THE ANGEL WORE RED (1960)

Coming up short doing double-duty on this Spanish Civil War drama, writer and occasional director Nunnally Johnson took the hint and never helmed again. (It’s also possible this former 20th/Fox company man was lost working outside the old studio system.) The story picks up as Dirk Bogarde’s conflicted priest abandons a church grown out of touch with the people. And on the very day Spanish Republicans turn against them, destroying church property and murdering clergy. But the wrath that has Bogarde on the run is really a cover for the latest threat to town, Generalissimo Franco’s rebel forces. Temporarily finding safe harbor (and sex) under the protection of cabaret girl/prostitute Ava Gardner, Bogarde also holds a get-out-of-jail-free card in a religious relic all parties revere. Vittorio De Sica shows up, horribly dubbed with some anonymous voice, as a cynical general, while Joseph Cotten is an equally cynical one-eyed radio journalist and de facto narrator keeping score for us. Not an uninteresting situation, with the cut-throat insanity of war getting a strong workout. But under Johnson’s hand, the events seem contrived or confused, visually dull even with the great Giuseppe Rotunno as cinematographer. It also doesn’t help that Ava looks wildly different from every angle. (Or the inappropriate music score once past the credits from Bronislau Kaper.*) You keep thinking what John Huston or Fred Zinnemann might have done with such material at the time.*

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: THE MAN IN THE GREY FLANNEL SUIT/56 is the one Nunnally Johnson directed film that could be charged with having visual style. OR: *You can see what Fred Zinnemann did with similar elements in his near miss BEHOLD A PALE HORSE/’64.   https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/behold-pale-horse-1964.html

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *An international production, it’s a shame this DVD doesn’t offer the alternate score made for the Italian market from Orson Welles collaborator Angelo Francesco Lavagnino.