Angel on My Shoulder

To begin, it's tough as nails to see a decent print of this public domain film. TCM has a very good 35mm print in their library, so I recommend seeing it there (unless you're fortunate to see it on the screen).

ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER was written by Harry Segall, who also penned HERE COMES MR. JORDAN. The film is a delicious turnabout of its wonderful predecessor and Claude Rains turns in his angels wings for devils hoofs and, frankly, is much more deliciously at home. Anne Baxter is superbly understated as Barbara Foster and Onslow Stevens has a larger-than-usual role as her friend and Judge Parker's doctor/psychiatrist. Judge Parker and Eddie Kagle are both played by the great Paul Muni. Muni is a joy to watch in this picture. He rises to both comedic and extraordinarily sensitive moments in the film. And he does a few "Scarface" pantomime moments, brief elegant gestures, that show what a truly great screen presence he could be.

The crucial scene in ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER is where Eddie, brought back from Hades by the Devil and now inhabiting the body of Judge Parker, is having a picnic lunch with his secretary/fiancé. Here he discovers all the truly important and wonderful things that life has to offer - all of which he lost out on because of his life of crime and immorality. Eddie is torn and tortured and Muni plays the inner torment with amazing sincerity. Helping a great deal is one of Dimitri Tiomkin's best, though least-known, musical scores. It is a far cry from his usual bombast and has many passages of great tenderness.

Rains, of course, is marvelous and there are quite a few genuinely threatening moments in his performance. Fine support is given by James Flavin (who, in addition to his role as politico Bellamy is also heard off-screen as a district attorney, a very curious happenstance), George Cleveland (as the Judge's valet), Erskine Sanford as a minister, Hardie Albright as Smiley Williams and Fritz Leiber, Noble Johnson and Kurt Katch as residents of Hades.

This is not a great film. But it's a very, very good film with some very fine sequences and performances. It deserves far better treatment than it has received since its copyright lapsed.

In HERE COMES MR. JORDAN, Claude Rains played an angel. Here he gets to play the opposite end of the game -- the role every actor loves to play, Satan. He is wry, menacing, and delicious as the master of evil who has met his match in a hood played wonderfully by Paul Muni. The story is interesting and the acting is first rate. See this one if you get the chance.

Paul Muni is a dead convict brought back to earth by the devil in "Angel on my Shoulder," a 1946 film also starring Claude Rains and Anne Baxter. Muni is Eddie, a convict fresh out of jail who is killed by his partner Smiley and goes straight to you know where. Let's just say it's hot. The devil, played by Claude Rains, needs help himself. A Judge Parker is keeping too many candidates out of hell, and he sees that Eddie is a ringer for the Judge. So he arranges for Eddie to get into the judge's body as he sleeps so that he can ruin the judge's reputation and Eddie can get revenge on Smiley. But even the best-laid plans of the Devil can go astray.

During and after World War II, films dealt with psychiatry, with angels, with death, and with people returning from the dead. All of this had to do with the emotional and adjustment problems that returning soldiers had and with the loss of loved ones in countless families. "Angel on My Shoulder" is along the same idea as "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" and "A Guy Named Joe," and a close brother of "Heaven Can Wait" and the later "The Bishop's Wife." This is an excellent example of the genre, with top acting by Paul Muni, Anne Baxter, and Claude Rains. Muni is great in a Bogart type of role - he gives a performance imbued with toughness and humor as a bad guy who begins to see the other side of evil. Anne Baxter is very good as his patient but suffering fiancée, endeavoring to understand the difference in the judge's personality. As the Devil, Claude Rains is inspired casting. He's elegant, charming and manipulative, and gets plenty nervous when he sees things aren't working out as he planned.

Wonderful film, and a good chance to see the fine actor Paul Muni in a lighter role than he usually played.

Paul Muni was an actor who was way ahead of his time. Who else could have played Louis Pasteur, Emile Zola, and a gangster, all with perfect accents, inflections, and facial expressions? His kind of acting was so way ahead of his time - most actors in the 1930s and 1940s were typecast into roles that didn't allow them to play a variety of characters. But not Paul Muni. Most actors in the 1930s and 1940s did NOT do accents, even though by today's standards, we consider this a requirement - but not Paul Muni.

Having just watched "The Life of Emile Zola", Here his portrayal of Eddie Kagel blew me away. The movie itself is slight, and has some humorous moments. But Paul Muni's performance raises it above the rest.

Let out of jail, gangster Paul Mini (as Eddie Kagle) is shot dead by the "double crossing rat" who picks him up at the prison. Uncomfortable in Hell, Mr. Muni hooks up with wicked Claude Rains (as "Nick"), who seems to know his way around the underworld. Not guessing Mr. Rains is the devil in disguise, Muni walks with Rains through fire, and returns to observe the Living World. There, Rains arranges a body-switch with look-alike Judge Frederick Parker (also played by Muni). Muni is promised revenge on the crook who crossed him; and, Rains is unhappy with the Judge, who hasn't been sending many souls to Hell.

So, criminal Muni embodies good Muni...

Archie Mayo's "Angel on My Shoulder" isn't as well-remembered, or as original, as other films visiting the same territory; but, watching Muni and Rains makes up most of the difference. This version is played as a sometimes comic drama, and the stars are devilishly fun to watch. Also notable is Anne Baxter (as Barbara Foster), who plays the pretty fiancée Muni amusingly gropes with approval, then falls in love with. She may be his salvation. Perfectly cast Hardie Albright (as Smiley Williams) is no slouch; in once of the film's best scenes, he holds his own with Muni and Rains in the room. Others haven't as much to do, but they do it well.

******* Angel on My Shoulder (9/20/46) Archie Mayo ~ Paul Muni, Claude Rains, Anne Baxter, Hardie Albright