Fallen Angels (TV series)
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Fallen Angels was a neo-noir anthology television series that ran from 1993 to 1995 on the Showtime pay cable station and was produced by Propaganda Films. No first-run episodes were shown in 1994. The series was executive produced by Sydney Pollack and produced by Steve Golin. The theme song was written by Elmer Bernstein and the original music was written by Peter Bernstein. Period torch songs by performers like Patti Page and Billie Holiday were used periodically. In Europe, the show was known as Perfect Crimes and was shown in France on Canal Plus and in England.
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[edit] Series overview
The series were set in somber Los Angeles right after World War II and before the election of U.S. president John F. Kennedy. The episodes had a gorgeous look and, although filmed in color, mimicked what was done by Hollywood filmmakers during the film noir era of the 1940's and 1950's in terms of tone, look, and story content.
The television program was produced using top-notch directors, well-known hard-boiled fiction writers, experienced screenplay writers, inventive cinematographers who recreated the film noir look, and actors who often appeared in film features. In addition, the art direction gave the series the ambiance and historical look required of a show devoted to noir set in Los Angeles.
A few actors went behind the camera to direct a few episodes. They included Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and Kiefer Sutherland.
The ensemble group of craftswomen and craftsmen took a turn each week at the helm to produce episodes that produced a visually interesting series.
Each episode began with a cool and restrained jazz score as the sultry character Fay Friendly (Lynette Walden) told the audience what would develop in the episode. Her words were wistful, melancholic and foreshadowed the pain to come.
Neo-noir novelist James Ellroy said of the show, "It's a role call of tormented souls confronting their monsters within; it's a picaresque look at Los Angeles back in the forties. It's the world of pulp on celluloid, pure translations that augment the stark power of great short fiction."
[edit] See also
- List of Fallen Angels episodes and Original Story Sources
[edit] Directors
Some of the directors in the series were:
[edit] Guest stars
Among the many guest stars on the show were:
First Season (1993)
- Gary Oldman, Gabrielle Anwar, Dan Hedaya, Wayne Knight & Meg Tilly
- Tom Hanks, Marg Helgenberger & Bruno Kirby
- Joe Mantegna & Bonnie Bedelia
- Peter Gallagher, Nancy Travis & Isabella Rossellini
- Laura Dern, Alan Rickman & Diane Lane
- Gary Busey, Tim Matheson & James Woods
Scecond Season (1995)
- Madchen Amick & Kiefer Sutherland
- Brendan Fraser & Peter Coyote
- Eric Stoltz
- Dana Delany & Benicio Del Toro
- Bill Pullman & Heather Graham
- Miguel Ferrer & Peter Berg
- Michael Rooker & Christopher Lloyd
- Danny Glover & Valeria Golino
- Bill Nunn, Giancarlo Esposito & Cynda Williams
[edit] Trivia
- The episode "I'll Be Waiting," was filmed in the Ambassador Hotel (aka The Windermere, in the episode) in Los Angeles, where in 1968 Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated the evening he won the California presidential Democratic primary
- The opening scene in "The Frightening Frammis," where we see character Mitch Allison walking by the side of the road, is a possible homage to the 1945 classic film noir Detour (1945), directed by Edgar G. Ulmer.
- In the episode "Tomorrow I Die," John Dahl, the director, was a former drama student of Bill Pullman at Montana State University. Later, Dahl directed Pullman in the neo-noir The Last Seduction.
