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. The script was written by Lillian Hellman and Mordaunt Shairp, adapted from the play by Guy Bolton. It was directed by Sidney Franklin, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and released by United Artists. A silent film version of the same play, also produced by Goldwyn, was released in 1925 and is now a lost film.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. Moulton). A mixed race woman who passed as white, Oberon became both the first Māori actress, and the first of Asian ancestry, to be nominated for Best Actress.