This reviewer has always been a fan of film noir from Bacall teaching Bogie to whistle to Barbara Stanwyck manipulating Fred McMurray in Double Indemnity and all the others in between. Even the more modern noirs like Body Heat. Writers Matt Ritchey & Benjamin Schwartz show they really know their noir with their Hollywood Fringe offering Angel’s Flight. The scene is L.A. 1944 and P.I. Duff (a game Schoen Hodges) finds himself mixed up with femme fatales, crooked cops and reefer smugglers. And it all has a fishy smell thanks to the smugglers’ prime smuggling tool. Duff’s client Jane (Allison Miller doing double duty as a sultry chanteuse) hires him to find her missing “sister” Grace (Sarah Haworth). Dropping puns along the way (Sam spayed), getting roughed up and played for a sucker are all in a day’s work for the Bogie-light tuff guy Duff. Add in Cherry Poppins caburlesque dancers and a swift 45-minute running time thanks to Ritchey’s fast paced direction and you have a laugh-filled, atmospheric homage to the world of noir. More please!
Three Clubs, 1123 Vine St. in Hollywood. June 23 & 25. http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/3353