Rock Hudson, Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone Fly High in Sirk’s The Tarnished Angels

 

                One of the lesser-known entries in director Douglas Sirk’s venerated cannon of top-flight 1950’s Universal-International melodramas, 1957’s The Tarnished Angels deserves more attention as an enthralling entertainment, with stunningly staged action sequences and moving work from a sublime cast. Based on William Faulkner’s 1935’s novel Pylon (adroitly adapted for the screen by George Zuckerman), the film depicts the exploits of Roger and Laverne Shumann, a daredevil pilot and former WWI ace and his beautiful, devoted wife, who performs parachute jumps to help attract the crowds as she billows down from the sky, and their interactions with Burke Delvin, a frequently intoxicated reporter who becomes fascinated by the Shumann’s nomadic, wayward lifestyle. Sirk handles the material with his typical dramatic flourish, resulting in a highly compelling watch, with evocative B&W cinematography by Irving Glassberg perfectly capturing the 1930’s barnstorming era and an intense score by Frank Skinner that effectively supports the standout work of the cast in some vividly emotional sequences, both on-and-off the ground.  

Starting his film career in his homeland of Germany in the 1930’s, after his 1943 U.S. directorial debut via Columbia’s Hitler’s Madmen, Douglas Sirk spent ten years honing his distinct style, before a Universal-International contract would propel him to greater fame and box office success after his breakthrough with 1954’s Magnificent Obsession. The first in a series of Sirk classics featuring an intoxicating blend of romance, Technicolor and involving histrionic sequences, Obsession would gain Rock Hudson stardom and place Sirk at the forefront of Universal’s most reliable and profitable directors, with All That Heaven Allows and Written on the Wind confirming his status as a master of the Melodrama. With Tarnished, Sirk’s talent for executing riveting scenes featuring actors at their thespian best is in full bloom; Sirk is particularly impressive in utilizing the Cinemascope expanse to depict several exciting and dangerous races around said pylons, with Sirk’s skillful helming and ace editing by Russell F. Schoengarth allowing these scenes to come across to viewers with maximum impact (as the author can attest, seeing Tarnished on a big screen is a must if the opportunity arises). After Tarnished, Sirk would end the 1950s and his career with his biggest box-office success, the florid, compulsively watchable remake of Imitation of Life, which pulls tears as effectively as just about any movie and is now regarded by many as Sirk’s masterpiece.

Hudson was at a career peak by the release of Angels, thanks to fruitful collaborations with Sirk and a Best Actor Oscar nomination for one of the decade’s big ones, 1956’s Giant, with placement atop Quigley’s 1957’s poll of top Box-Office stars around the corner. In the midst of this fame and achievement, Hudson gave one of his most quietly effective performances as Burke Delvin, the contemplative, calm moralist who strives to help the Shumanns find some sort of stability and peace, while falling for Laverne in the process. The stoic Hudson does a great job suggesting the melancholic aspects of Delvin’s character, specifically in possible his best moment, wherein the drunken Delvin delivers a poetic monologue to his newspaper colleagues, with Hudson bringing off the speech and Delvin’s inebriated state with an effortless conviction that impresses, especially when considering how easily the difficult scene could have gone wrong if enacted in the too-showy manner actors often adopt when playing drunk. Following Tarnished, Hudson’s career would witness a huge shift when he closed out the decade showing substantial comic flair in the smash romcom Pillow Talk opposite his ideal costar, Doris Day. Afterwards Hudson would alternate between comedies (including two more with Day), dramas, Westerns and War-oriented films, remaining a top draw until the mid-1960’s, before moving on to possibly his most offbeat and daring film and performance in 1966’s Seconds, directed by John Frankenheimer. Hudson would turn to stage work, while also gaining major television success in the 1970’s via McMillan and Wife, before his untimely passing from AIDS in 1985 at age 59, raising awareness of the disease in the process, with Giant costar and lifelong friend Elizabeth Taylor stepping up as an advocate in the fight against AIDS.

Robert Stack was also at the top of his film career around the time of Angels after winning high praise and a seemingly near-miss Supporting Actor Oscar for his dedicated, forceful work as a paranoid alcoholic in Sirk’s sweeping Wind. Starting in films with much publicity as the first to bestow a screen kiss on Deanna Durbin in 1939’s First Love, the ultra-handsome and charismatic Stack would build on this initial success during the 1940s via screen endeavors such as Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be or Not to Be, A Date with Judy and an underrated comic gem, Miss Tatlock’s Millions, while also serving in the Navy during WWII. The new decade would find Stack offering up substantial dramatic work in 1951’s The Bullfighter and the Lady and as a jittery pilot in one of 1954’s big hits, The High and the Mighty. Following Tarnished Angels, Stack would soon gain his biggest fame with his Emmy-winning work as Eliot Ness on The Untouchables (his work therein even garnering mention in 1960’s The Apartment), then continue his career, most memorably as one of the stoic-leading-men-turned-comic-stars in 1980’s Airplane! and, starting in 1987, as the host of the long-running Unsolved Mysteries, while also penning (with Mark Evans) a highly absorbing 1980 autobiography.

After nearly fifteen years in the business, Dorothy Malone was also thriving circa 1957, winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her previous Sirk endeavor as the carnal, rich and troublemaking Marylee Hadley in Wind (more on that here) before giving perhaps her most profound and moving performance in Angels. Starting in films in 1943, Malone would spend ten years in a series of comedies, dramas and Westerns, making key impacts as the lovely bookseller Humphrey Bogart idles his time with in 1946’s classic noir The Big Sleep and as the lonely USO coordinator who trysts with Tab Hunter in a big 1955 hit, Battle Cry, before a change from brunette to blonde provided a spike in Malone’s fortunes, specifically in her films with Sirk, wherein her stunning looks and emotionally-driven acting style conveying both sensuality and anguish were showcased to staggering effect. As Laverne, Malone downplays the flamboyant sexuality inherit to her Wind characterization, instead using her sad, soulful eyes to emphasize a forlorn, wounded deportment the dispirited Laverne has adopted after years on the road with the shiftless Roger, while she yearns for a more secure existence for her family. In the wake of tragedy central to the film, Malone delves the depths of despair to illustrate Laverne’s bitterness and regret with a believable dramatic force that lingers, with a viewer hoping the vulnerable heroine will gain some sense of peace after so many setbacks. After Angels, Malone would continue to do interesting work in movies that failed to find much of an audience (Too Much, Too Soon, Warlock, The Last Voyage and in a reteaming with Hudson in The Last Sunset), until a career upswing in the mid-1960s via television’s Peyton Place. After that success, Malone would continue on T.V. with occasional film appearances, aptly ending her career on a high note with a small but pivotal role in 1992’s smash Basic Instinct.

Jack Carson has one of his best roles as Jiggs, Roger and Laverne’s sympathetic right-hand man. Starting in films in the 1930s (Carson can be seen in bits in such top fare as Stage Door and Bringing Up Baby), during the 1940s Carson gained fame at Warner Brothers in both comedy (often alongside Dennis Morgan) and dramas, including unforgettable, Oscar-worthy work in 1943’s The Hard Way, alternating between lead and character roles in the process, with Mildred Pierce and 1954’s A Star is Born among his most notable efforts. As Jiggs, Carson is able to convey a stabilizing voice of reason in the Shumann’s unorthodox lifestyle, as well as Jiggs’ loyalty to the pair in a poignant manner. Among others, as Jack, the Shumann’s adoring son, Chris Olsen continued his nice run after scoring the previous year in both The Man Who Knew Too Much singing “Que, Sera, Sera” alongside Doris Day, and in possible his best work as James Mason’s tormented son in Bigger Than Life. Robert Middleton makes a strong showing as Matt Ord, the businessman who only has lecherous eyes for Laverne. Troy Donahue makes a brief appearance as a rival ace pilot to roger, and William Schallert also pops up, as he inevitably did both in film and television during the 1950s and way beyond, with his first credit in 1947 and last appearance in 2014, two years before his passing at 93.

                Although The Tarnished Angels did not match the box office success of some previous Sirk pictures and was largely dismissed by many critics who placed the noteworthy film strictly in the “potboiler” category, the movie has benefited from the re-assessment of Sirk as one of the finest screen craftsmen of his generation and now stands as a prime entry in the filmographies of its stellar cast and crew, as well as gaining consideration as the best screen adaptation of a Faulkner work, alongside Intruder in the Dust and The Long, Hot Summer. Fans of Sirk, Hudson, Malone, Stack (and costars) and classic films in general will want to fly high via a viewing of The Tarnished Angels, especially if given the chance to catch those breathtaking flying sequences on a big screen, to fully gauge how masterfully Sirk could build dramatic tension to an explosive climax in a manner unlike any other filmmaker.

                And a fond farewell to Diane Ladd, who passed away on November 3^rd at age 89. Debuting in films in 1961 after a start on stage and television, the Mississippi-born Ladd would hone her craft as a deft character player until a major screen breakthrough in 1974 via Oscar-nominated and British Academy Award winning work in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and a small but key role in one of the era’s masterpieces, Chinatown. Afterwards Ladd would continue to build her reputation as a thespian of note, with highlights including a Golden Globe for her t.v. stint on the hit Alice and two more Oscar nominations for her daringly out-there performance in 1990’s Wild at Heart and, in a more subtle vein the following year, Rambling Rose, both opposite daughter Laura Dern. Later significant films included Primary Colors and a nice small role in 2015’s Joy opposite Jennifer Lawrence, with a final screen appearance in 2022. R.I.P. to a talented, spirited original, Diane Ladd.