Melodrama is a term applied to movies that used to be called women’s pictures. The critics of Douglas Sirk’s day used it derisively to describe much of his work, even calling some of his films soap operas. They missed the point completely: his Fifties movies reside in what I call Sirkland. It’s a stylized universe that’s kin to film noir with its theatricality and doomed characters. In fact, Sirk directed several films noir including one discussed in this space,  Shockproof.

Sirk’s reputation began a slow ascent in the Eighties, which accelerated after Todd Haynes’ 2002 film, Far From Heaven came out. It was the director’s foray to Sirkland and was a artistic triumph. Critics noticed its similarity to Sirk’s movies and the reappraisal kicked into high gear.

Sirk believed that he was underrated, an auteur who was ignored by the French critics who coined the term. They tended to lionize manly man directors such as Raoul Walsh, Howard Hawks, and John Ford.

The Tarnished Angels brings Sirk’s unique style to bear on a manly subject: the early days of aviation. Despite my fear of heights, it’s a subject of interest to me, probably because of  my Gore Vidal fandom. Gore’s father Gene was an early aviator and FAA honcho who was close to Amelia Earhart, if you catch my drift.

Before discussing the movie, there’s a threshold question begging to be answered. What did William Faulkner think of this adaptation of his book? He didn’t take movies seriously as an art form and tended to mock the pictures made from his books. That was not the case with The Tarnished Angels. Faulkner liked the movie and called it the best adaptation of his work. Rare praise from the Nobel Laureate.

The Tarnished Angels takes place in New Orleans in 1932 but was filmed in San Diego. It tells the tale of what were called gypsy moths: Itinerant pilots who travelled the land putting on a show for the masses.

Robert Stack plays Roger Shumann, a pilot who was a member of the Lafayette Escadrille during the Great War. Jack Carson plays his mechanic and general factotum, Jiggs. They’re both madly in love with Stack’s wife, Laverne, played by Dorothy Malone, one of the sexiest actresses of her or any other era.

Rock Hudson plays Burke Devlin, a hard drinking Picayune reporter who’s covering the air show at which Stack is performing. He, too, becomes smitten with Malone. An alternate title for this movie is Everybody Loves Laverne.

Hudson befriends this de facto flying circus and lets them crash at his French Quarter pad, but his meet cute is with Stack and Malone’s son played by Chris Olsen:

The pylons of Faulkner’s title look like this:

An article in Cineaste Magazine describes their purpose better than I can:

“Faulkner took his title from the slender poles marking the “track” for an airplane race, setting the course for the contest and tempting pilots to shave off tiny increments of time by coming perilously close to the towers with each narrow turn.”

It was dangerous business and eventually Stack crashes and burns. That’s not a spoiler, it’s a fact. Few early aviators lived to a ripe old age. Besides, where’s the drama in that? Here’s Malone’s reaction to the accident:

Note the mask on the figure to La Malone’s right. The film is set during Carnival, a subject I cannot seem to escape. Oh well, what the hell.

I’ve already given away too many plot points so that part of the post is over. This feature is called pulp fiction, not pulp spoilers, after all.

Everything about The Tarnished Angels reflects Douglas Sirk’s attention to detail. It’s a rare Cinemascope movie in black and white. Irving Glassberg’s cinematography is simultaneously stunning and sinister. How noir is that? I told you that Sirkland and Noirland tend to overlap. It’s all there in the look of the movie.

The acting is terrific. Hudson, Malone, and Stack acted together in Sirk’s 1956 classic Written On The Wind. Their chemistry from that film carried over to The Tarnished Angels. I used to underrate Hudson as an actor, but his work in this movie and the 4 others he made with Sirk is outstanding. Rock on, Rock.

Grading Time: I was on the fence with this movie, but Faulkner’s thumbs up led me to give The Tarnished Angels 3 1/2 stars and an Adrastos Grade of B+.

It’s time to get graphic and look at the posters. The primary poster is in the featured image. Here are some of the international variations:

The first quad poster is nothing like the rest of the promo material for the film:

I dig this dogeared Belgian one as well:

All this flying has made me peckish. Let’s go to the lobby for a snack:

I skipped the snack and looked at the lobby cards instead:

I’m airsick from all that flying. Let’s stay grounded by jumping on the trailer:

There isn’t a TCM host segment to close with, so here’s Dorothy Malone’s racy part in the air show act.

That concludes this trip to Sirkland.