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Short answer —yes, it is noir.
I can't discuss why this book is noir without spoilers and I will alert readers when to stop reading if they don't want to know.
Harry Angel is a shabby private detective in New York City in 1959. He is approached by an attorney asking him to meet with a client, Louis Cyphre. Cyphre has a contract with a singer named Johnny Favorite which takes effect only upon the death of Favorite who was severely injured in WWII. He supposedly is in a vegetative state in a private clinic in Poughkeepsie, New York and every year Cyphre gets a letter certifying that Favorite is still alive. When Cyphre and his attorney were in the area and attempted to see Favorite, Cyphre says they got the runaround. Cyphre wants Harry to find out if Favorite is alive or dead.
Angel goes to Poughkeepsie and finds out that Favorite is no longer in the clinic and was supposedly transferred to a VA hospital. But a call to the VA confirms a clue on the paperwork that the transfer is bogus and that Favorite isn't under care. Harry pressures the doctor who signed the transfer to admit that Favorite recovered consciousness —but not his memory — and actually was taken away by a man and woman in 1943. Unfortunately for Harry, the doctor commits suicide before Harry can learn more.
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Back in New York, Harry tells this to Cyphre who now wants him to find Favorite. Harry figures his best approach is to talk with people who knew him as an entertainer as well as his ex-fiance. His investigation takes him to Harlem and a blues pianist and the teenage daughter of a voodoo priestess and Johnny Favorite who seems to be carrying on the family tradition then over to Coney Island to look for a fortune teller. Favorite, it appears was mixed up in some pretty strange stuff. And the bodies begin to pile up.
Hjortsberg's depictions of New York City contribute to the mood and atmosphere of the story. The author describes where Harry goes, how he gets there and what he sees such as the architecture.
And what would a hardboiled PI be without his cynical observations and colorful similes:
The revelation hit me like an ice-water enema.Facebook chum Margot Kinberg has an excellent blog post with an in depth and spoiler free take on the story which I highly recommend — In The Spotlight: William Hjortsberg's Falling Angel.
It was Friday the thirteenthh and yesterday's snowstorm lingered in the streets like a leftover curse.
He introduced himself as an attorney. That meant his fees were high. A guy calling himself a lawyer always costs a lot less.
666 Fifth Avenue was an unhappy marriage of the International Style and our own homegrown tailfin technology ... It looked like a forty-story cheese grater.
I'll talk a little about the film later but I will say that it is a fine example of a film that improves upon the novel. Mickey Rourke and Robert De Nero are terrific as the rumpled private detective and the mysterious Louis Cyphre.
So far you might be thinking "Where's the noir? This is just a hardboiled PI story."
SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT
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In true noir style, Harry Angel is doomed. Even worse than doomed, he is damned. There are clues that our hardboiled detective is heading into to world of the occult, Satan worship, and, before the story ends, full on horror. in the form of a Black Mass. It opens on Friday the thirteenth, Harry's agency is called Crossroads Detective Agency, Harry meets Cyphre at a restaurant at the top of 666 Fifth Ave., and has frequent references to five pointed inverted stars. And if you're clever (I wasn't), it isn't hard to go from Louis Cyphre to Lucifer not to mention using "falling angel" in the title.
Harry's damned because Johnny Favorite and Harry Angel are the same person. Johnny sold his soul to Satan for stardom but thought he had had a way out of the bargain. He thought he could transfer psychic identities with someone else. He couldn't. He was planning to assume the identity of recently returned soldier Harry Angel but got shipped to the front, injured, lost his memory, and came to believe he was Harry Angel. The whole investigation was orchestrated by Cyphre to destroy Harry in this world before claiming his soul. Harry/Johnny's destruction is complete when Cyphre/Lucifer arranges to for Epiphany to die in a horrible way while setting up Harry/Johnny to take the fall. Before Harry discovered who he really was, Harry had an intense sexual relationship with Epiphany and in the end is left looking at the body of his daughter, completely without hope.
Angel Heart, the 1987 neo-noir film adaptation of Falling Angel is very well done. It sticks to the story line closely and where it diverges it actually enhances to story. Obviously the timeline has to be condensed but it also shifts the story to New Orleans which I think is a masterful decision. Voodoo plays a big part in the story and hot and humid New Orleans works much better than the snowy streets of New York. The two cops who suspect Harry of murdering the fortune teller and the blues pianist would work as well in New York but are a lot more fun to watch in New Orleans.
Epiphany Proudfoot is played by Lisa Bonet who you might remember played a daughter on The Cosby Show. Here's something I remembered from when the film came out and adds to the add to creep factor considering what has happenrd to Bill Cosby recently: when Bonet was considering the role of Epiphany, she ask Cosby if he thought it would be OK for her to appear partially nude in the film. He gave her his blessing.
Angel Heart also ties up a few loose ends. In the book, we don't really know who killed the doctor, the blues pianist, and the fortune teller. In the film, Cyphre tells Harry that he, Harry, did it and Harry relives the murders in a quick flashback.
Rourke, De Niro, and Bonet are well caste for their roles and match the way Hjortsberg wrote his. characters. I hate to use this expression but the actors bring the characters to life in ways you don't get in the book. You don't have difficulty imaning De Niro as the avatar of Lucifer walikng the earth. Him peeling a hard boiled egg with elegantly tapered fingernails is expecially memorable.
The final scene over the end credits has Harry in an old elevator symbolically descending to hell. It is a really nice visual.
Keywords: voodoo, hardboiled, neo-noirf film , noir
Thank you, Mack, for the kind words and the mention. Ever since you've been really exploring the topic of noir, I've been thinking about which books and films 'count.' And I agree with you that this is a case of noir. You put your finger on the 'doomed' characteristic right away, which is an important aspect of this sort of story. And there's the fact that everything cycles out of control, only not in an unplanned, chaotic way. It's a very creepy read.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, the hard boiled egg scene in the movie is quite memorable!
ReplyDeleteYour review reminds me that I should watch the movie again. I very much expect that it is one of those where notice and understand things better the second or even third time you watch it.
You're right, it does call for a repeat viewing. It might even be one I'll consider buying. I think it has many memorable scenes but the hard boiled egg and the descending elevator during the end credits have stuck with me.
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