American anthology television series (1993–1995)
Fallen Angels is an American neo-noir anthology television series that ran from August 1, 1993, to November 19, 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 and others. The theme song was written by Elmer Bernstein and the original music was written by Peter Bernstein.
Each episode is based on a story by a noted hardboiled crime writer, including Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, Cornell Woolrich, James Ellroy, Evan Hunter, Mickey Spillane, Dashiell Hammett and Walter Mosley.
Period torch songs by performers like Patti Page and Billie Holiday were used periodically.
In Europe, the show is known as Perfect Crimes and shown in France on Canal +, and in the United Kingdom.
Reprints
Stories from the second season are reprinted in various volumes:
- "Flypaper" in The Big Knockover, and several Hammett collections.
- "Dancing Detective" in the Ibooks edition of Rear Window.
- "Professional Man" published in New Crimes, edited by Maxim Jakabowski.
- "No Escape!" published in As Tough as they Come, edited by Will Oursler.
- "Tomorrow I Die" in A Century of Noir.
- "Red Wind," in several Chandler collections.
Reception
When it debuted, Fallen Angels received mixed to critical notices. In his review for the Associated Press, Scott Williams wrote, "We're asking a lot of TV to deliver entertainment about that stylish, moral abyss. Fallen Angels delivers. It lets us look over the edge and measure our souls against the darkness".[2] The Chicago Sun-Times gave the series two out of four stars and Ginny Holbert wrote, "Part of the problem is the series' arch, self-conscious obsession with style. Instead of a '90s interpretation of film noir, Fallen Angels offers contrived, full-color cliche noir, replete with cocked fedoras, plumes of curling smoke and harsh sunlight sliced by venetian blinds".[3] In his review for The New York Times, John J. O'Connor called it, "uneven but diverting, even when just hovering around film-school level".[4] In his review for the Houston Chronicle, Louis B. Parks wrote, "The big problem with film noir homages is they usually overdo the ingredients, with none of the subtlety of the great originals. Fallen Angels has a touch of that. But the directors and actors play straight, and the adaptations, taken from the real McCoy writers, are pretty good stuff".[5]
In his review for The Washington Post, Tom Shales wrote, "Creating period pieces out of their period seems to be fairly easy now for the gifted artisans of Hollywood. Even by today's commonplace high standards, however, the look and feel of the six Fallen Angels films seem transportingly authentic and sensuous, stylized in ways that evoke the milieu without spoofing it. Occasionally, the films veer into the arch and ridiculous, but overall, they at least look darn good".[6] Newsweek magazine's David Gates wrote, "no show this summer will do a better job of whisking you away from the increasingly unacceptable '90s. These half hours are all too short".[7] Entertainment Weekly magazine's Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote, "One unintended result of all this happy, naughty cigarette-puffing, however, is that, at their weakest, these films look like the work of boys (and don't be fooled, this is a boys' fantasy production) dressed up in their dads' big suits".[8]
