La vida secreta de Nora

Loretta Young is a "Half Angel" in this 1951 comedy starring Joseph Cotten, Cecil Kellaway, Jim Backus and Irene Ryan.

The beautiful Miss Young plays Nora, who by day is a very professional-looking nurse and by night a glamorous seductress. Apparently she has a split personality, and when her conscious mind goes to sleep, Nora's other personality wakes up and drops in on an old school chum who is now an important attorney (Cotten).

Her mystique, her allure, her seductiveness make him crazy. Every time he spots the daytime starched nurse Nora, he happily approaches her and throws his arms around her - only to get slapped in the face. Nora is engaged to be married to someone else and besides, she has no memory of these nighttime escapades.

One of the reviewers on this site complained about the holes in the plot. This is the kind of film that doesn't hold up well under much - or any - scrutiny. It's a fantasy and has to be enjoyed as such.

Nitpicking about how fast a trial is docketed and why someone receives a subpoena is like saying that tapping red rhinestone shoes together will never take you back home.

At 38, Loretta Young is absolutely gorgeous, as she always was and remained for the rest of her life. Huge eyes, a face the shape of a cameo, beautiful hair, slim figure - as if any of it is really hidden by a nurse's cap and uniform.

For Nora the wild one, she wears her hair down and a flashy seafoam-colored dress. Which brings me to the film's color. It's very reminiscent of a Better Homes and Garden book from the '50s that I used to look at as a child - very bright colors and lots of them. I found the use of color in the film quite unusual.

A light comedy is strange casting for Joseph Cotten, but for my money, he pulls it off.

This isn't a wildly funny movie, but it is an amusing one, and the psychiatric plot is in line with the post-war interest in the subconscious so prevalent in films of that era.

This film takes the fluff approach, which movies like "The Snake Pit," "The Dark Past" and "Spellbound" did not. Loretta fans will love it.

Misshapen piece of fluff, a capricious bit of harmless whimsy that may go down easier at three in the morning when one is apt to be less demanding. Loretta Young is a starchy, spinsterish nurse, about to marry the cloddish man she's been putting off for five years, when suddenly her repressed desire to flirt with a strictly-business attorney takes over her body while she's sleepwalking, leading to a series of romantic confusions. Robert Riskin is responsible for the script, which he adapted from a story by George Carleton Brown; both men are strictly behind-the-times in terms of a saucy bedroom comedy (although Young is certainly attractive dressed in a very sheer negligee!). Joseph Cotten looks rather incredulous at being caught in such a juvenile scenario, and the tone of the picture is wobbly right from the start. Colorful supporting players (Jim Backus, Irene Ryan, and the always-reliable Cecil Kellaway) add some sparkle, however the movie hinges on Young's performance and she's much more annoying than seductive. ** from ****

"This is very odd," says Nora at one point, and she could have been talking about the whole film. The Technicolor is loud and garish, the plot is unconvincing and the characters lack substance in this ill-thought-out 'chick flick'.

Nora Gilpin is a nurse who knows, but doesn't like, John Raymond - the handsome (and single) attorney. Nora has a tendency to sleepwalk, and her subconscious self heads straight for John, because although she won't admit it, she is secretly in love with him. A doctor advises John that he should marry her - then her two selves will merge happily.

Loretta Young plays Nora. Already a screen veteran at the time (she had been making pictures continually since appearing in Valentino's "The Sheikh"), she is very beautiful and gets to wear some nice New Look outfits. It has to be said that Loretta is no acting genius. It is probably just as well, because the shallow script makes no demands upon her whatsoever. All she has to do is play with a few frocks in front of the mirror, keep her make-up pristine and utter one or two deeply un-witty quips. "I can't believe I'm capable of that moronic talk," she says. It's a shame she didn't say it to the scriptwriter.

The part of John Raymond is taken by a miscast Joseph Cotten. If Young was getting a little old for ingenue parts at age 38, Cotten at 46 was stretching the point. The man who, ten years earlier, played Jedediah in "Citizen Kane" so assuredly seems tentative and ill at ease in this bit of froth.

Nora shows up at John's place in the middle of the night and flirts with him in his bedroom. This makes no kind of sense, given that this is 1951 and Nora is engaged to somebody else. It simply doesn't ring true.

The legal case which occupies the middle segment is just plain dreadful. Nora finds herself subpoena'd to appear as a witness at nine o'clock the next morning, even though no trial could possibly have been arranged so quickly. She is the complainant - so why on earth would she need to be subpoena'd? And who would do it? The papers are drawn up as if this were a civil case and she were the plaintiff, though she has suffered no civil wrong and it is clearly a criminal trial. John Raymond appears as an attorney, even though he is the defendant (this is a major no-no). He concedes the case against him, then the magistrate allows him to cross-examine Nora on a point of no relevance whatsoever. She is cross-examined without having given evidence in chief. Raymond mixes private chat with his questions, volunteers evidence himself and waves exhibits around without formally adducing them. The identification evidence is plain ridiculous, as is the conclusion of the trial.

The spurious psychoanalysis is annoying, as is Nora's failure to recognise the fragment from her own petticoat. The back-projection of the roller-coaster is feeble.

"Half Angel" is half-baked.

The plot to "Half Angel" is insane and impossible to believe. But should that stop you from watching it? Maybe not. After all, some of the best old rom-coms of the classic era of Hollywood had completely ridiculous plots...such as in "Bringing Up Baby" and "My Favorite Wife" as well as "The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer".

Nora (Loretta Young) is an extremely conventional and a bit straight-laced lady. She's going to be married soon, so you'd think she was very happy...and she is on the surface. However, subconsciously she is NOT happy and longs to be wild, carefree and in love. But she is not aware of this and this side of her only starts appearing when she goes to sleep at night. She begins sleepwalking as this other personality and soon completely captivates John (Joseph Cotten). However, John knows little about this mystery woman....she was in his life and then just disappeared! So he frantically looks all over town for her. Eventually, he finds Nora...and she has zero recollection of him. In fact, she even presses charges when she thinks he's taking liberties with her, a stranger! What's next? See this odd film.

This movie works because of the actors...period. The plot is ridiculous but Joseph Cotten and Loretta Young were such wonderful professionals that they were able to bring it across and make it fun as well. Overall, fun and enjoyable...and silly.

Half Angel (1951)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Incredibly charming and sweet romantic comedy about a shy and ordinary girl (Loretta Young) who doesn't know it but is in love with a lawyer (Joseph Cotten). She's about to be married to another man but she also sleepwalks and this is when she's able to confess her love for the lawyer. When she's awake, she hates him. This film doesn't have the best reputation but I loved nearly every second of it. You've certainly gotta wonder how Young can walk and talk while "sleepwalking" but that minor quibble aside, this is a great little gem. Young and Cotten have great chemistry together and both are very light on their feet and give terrific comedic performances. I've never seen Cotten so funny, although I haven't seen him in too many comedies. Young is a charming as ever and the supporting cast offers nice laughs as well. This Technicolor film is yet another Young film in the vaults of Fox.