Noirvember Fatale Attractions: Jean Simmons in Angel Face (1953)💋

 

Don’t let the sweetness fool you; behind those wide eyes is pure danger. In Angel Face (1953), Jean Simmons delivers one of noir’s most haunting performances as Diane Tremayne, a beautiful young woman with a face of innocence and a mind full of chaos.

 

 

Directed by Otto Preminger and co-starring Robert Mitchum, the film begins like a romance and unravels into something much darker. Diane meets Frank, an ambulance driver with charm and a chip on his shoulder. She’s fascinated by him, maybe even loves him, but love, in true noir fashion, is just another weapon.

 

 

 

“I don’t know why I do the things I do… sometimes I wish I were dead.”

 

That line says it all. Diane isn’t evil in the loud, scheming way of other femmes fatales she’s quietly destructive. Her power lies in that mix of fragility and obsession, the kind that makes men underestimate her until it’s far too late.

 

 

Simmons, only twenty-four at the time, played against her usual wholesome image, and she’s mesmerizing. Opposite her, Mitchum brings his trademark stoicism, the perfect match for her cool unpredictability. Their chemistry feels dangerous because it is.

 

 

Preminger, known for his detached and precise direction, turns the film into a psychological trap. Every elegant Beverly Hills interior hides rot beneath the surface. Angel Face was famously tense behind the scenes. Mitchum reportedly slapped Simmons during a take at Preminger’s command, then turned and slapped the director too.

 

Trivia: Preminger wanted Simmons for the role after seeing her in The Actress, but she was still under contract to Howard Hughes at RKO. Hughes agreed on the condition that Simmons’ husband, actor Stewart Granger, do a film for him in return. Hughes also reportedly kept the Angel Face negatives locked away for years out of spite when Simmons left RKO, delaying the film’s wider release.

 

The result is a noir that feels both intimate and fatalistic.

 

 

 

Jean Simmons’ Diane doesn’t tempt men for power or money; she does it because she can’t help herself.

She doesn’t lure you in...she lets you drown in her calm.

 

Fade to black… until the next Fatale Attraction.