Angelitos con faldas

What better way to fund his acquisition of a soya-bean farm than for "Pop" (Raymond Walburn) to get his singing daughters to get on stage and wow the crowd. Thing is, they just don't want to and given their differing personalities that's not really surprising. He does manage to get them to agree to an one-off performance though where "Bobby" (Betty Hutton) turns their ten dollar fee into $190! Meantime, band leader "Happy" (Fred McMurray) can't afford to pay the wages for his musicians so he taps up "Bobby" in a quid pro quo for a singing gig but before she has a chance to belt out a single note, he's done a bunk with her money! When she finds out where he's skedaddled to, they follow en-masse and find there chance for sweet revenge when the club will only employ "Happy" if the four girls accompany him! Along the way in this engaging theatrical romp, we have "Nancy" (an on-form Dorothy Lamour) serenading us with "It Could Happen to You" and, indeed, Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke have written quite a few decent numbers that Danny Dare has quite spontaneously choreographed with feathers and glittery costumes galore. There's also quite an enjoyable chemistry between the mischievous McMurray and just about everyone, but Hutton and Diana Lynn stand out as the comedy stays just the right side of the slapstick. It's light and fluffy, sure, and I doubt nowadays anyone would be allowed to get spanked without half a dozen "intimacy consultants" on set, but it's quite entertaining.

Even though she is billed third behind Lamour and MacMurray, Betty Hutton walks away with the picture. The plot is as old as the hills but the by play of the four Angel sisters is very amusing.

But the reason to watch the film is Betty Hutton. She is adorable in this film, has a couple of funny novelty musical numbers in addition to the ones she sings with her "sisters" and does a drunk scene that is one of the most hilarious that I have ever seen. Lamour had to do one later in the film and I felt sorry for her having to follow Hutton's performance.

Dorothy Lamour, Betty Hutton, Diana Lynn, and Mimi Chandler are the Angel Sisters, living in a small town in New York, and fathered by widowed Raymond Walburn. They do a musical act, but they each have their own ambitions, until after a $10 roadhouse gig, run up to $190 at the craps table by Miss Hutton, she gets clipped by Fred MacMurray, who needs the money to get his band to the Copa Club -- the one in Brooklyn. The Angel family pursues him for the money, but he and band member Eddie Foy Jr. Put them off and put them into the act as singers. Meanwhile, MacMurray romances Misses Lamour and Hutton.

It's an ok musical, enlivened by blackout sequences, George Marshall's comedy direction and a good score by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen. When the ladies aren't singing as a quartet, Miss Hutton gets the most solo numbers, including an energetic version of "His Rocking Horse Ran Away". Of course there's a big patriotic number at the end. While it's no world-beater, there's lots of good comedy set pieces to keep the audience amused.

This typical bit of 1944 Paramount studio wartime fluff, expertly paced by George Marshall, features a first-rate comic performance by Fred MacMurray, best remembered for his dramatic roles in DOUBLE INDEMNITY and THE APARTMENT. MacMurray started as a saxophone player and can be heard playing one badly but briefly in a long shot. In typical Hollywood fashion, the jazz classic IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU, a favorite tune of Sinatra and Chet Baker, the best of the songs here, gets only the briefest screen time, sung in the film beautifully by Dorothy Lamour who was not only lovely but could act. She affects a delightful Brooklyn accent in a delightful bit with Frank Faylen who later played the male nurse in LOST WEEKEND and the cab driver in ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE.

And The Angels Sing is apparently Paramount's answer to Warner Brothers Lane Sisters and the series of films that they had starting with Four Daughters. The four of them are musical prodigies, but they're really not into singing. What they are into is earning enough money so their father Raymond Walburn can buy a farm.

Three of Paramount's best female stars, Dorothy Lamour, Betty Hutton, Diana Lynn played 3/4 of the Angel sisters, the fourth being given to Mimi Chandler whose father Senator Albert H. Chandler would shortly become baseball commissioner. Betty Hutton is the only one enthused about performing, but given this is Betty Hutton what else would you expect?

They get themselves all tangled up with bandleader Fred MacMurray who's a bit of rat quite frankly taking advantage of Hutton to get some money in order for his band to get traveling money to an engagement in Brooklyn. The sisters are up in arms and trail him to Brooklyn to get their money.

At some point MacMurray has to woo all of them more or less to some degree. The whole thing ends rather conventionally though.

The plot is really an excuse for the musical numbers and the score here was written by Bing Crosby's favorite writers Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke. Although Betty Hutton gets the showier numbers on screen, the hit song from And The Angels Sing was sung by Dorothy Lamour, It Could Happen To You. And of course Paramount prevailed upon Der Bingle to record it and by all means get his record of it if you can find it.

And The Angels Sing provides a nice showcase for the musical talents of the cast. MacMurray who later played some nasty characters shows a bit of what Billy Wilder saw in casting him as a villain in Double Indemnity and The Apartment. The film is a pleasant enough diversion.