Angel on My Shoulder (1946)

"Live fully while you may and reckon not the cost." Omar Khayyam

Angel on My Shoulder is a nice morality play starring a pair of screen legends, Paul Muni and Claude Rains that fits within the film noir category.

Eddie Kagle (Paul Muni) is a ruthless gangster, very much like his Scarface character in the classic of the same name. The film opens with Muni being released from prison after serving a stretch. His henchman Smiley (Hardie Albright), whom Muni trusted to run the business in his absence, is there to pick him up; but Smiley pulls a double cross when Muni asks for his gun and after four dazzling white flashes the screen fades to black.

When the video re-appears, we are looking at a line of people awaiting admittance to Hell, although they don’t seem to know it. They all assume they blacked out and are comparing their last thoughts and wondering where they are now.

We join the Chief Executive of the establishment, Claude Rains, who is complaining of the cool temperature and wondering how he can get more stokers down there.

Meanwhile, Muni has not been taking his fate calmly, but is "crashing out" as he puts it. The fight even extends into his Nibs' office and when Nick gets a look at Muni's mug, he realizes he is a dead ringer for a judge he has been dying to corrupt. In return for a chance to get back up there and get even with Smiley, he agrees to do Nick's bidding about the judge. It seems like old Nick's 'prayers' have been answered. There is just one problem: Eddie is a lot smarter than he looks.

When they get to the surface through the interesting means of a street elevator that opens in downtown Chicago - they exit to passersby commenting on the rotten egg smell and noting that the barrels of trash have already been incinerated. At the court building, Nick arranges for the judge to pass out and when the hubbub dies down he integrates Muni's spirit into the judge's body. Apparently the judge's spirit has been somehow put into suspended animation.

When Eddie reawakens he has been transported to the judge’s quarters, which includes a manservant and all sorts of posh surroundings. There is quite a bit of humor as the two men adapt to each other with Muni's obvious personality change. Eddie also learns to his delight that he has a beautiful girl friend, played by Anne Baxter (All About Eve). There is more comedy and drama as the various players maneuver to try to understand each other. Meanwhile, Nick is trying to effect his plan to use the knuckle-dragging Eddie to smear the good judge and get more souls into Hell.

The movie plays out with good performances all around and a few nice surprises but the ending is the real twist - with a bitter-sweet turn of events that fits in with the fatalistic mentality of film noir. The movie has great performances from Muni, and especially Claude Rains (The Invisible Man) who plays Satan with a flair and also exhibits a worrying quality that is not often seen in portrayal of his Nibs. Rains, of course, is a player who has not made a bad performance I am aware of. In addition to the nice dark cinematography, Dimitri Tiompkin contributes a score that is subtle and adds to the experience rather than the opposite.

Angel on My Shoulder, like a lot of excellent films, has unfortunately slipped into the public domain. Fortunately, the VCI DVD is in good shape in terms of audio and video, so it is a cut above most public domain DVDs. The DVD has decent film bios of Muni, Rains, and Baxter and a 20 minute extra feature, a comic short by Leon Errol, entitled Lord Epping Returns, with typical slapstick and mistaken identity comedy.

Well worth watching

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV