Monday, February 21, 2011

Radio review – Lux – “Fallen Angel” (1946) ***

With her flaming red hair and beauty, it’s a surprise Maureen O’Hara didn’t make a few film noirs - maybe her image was too goody-too-shoes, but I think she could have been effective. Anyway, she did this one for radio – although she’s in the goody-too-shoes part played by Alice Faye in the film, of a spinster librarian who marries a drifter (Mark Stevens, subbing for Dana Andrews) even though he’s in love with a hot tramp (Linda Darnell). A decent mystery; Stevens’ character is a bit of a loser – “I was always getting blamed for things I didn’t do…” O’Hara would be too good looking on film to pull of this role but on radio she’s fine, and Darnell is good value. Stevens is alright – he doesn’t really have the world-weariness to make a real impact.

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