The Dark Angel is a 1935 film that tells the story of three childhood friends, Kitty (Merle Oberon), Alan (Fredric March), and Gerald (Herbert Marshall) who come of age in England during the First World War.

[2] The Dark Angel won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Merle Oberon) and Best Sound, Recording (Thomas T.

However, the newly engaged couple's happiness is cut short when Gerald and Alan are ordered back to the front the very next day.

Gerald, furious for Kitty's sake, refuses to grant Alan leave so he can return home and marry her properly.

Alan plans to return to Kitty, but changes his mind at the last minute, believing that people will pity her and that she will only care for him out of duty.

Inspired by his friendship with them, he begins to write a series of successful children's books, and is eventually able to move into his own home, with a private secretary.

Sir George visits Alan, who is still living as "Roger", and sees in the paper a photograph of Kitty and Gerald with the announcement that they are to be married.

[6] In the September 6, 1935 issue of The New York Times, Andre Sennwald declared the film to be “… a happy adventure in sentimental romance…(The) highly literate screen adaptation of Guy Bolton's play, (skirts) all the more obvious opportunities for tear-jerking and overemphasis, and (tells) the story with feeling and admirable good taste… if you know your cameramen at all, you quickly guess that the superb clarity of the photography is the work of Gregg Toland.

If you are thoughtful enough to bring along a spare handkerchief, you will find (this) an engaging sentimental journey into martial romance….It is sad and sweet and brave and very sacrificial.

… Sidney Franklin, director of that earlier sentimental masterpiece "Smilin' Through," enshrouds the photoplay in the peculiarly warm emotional haze which he manages so well.

The point most likely to break you down is where the hero is discovered by his former sweetheart and pretends that he still has his sight—a trying moment which is handled with great considerateness by Miss Oberon and Mr. March.

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 94% from 49 reviews with the consensus: "Led by a trio of powerful performances, The Dark Angel offers a well-crafted love story set against the backdrop of World War I.

"[10] In 1962, Ross Hunter announced that he would remake the film from a script by John Lee Mahin, with Rock Hudson in the lead.