the same leads) "Written on the Wind" and (different leads) "Imitation of Life." For various reasons, those are two of the greatest and most entertaining melodramas ever filmed.On every level, "Tarnished Angels" was phoned in.George Zuckerman's script intermittently strives for Faulknerian something or other, particularly in Hudson's drunken newsroom monologue in the last reel. But nobody ever talked Faulknerian in real life so it sounds like pseudo-poetic "depth" when it's really just Woolworth pretension.Maybe better actors could have carried it off, but we'll never know because "Tarnished Angels" is the nadir of everybody's career.Hudson, thankfully, went on to find his true screen persona as a light comedian with Doris Day. Here, early on, he already looks slightly soft in the face, though still handsome. (But Robert Stack is handsomer, and strips to a t-shirt to boot.) Hudson just reads weak and incompetent as an actor here. One views "Tarnished Angels" from the retrospective of the present and thinks, "Damn, he's dull." Nice guy, but mediocre.Dorothy Malone? Same thing. You can't help liking her on screen, though her range consists of about three expressions, all phony.Offscreen, you intuit Malone was a great, down-to-earth, loving gal. Heaven knows she was pretty. But she's so busy "playing" sultry, seductive, sexy and sinful -- jutting her chin defiantly, lowering her eyes and generally imitating Lauren Bacall -- you just want her to retire and go back to Texas and find suburban love and happiness as somebody's wife and mother. Consistently miscast by Hollywood as a sex symbol, she's like watching the president of the PTA, or your Mom, bleached under contract to play "slutty." Her most (perhaps only) fully realized dynamic performance was in "Man of a Thousand Faces." She was memorable.Even the great Jack Carson comes off half-mast in "Tarnished Angels." If you pay attention, it's because of the lines. He's fine, except when the dialogue requires him to be "poignant." Robert Stack is Robert Stack is Robert Stack.But the shot compositions and lighting are terrific.Everybody except the violinist, including Douglas Sirk, phoned this one in.Before the days of 911.

wes-connors Depression-era newspaper reporter Rock Hudson (as Burke Devlin) rescues a boy from teasing, and returns him to his parents. As it turns out, nine-year-old Chris Olsen (as Jack) is the son of World War I hero Robert Stack (as Roger Shumann), who is using his piloting muscle in a New Orleans carnival act known as "The Flying Shumanns". Mr. Stack's wife, curvaceously beautiful blonde Dorothy Malone (as LaVerne), does a parachute stunt. And, the couple's mechanic, chubby Jack Carson (as Jiggs), keeps the plane's engine humming. The quartet appears hale and hearty, but are destitute when Mr. Carson spends their meager funds on a pair of boots. Instead of moving into a "Hooverville", they go to live in Mr. Hudson's small apartment.Hudson, who drinks and smokes like a reporter should, wants to do a story on "The Flying Shumanns" for the Picayune.In flashback, we learn Malone married Stack (whilst in the "family way") instead of Carson, who was the man teased for being young Olsen's real father in the opening segment. Carson is still in love with Malone, who seems to be torn between Hudson and Stack. But, that's not all. Stack's aviating rival, rotund Robert Middleton (as Matt Ord), is also in love with Malone. And, after a flying tragedy involving Stack and Middleton's pilot (Troy Donahue), Malone is sent to prostitute herself in exchange for a new plane (for Stack). This tests how much each of the men - Hudson, Stack, Carson, Middleton - love Malone.And, it may also reveal who Malone will take to the closing credits…William Faulkner's "The Tarnished Angels" reunites director Douglas Sirk and Hudson with two of their "Written on the Wind" (1956) co-stars, Malone and Stack. They are certainly attractive, but seem more like they are posturing for a 1950s (where these folks should have been put) glamour magazine than starring as 1930s New Orleans depression-era denizens. The most ludicrous sequence involves Malone showing off her underwear during an impossible to imagine parachute and swing stunt - the arm muscles required for this feat would be considerable. The carnival backdrop is a highlight, it's used well in the opening and climax.****** The Tarnished Angels (11/21/57) Douglas Sirk ~ Rock Hudson, Dorothy Malone, Robert Stack, Jack Carson