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Fallen Angels: Six Noir Tales Told for Television

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Fallen Angels is an anthology comprised of six short stories. Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, William Campbell Gault, Cornell Woolrich, Jonathan Craig and James Ellroy are each represented by one of their works. Also included is a short but hard hitting preface by Mr. Ellroy.

Each of these stories was filmed as a half hour TV show and aired on the cable network Showtime in 1993. Immediately after each story is presented in its original form, it is followed by the teleplay used to adapt it to the TV format. In all cases, there are substantive differences between the original and the adaptation.

The book's subtitle: Six Noir Tales Told for Television is a bit misleading. Story number 2, The Frightening Frammis, was written by the legendary Jim Thompson, one of noir's grandmasters. Now I suppose it could be argued as to what is noir and what isn't. But this particular story (and it happens to be a good one) just does not fit the noir mold. Instead of the brutally stark and gut wrenching take on reality that is noir's stock and trade, The Frightening Frammis is rife with slapstick comedy and other way over the top devices. Interestingly, the accompanying teleplay simplifies the narrative quite a bit and in doing so eliminates much of the over the top material.

The most intriguing short story in this collection is the final one, Since I Don't Have You by James Ellroy. It unfolds over a two day period in the Los Angeles of 1949 and has as supporting characters two real life figures, Howard Hughes and gangster Mickey Cohen.

Fallen Angels is definitely a worthwhile read. It's particularly interesting to see how screenwriters must both add to and subtract from the original work of others to create a final product suitable for TV or film.