with a girl like you, how can a man be sure?

Damn she had no chill

I'm well used to Jean Simmons playing a disturbed woman, and Otto Preminger's Angel Face doesn't break her streak. However, pairing her up with Robert Mitchum, a man who seems entirely fatale-proof, gives this noir thriller its unpredictability. And indeed, you're not sure what's going to happen from act to act! Is this toxic romance, murder mystery, legal drama, or what? Mitchum is so cool and collected in this, you have to wonder if Simmons' manipulative nature will be able to confound him... or us. I will say this, I've never seen the Hays Code deployed in such a shocking and effective way. Usually, it restrains the action - and it's true that the "lovers" never share a room - but Angel Face takes some of the other rules Hollywood HAS to follow in this era and makes a virtue out of them. I can't say more without spoiling the movie.