''Angela'' is a 1955

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

film noir, written and directed by

Dennis O'Keefe Dennis O'Keefe (born Edward Vanes Flanagan, Jr., March 29, 1908 – August 31, 1968) was an American actor and writer. Early years Born in Fort Madison, Iowa, O'Keefe was the son of Edward Flanagan and Charlotte Flanagan, Irish vaudevill ...

, who stars in the film as well. The drama also features

Mara Lane Mara Lane (born Dorothy Bolton; 1 August 1930) is a British-Austrian actress. She appeared in more than 30 films from 1951 to 1965. Early life Lane was born in Vienna, Austria. She is the eldest daughter of Russian-born pianist mother Olga Mirono ...

Rossano Brazzi Rossano Brazzi (18 September 1916 – 24 December 1994) was an Italian actor. Biography Brazzi was born in Bologna, Italy, the son of Maria Ghedini and Adelmo Brazzi, an employee of the Rizzoli shoe factory. He was named after Rossano Ve ...

Arnoldo Foà Arnoldo Foà (24 January 1916 – 11 January 2014) was an Italian actor, voice actor, theatre director, singer and writer. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1938 and 2014. Biography Foà was born in Ferrara, Italy, to a Jewish fam ...

and others. The film has a voice-over narration that tells the story in flashback, and the film noir type of ''Angela'' has been described as femme fatale with elements of betrayal and obsession.

Plot

O’Keefe (Steve Catlett) stars as an

American G.I. G.I. are initials used to describe the soldiers of the United States Army and airmen of the United States Air Force and general items of their equipment. The term G.I. has been used as an initialism of "Government Issue", "General Issue", or " ...

who remained in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

after the war to manage a

car dealership A car dealership, or car dealer, is a business that sells new or used cars, at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. Car dealerships also often sell spare parts and automotive mainte ...

. He falls in love with a secretary (Mara Lane), and after only one date with her, she asks him to dispose of her boss’ body, who has died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

in her apartment. O'Keefe places the body in the trunk of the wrong car and watches helplessly as Lane drives away with it. O’Keefe then goes about trying to fix the situation, but a police inspector (Arnoldo Foà) and Lane’s sadistic husband (Rossano Brazzi) have ulterior motives in store for him.

Cast

- Steve Catlett *

- Angela Towne *

- Nino *

- Captain Ambrosi *

Galeazzo Benti Galeazzo Benti (6 August 1923 – 21 April 1993) was an Italian actor. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1942 and 1991. Life and career Born Galeazzo Bentivoglio in Florence, Italy, a descendant of the Bentivoglio family, which ru ...

- Gustavo Venturi *

Enzo Fiermonte Enzo Fiermonte (17 July 1908 – 22 March 1993), sometimes credited as William Bird, was an Italian actor and boxer. Early life Vincenzo "Enzo" Fiermonte was born on 17 July 1908 in Casamassima, a rural village near Bari, in southern Italy to D ...

- Sergeant Collins *

Nino Crisman Nino Crisman (1911–1983) was an Italian actor and film producer. Crisman was born in the port city of Trieste when it was still a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Crisman made his film debut in 1939 during the Fascist era. He appeared as ...

- Bertolati *Giovanni Fostini - Tony *Francesco Tensi - Dr. Robini *Maria Teresa Paliani - Beautician *

Gorella Gori Gorella Gori (2 February 1900 – 25 November 1963) was an Italian entertainer (including cafe-chantant), stage actor and film actress. She appeared in twenty five films, generally in supporting or minor roles. One of her later roles was a sma ...

- Nurse *Aldo Pini - Doorkeeper

Reviews and reception

A review in

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was critical of the film, stating that "Mr. O'Keefe has himself a near-dud" and "the camera seems to be waiting for the picture to catch up with it". However, the reviewer praises the performance of Arnoldo Foà as being "ahead of it"

he camera He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

Hal Erickson reviewed the film for AllMovie and opined that it "lacks the pacing and punch necessary to sustain audience empathy", but O'Keefe still "knows how to frame a scene and get the most out of his largely unknown cast". The

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

rates the film a 5.4/10, based on user reviews. Michael Keaney wrote in his book, ''Film noir guide'', that "O’Keefe is okay as the American patsy, as is Italian romantic lead Brazzi as Lane’s sadistic husband, but the all-too-familiar plot doesn’t make the grade".

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0047831, title=Angela Color film noir 1955 films 1955 drama films American drama films Italian drama films English-language Italian films Films scored by Mario Nascimbene 20th Century Fox films 1950s American films American black-and-white films 1950s Italian films

Plot

Cast

Reviews and reception

See also

References

External links