Wir sind keine Engel

The humor is understated and quite droll with some brilliant moments. Peter Ustinov's expressions and nuances are priceless and Humphrey Bogart is very funny because he plays it straight. The last half hour is hysterical.

3 convicts escape from a jail on Devils island during Christmas, they make plan to rob a local store, but befriend the shop keeper and his family.

Three great lead characters in Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray and Peter Ustinov play the convicts. Bogart plays his character without flaw and surprising to see him in this humorous role, while young Ustinov and Ray also play great characters that assist the shop keep and his family during a difficult Christmas.

This movie wasn't what I was expecting especially after seeing 1989 movie with the same name staring De Niro and Penn, but I guess it was far better because i had a smile on my face throughout the whole movie. This certainly is a feel good sense to this movie.

With great lines in this movie, you'll be sniggering to yourself and cheering on the 3 misfits. One to watch when you need a smile.

Back when I was in college a friend of mine, the only other person I knew who had seen this film, used to recite lines to each other on appropriate occasions. He was a rugby player, a real rough and tumbly sort of guy, and I was a fairly gentle, studious type; we were two, very different types of people. The point behind this is that, while we were both very different, we both found "We're No Angels" to be a superbly executed film.

I recently had a chance to see the film again and it's just as enjoyable as ever. This light-hearted, if somewhat criminal, comedy is warming, family film with an evil streak. It's absolutely fascinating to watch Bogart in a light comedy role, and to see a young(er) Peter Ustinov as a wife-murdering safe-cracker with a heart. And throw in great (if typical) performances by Basil Rathbone and Leo G. Carroll to boot.

But in my mind, the three biggest stars in this film are playwright Albert Hussens, screenwriter Ranald MacDougall, and above all, a surprisingly masterful performance by Aldo Ray. Ray treads the line between being dumb, lovable, trite thug and being a brutal, sociopathic criminal with great resolve. In the end it is his smoothly delivered lines that one remembers above all else.

As for the dialogue, it too treads lines. This is a film for the entire family, yes. But it does have it's randier moments, and all of them are done in such a way that children will not understand the full implications of them (if they do you have no one to blame but yourself). This translates into a "something for everyone" type of film.

Check it out.

Never let it be said that Bogart could only play hard-boiled detectives in film noir. He had a great comedic talent, and it's evident in this film. This is a very funny movie; not hilarious, but funny as well as charming. Though the plot gets a little far-fetched, particularly towards the end, the dialogue is great and the acting superb. It's set at Christmas too, so you can add it to your list of holiday movies.

A rare Humphrey Bogart comedy, and it works perfectly!

Seeing Bogart in the lead role, and the movie being about a jailbreak, I was expecting an adventure-drama. Instead I got a comedy, and a very good one at that.

Incredibly sharp dialogue and some devilishly clever and funny sub-plots make this an hilarious movie. Add in the fact that it is set at Christmas, and there is a great amount of Christmas sentimentality and fun involved too.

The other things that carry the movie are the performances of Bogart and, especially, Peter Ustinov. Bogart delivers his lines well and cannot be faulted, but Ustinov has a perfect sense of comedic timing. Plus his Englishness makes him seem so much funnier.

Aldo Ray is a bit hit-and-miss as the third non-angel. Sometimes you feel he is just reciting his lines without any sense of timing or tone, but others then hit the mark well.

Good support from Joan Bennett, Basil Rathbone, Leo Carroll and Gloria Talbott.

A must-see, especially at Christmas.