☆ ☆ ☆ ½
Angel on my Shoulder (1946) – A. Mayo
Paul Muni mugs a lot as the gangster sent to hell but
then returned to the land of mortals by Mephistopheles (Claude Rains) who wants
to ruin the career of do-gooder (and gubernatorial candidate) Judge Parker by
inserting rough-edged Eddie Kagle into his body. Of course, it’s a comedy, as Muni gets to perform
a bull-in-the-china-shop routine as others act shocked at the noble judge’s
transformation. Rains is sly and arch as
the Devil (with a few tossed off one-liners) but his schemes do not play out as
planned when Kagle accidentally improves the judge’s popularity. Naturally, with
the help of love interest Barbara (Anne Baxter), Eddie begins to see the error
of his ways and turn from bad to good.
That’s how it goes in movies like this (especially with the Hays Code in
effect). As directed by Archie Mayo,
it's a trifle, never laugh-out-loud funny, but pleasant enough – and who doesn’t
love a movie that takes a trip down to Hell (fire and brimstone included)?
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