The Dark Angel

"The Dark Angel" belongs to a sub-genre of war films released between the two world wars that set melodramatic romances against backdrops of dread. "Three Comrades" from 1938 is a perfect example, and a better film than this one. The overwrought swooning in these movies that would otherwise make them tedious is tempered by the mood of foreboding and death that pervades them.

Because they were made before we knew we'd be entering another world war, they didn't feel obligated to give audiences a morale boost, so war is treated as the dark horror that it actually is. In "The Dark Angel," that horror is given literal form by a strange breeze that blows across the scene periodically throughout the film, chilling the characters and alerting them to the fact that something bad has or is about to happen.

This movie reminded me a lot of the 1945 film "Pride of the Marines" with John Garfield and Eleanor Parker. Or I guess it's more accurate to say that the 1945 film reminded me of this. Both are about service men who are left with permanent scars, literal and figurative, and who distance themselves from their loves when they return home in order not to cause them pain. "The Dark Angel" becomes a bit much to take by the time it's over, but it will probably satisfy those looking for a not very challenging studio film from the 1930s.

The film strangely won the Oscar for Best Art Direction in 1935. Strangely because the movie is mostly set in unremarkable country living rooms and bedrooms. There is one scene that takes place in a WWI bunker, but it hardly seems like an award-worthy achievement. Merle Oberon received the sole Oscar nomination of her career for Best Actress in a year that saw six nominees in that category. Again, it's not really an award-worthy performance. And the film capped off its trifecta of nominations with a nod for Best Sound Recording.

Grade: B.