Angel's Flight (1965)

'This hill, you know... Stories, it's loaded. Nobody's ever written 'em. Now they're tearin' it down... I figure somebody ought to say something about it before it's gone.'

The Bunker Hill area in Los Angeles as depicted in noirs such as 'Criss Cross', 'Cry Danger' and 'Kiss Me Deadly' no longer exists. The seedy, crime-ridden area was torn down by several development projects and even leveled to make it less of a hill. Also because of this, the iconic funicular train Angel's Flight would eventually be relocated to a different part of Los Angeles. 1965's 'Angel's Flight' is one of the last movies to feature the old Bunker Hill in all its grubby glory and it does so quite prominently, much more so than the previously mentioned movies. As such, but only because of this, this low-budget noir-ish exploitation thriller is of interest to noir aficionados...

Alcoholic ex-reporter turned pulp writer Ben Wiley (William Thourlby) lives in Bunker Hill which is in the grips of a series of killings, all men who had their throats slashed. His friend, police detective Pete (Warren Kemmerling) tries to steer him back into investigative reporting by trying to get him to look into the Bunker Hill murders. What Wiley does not know is that he has already had an encounter with this elusive Bunker Hill murderer, a stripper named Liz (Indus Arthur). But to him she's an 'angel' he stumbled into while on a bender. When he finds out they live in the same apartment building, he makes her acquaintance and slowly becomes closer to her. Meanwhile the police have asked Wiley to become bait for the Bunker Hill murderer due to his good looks...

William Thourlby was the original Marlboro Man. Possibly in an attempt to kickstart a movie career, he produced 2 films in which he both starred, 1964's 'Vengeance', and this one. It didn't seem to work however, with only a few minor part credits to his name. His performance is adequate enough however, but it's also clear to see why he never managed to become a star. Indus Arthur had a bigger career, having played in movies such as 'The Slender Thread' and 'M.A.S.H.'. This was one of her first movies however, she received an 'introducing' credit here. Her performance is surprisingly effective, she's convincing as a troubled soul whose killings are motivated by psychological trauma rather than evil intent.

The movie uses a lot of location shooting around Bunker Hill, as well as the Angel's Flight train ride, making this a fascinating movie to watch. It really offers a time capsule of an area which truly no longer exists. While not really shot in a noir fashion, cinematographer Glen Gano does manage to provide the movie with some nicely shot scenes, and even some semi-experimental transitions. In one scene, Liz is doing her dance/strip performance in a sleazy nightclub when she locks eyes with a male customer. After a bunch of deep sensual stares, and some quite frankly bizarre grimaces by Liz, the camera moves in on her eyes. Police car flashlights appear in them, ending in a dissolve of a police car arriving at the next Bunker Hill murder scene. Directors Raymond Nassour and Kenneth Richardson have a combined total of 8 movies under their belt, 6 of which made by Mansour back in Egypt! Despite this, the movie feels fairly well made. It isn't flashy or anything like that, but it works well enough.

There are some nice elements to this movie, even aside from the location shooting. The movie starts with some pretty noir-like voice over narration by Wiley, which unfortunately isn't used in the rest of the movie. Liz's troubled soul is troubled for a reason, which manifests itself in not only murder, but also in eerie portraits painted by her of an ominous man. Wiley later finds this portrait in a true crime magazine and connects the dots between Liz and the murders.

As a bit of trivia, Rue McClanahan of 'The Golden Girls' fame, where she played Blanche, has a small part in this movie as bar fly Dolly, one of the women Wiley tries to hook up with to flush out the killer.

Anyways, 'Angel's Flight' is a pretty interesting movie. It's not really a hidden gem, but it does exceed its budget and expectations as well as showing L.A.'s Bunker Hill as it once was, in far better ways than had been done previously. The copy I found online is in pretty rough shape, and I am not even sure the end credits are the original ones, as the movie ends rather abruptly before showing the opening credits again. I wouldn't mind seeing this again in a cleaned up, restored version.

6+/10