The Tarnished Angels

1957
PG
1h 31m

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

4.3K

YOUR RATING

Rock Hudson, Dorothy Malone, and Robert Stack in The Tarnished Angels (1957)

Story of a friendship between an eccentric journalist and a daredevil barnstorming pilot.

Play trailer2:38

1 Video

64 Photos

Tragedy Tragic Romance Action Adventure Drama Romance

Story of the fraught friendship between an eccentric journalist and a team of daredevil flying acrobats.Story of the fraught friendship between an eccentric journalist and a team of daredevil flying acrobats.Story of the fraught friendship between an eccentric journalist and a team of daredevil flying acrobats.

Director
- Douglas Sirk
Writers
- William Faulkner
- George Zuckerman
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

4.3K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Douglas Sirk
Writers
- William Faulkner
- George Zuckerman
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 2:38

Trailer

Photos64

+ 59

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Storyline

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Trivia
During location shooting in San Diego, Robert Stack's wife was about to have their first child. While filming the tense scene where Stack propositions his on-screen wife (played by Dorothy Malone), a plane suddenly flew right by the cameras with letters tailing four feet tall proclaiming IT'S A GIRL! Rock Hudson had arranged to have the hospital call immediately when the news came and hired a stunt pilot to tow the message behind the plane. Stack was deeply moved by Hudson's generosity, saying in his autobiography, "It's a moment I've never forgotten. Anybody who tells me that Rock Hudson isn't a first-class gent had better put up his dukes."

Goofs
Despite the fact that the story is taking place in the early 1930s, all of Dorothy Malone's clothing, hairstyles and make-up are strictly 1957, the year the picture was filmed.

Quotes
Ted Baker: On the level, what'd you do last night?
Burke Devlin: Nothing much:just sat up half the night discussing literature and life with a beautiful, half naked blonde.
Ted Baker: You better change bootleggers.

Connections
Featured in Behind the Mirror: A Profile of Douglas Sirk (1979)

Soundtracks
Old Folks at Home
(uncredited)
Written by Stephen Foster

User reviews44

Review

Featured review

7/10

Douglas Sirk For the Win

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.