The Tarnished Angels

Another Sirk movie, set in the hilarious days of the Depression, the Tarnished Angels.

Circus folk come to town, including some plane flyers, in particular one Roger Shumann, who fought in the war. With him is his very lovely wife LeVerne, who does parachute jumps, and catches the eyes of the fellas. Including the reporter Burke Devlin, who puts them up for the night and comes to know their story well. Roger is dedicated to flying, and will do whatever it takes to stay in the air, even if it means LeVerne has to do what it takes. Fortunately, he eventually comes around to realising he loves her, and only one last flight stands between him and eternal happiness...

What is it with Sirk that he goes for the big disaster before somehow trying to pull out a happy ending? This feels more contrived than Against All Heaven. This indeed has some nice performances from Rock Hudson and Dorothy Malone, and I'm sure I've encountered Robert Stack elsewhere (apparently he was in Airplane). This was shot in black and white, as the studio didn't want to pay for colour, so some of the grandeur is lost, despite what critics say about his use of monochrome. A Mardi Gras party just doesn't work without colour.

I know there are other classic Sirk movies, but I'm good for now.

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