Fallen Angel

Proclaimed by Jacques Rivette as ‘the most conclusive proof of the talent, or the genius, of a director,’ Otto Preminger’s Fallen Angel is a taut and frenzied romantic tale crisscrossing confessions and deceptions, truths and lies, filmed in a distinctive dialectical approach. Following his film noir classic Laura, Preminger reunites with leading man Dana Andrews and cinematographer Joseph LaShelle for another slice of hard-boiled pulp fiction. Wringing familiar genre tropes until they’re blue in the face, a desperate con artist, who looks to make a fast buck in a small town, falls for a sultry waitress. When he hatches a scheme to swindle a wealthy spinster, murder soon finds its way into this love triangle.

6/5 (Sat): Film talk with Edith Chiu