Tarnished Angels, The

Director:  Douglas Sirk
Year Released:  1958
Rating:  2.5

Passionate journalist Rock Hudson investigates the life of a former war hero-turned-daredevil pilot (Robert Stack) and how his passion for aviation affects his strange relationship with his wife (Dorothy Malone), his mechanic and his optimistic son. It was obvious - to me, at least - that all of this would end in tragedy (particularly egregious is the visual juxtaposition between Stack in his 'real' plane and his son in a toy plane), but what I didn't expect was the unearned half-hour long eulogy following the disaster, with Hudson given the opportunity to rant about journalistic integrity and storm around his newspaper's office. I understand the message about self-destruction and not 'selling out' to the evils of corporate advertising (personified by the Matt Ord character), but did the script have to be this dense?

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