Yesterday I posted an interview with Rock Hudson in which he speaks about his collaboration with director Douglas Sirk. One of the eight films they made together was ‘The Tarnished Angels’ (1957), based on a novel called ‘Pylon’ by William Faulkner. It’s the story of a trio of barnstormers–flyers who performed stunts for audiences in the middle of the country (for the most part) who were entranced by the invention known as the ‘aeroplane’, something that many in the U.S. had not yet seen in person–and their extremely unconventional lives. Apparently the novel was pretty racy stuff, as it featured a  menage a tois at the center of the plot. Having neither read ‘Pylon’ nor seen ‘The Tarnished Angels’ (yet) I can’t comment on the differences/similarties between book and film. And that’s a good thing since those sorts of comparisons are usually pretty Goddam boring to read. I will note, however, that unlike Sirk’s lush, color films of the period this one is in gritty black and white and, from the look of the trailer, feels a good deal more hard-bitten than his Ross Hunter projects. Hunter had nothing to do with this one, which was Sirk’s passion project for many years. Instead it was produced by the eccentric, marvelously bottom-line Albert Zugsmith who didn’t like the title ‘Pylon’ and instead suggested ‘Sex In The Air’ as a replacement. The film received stinko reviews and disappeared from view until the Sirk revival and reappraisal began in the 1970s. I won’t go into the auteurist nonsense that has surrounded Sirk since then as I’m apparently the only film egghead who doesn’t believe Sirk was the artist/commentator/master muse en scene manipulator that others now consider him to be. Like I said, I won’t go into what I just said. I will say that the trailer for ‘The Tarnished Angels’ is pretty sexy stuff. Or at least the shots that have Dorothy Malone in them are. A subject for further review. The film, not Malone. Or maybe its the other way around…