Angel On My Shoulder (DVD)

Starring:
Paul Muni as Eddie Kagel/Judge Parker
Claude Rains as Nick/The Devil
Anne Baxter as Barbara Foster
Hardie Albright as Smiley Williams

I love classic movie actors Paul Muni and Claude Rains, and I love this unusual 1946 film which stars both of them. It's an offbeat fantasy/comedy about a gangster, Eddie Kagel, who has just been released from prison, and the pretty strange things that happen to him subsequently.
...picks him up and as they drive, each chats about what a swell guy the other is and how they've looked after each other 'since we was kids'. Eddie asks Smiley, 'Got my rod?' Smiley answers in the affirmative. 'Lemme have it,' Eddie says. Smiley takes out Eddie's gun and lets him have it, but not the way Eddie intended. Eddie swiftly finds himself transported somewhere very hot, with fire, steaming brimstone and lost-looking people wandering around.
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Starring:
Paul Muni as Eddie Kagel/Judge Parker
Claude Rains as Nick/The Devil
Anne Baxter as Barbara Foster
Hardie Albright as Smiley Williams

I love classic movie actors Paul Muni and Claude Rains, and I love this unusual 1946 film which stars both of them. It's an offbeat fantasy/comedy about a gangster, Eddie Kagel, who has just been released from prison, and the pretty strange things that happen to him subsequently.

Eddie's henchman and lifelong friend, Smiley Williams, picks him up and as they drive, each chats about what a swell guy the other is and how they've looked after each other 'since we was kids'. Eddie asks Smiley, 'Got my rod?' Smiley answers in the affirmative. 'Lemme have it,' Eddie says. Smiley takes out Eddie's gun and lets him have it, but not the way Eddie intended. Eddie swiftly finds himself transported somewhere very hot, with fire, steaming brimstone and lost-looking people wandering around.

He's very confused and it takes some time to realise that he's not only dead but in Hell. Once he does, he runs amok shouting 'Lemme outta here! I gotta get Smiley!' Satan (aka Nick) takes an interest in him because of his feistiness and his uncanny resemblance to a famed do-gooder Judge who is depriving Nick of minions due to inspiring so many bad guys to turn good. So Nick makes a proposition: 'I can help you get Smiley. I've got somebody I want to get, too. We can help each other. Is it a deal?' Eddie decides to agree: 'OK. But watch yer step - one false move and I slug ya.'

So, Eddie accompanies Nick back to Earth, where no one can see or hear them. Nick explains, 'First I have to find you a body.' Eddie's not too sure about this. He quite likes not having a body - 'Hey, if I ain't got no body, I ain't got no fingers, right? No fingers, no fingerprints, right? I can get away with moider!' Nick explains, 'Not exactly - without fingers, you can not squeeze a trigger.' 'Hmm, yeah,' Eddie says disappointedly. Nick takes him to the local court where Judge Parker, who is the spitting image of Eddie, is presiding. In the middle of a trial, Judge Parker 'just happens' to faint, and Nick transplants Eddie's spirit into his unconscious body. When the Judge regains consciousness, he is now completely controlled by Eddie.

Nick is always around to advise Eddie, the only one who can see or hear him. When Eddie meets Parker's prim high-class fiancee Barbara for the first time, Nick informs him 'Go ahead, Eddie, make the most of it - she's all yours!' Eddie is clearly smitten with Barbara: 'Hey, this's OK! It ain't only a TRIGGER I can squeeze!', to which a bemused Barbara replies, 'Why, darling! You've never talked like that before!' Eddie gives her a good squeezing and exclaims, impressed, 'Not bad! Plenty'a curves, and all in da right places!" Barbara is shocked and terrified - but, once her initial horror wears off, she starts taking a liking to this frisky change of personality, and as events unfold, Eddie becomes more and more fond of Barbara. How on Earth (or down below) is all this going to pan out?

Despite its age, this movie has dated pretty well and is still very watchable and enjoyable today. It was a big box-office film in its day and was well-written and impeccably acted and directed. The camerawork is high quality, with good special effects of Hell and of Eddie taking over the Judge's body, considering the era in which it was made. The Hell scenes have a great surreal quality.

This was remade in 1980 as a TV movie with Peter Strauss in the Eddie Kagel role. It was that very rare thing, a GOOD remake - I saw at the time it was shown on TV and enjoyed it loads, so I recommend that one too if you can find a copy - I'm not sure it was ever released to DVD, which is a pity.

Paul Muni is one of my favourite, now sadly somewhat forgotten, actors of the 'golden era' of films - his dark expressive eyes and near-hammy acting style, and his quirky half-Austrian (his birthplace) and half-New York gangster accent, always get me, whether in a rare (for him) comedy such as this, or in his more typical serious roles such as two of his best ones ever as star of 'I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang' and the gangster classic 'Scarface', both from 1932.

In 'Angel On My Shoulder', he plays tough-talking Eddie Kagel like he was born to play the part, and Claude Rains, another old fave, is just perfect as the wily and crafty Devil. Anne Baxter gives a good bemused but intrigued performance as the Judge's fiancee. All of them look like they're having a good time with their roles.

Very highly recommended as a fun, absorbing and unusual fantasy-comedy treat.

Updated 31/3/09

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