Johnny Angel

This RKO noir has George Raft playing sea captain Johnny Angel in dogged pursuit of the dirty rats who murdered his sea-faring father and made off with a shipment of gold bullion. It is a film that stylistically owes much to Casablanca (1942), an association that the reiteration of the name of the iconic North African town clearly evidences.

Raft spits out his tough-guy dialogue much like Bogart but is rather too made-up to be particularly convincing as a salty dog. The Bergmanesque touch of exotica comes courtesy of Signe Hasso who plays a French stowaway on Johnny’s dad’s ship and needless to say there is some strolling to be had between her and Johnny. Claire Trevor plays the femme fatale wife of the spineless steamship line owner (Marvin Miller) who is still tied to the apron strings of his former nurse (Margaret Wycherly). Hoagy Carmichael also has a small role as cab driver Celestial O'Brien. All up it’s a routine affair, albeit one that proved to be a surprise hit in its day, and can only be recommended as a time filler.

 

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