Johnny Angel

Black water and gray clouds decorate the New Orleans backdrop of Edward Marin’s Johnny Angel, the tale of a merchant ship captain (George Raft) who stumbles upon the ship commanded by his father (also a captain), ransacked and abandoned, the mahogany cargo still aboard. Assuming his father and his crew were killed, Johnny investigates and discovers that a stowaway had survived the attack: Paulette Girard (Signe Hasso), whose father was also murdered, had witnessed the melee and escaped, her life now in peril. Soon, Johnny and Paulette are partnered up to find out what exactly happened. Clare Trevor plays Johnny’s two-faced love interest Lilah who’s already married to the shipping company’s president, George “Gusty” Gustafson, a possessive husband who soon becomes simply pathetic as played wonderfully by Marvin Miller. Cinematographer Wild creates spectacular tapestries of shadow and light at sea, on the docks, and particularly during Johnny’s first solo investigation of the ghost ship with a flashlight, foghorn blaring in the distance. Note the presence of Hoagy Carmichael as Celestial O’Brien, a taxi driver who tickles the ivories, his soulful rendition of “Memphis in June” a special treat.