Angel Face

Angel Face.
1952 RKO Radio Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Mona Freeman, Herbert Marshall, Barbara O'Neil, Leon Ames, Kenneth Tobey, Jim Backus
Director: Otto Preminger
Available from Amazon as part of the Robert Mitchum Signature Collection box set.

Otto Preminger was borrowed by RKO from 20th Century Fox to direct this one. In it, ambulance driver Frank Jessup (Mitchum) is lured into the web of Diane Tremayne (Simmons), a sweet-on-the-surface debutante and daddy's girl who is used to getting what she wants. However, ever since her mother died in France during a World War II bombing, and after her novelist father Charles (Marshall) remarried to a wealthy lady named Catherine (O'Neil), Diane hasn't exactly been herself. To aggravate the situation, Charles has stopped writing, and is now a henpecked husband dependent on Catherine's wealth. Diane also feels like her new stepmother is trying to control her.

First, Diane tries to poison her stepmother, but Frank and his partner Bill (Tobey) rush to the Tremayne estate in time to save Catherine's life. Diane becomes hysterical at finding out her stepmother will recover fully. Having set her sights on Frank, Diane manages to steal him away from his sweetheart Mary (Freeman), who had been trying to help Frank realize his dream of owning his own repair shop. Diane tells Frank that she talked to Catherine, saying that she is interested in investing in Frank's garage dream, and in the meantime, Frank accepts a job as the Tremaynes' personal chauffeur. Catherine ultimately decides not to bother with Frank's ambitions, and after Diane claims that her stepmother tried to kill her by gassing her, Frank decides to leave, wanting to return to Mary. A hysterical Diane begs him to not leave, and he relents, but just long enough to think things over. While Frank is gone for a day, Catherine and Charles are killed when their car goes over a cliff in a freak accident.

After an investigation, Frank and Diane are arrested for murder. Their lawyer, Fred Barrett, manages to get them acquitted despite evidence that the car's transmission and steering mechanism were tampered with prior to the accident. Despite the acquittal, it may be far too late for Frank to get out of Diane's emotional and psychological grip.

Recommended film.