Angel on My Shoulder

Plot synopsis:
After his release from prison, gangster Eddie Kagle (Paul Muni) is killed by his partner in crime, Smiley Williams (Hardie Albright). Kagle ends up in Hell, where "Nick" (Claude Rains) offers him a chance to escape hell and avenge his own death in exchange for help with a problem. Kagle looks exactly like Judge Frederick Parker, an upright man who is causing Nick distress because he is entirely too honest. Nick fears that Parker/Kagle may cause him more anxiety in future, as he is running for governor of his state. Nick wants to destroy Parker's reputation and Kagle readily agrees to have his soul transferred into Parker's body.
As soon as Kagle appears as Parker, odd things begin to happen. Kagle pursues his goal with evil intent (though often at cross purposes with the Devil), but everything he does to ruin the Judge Parker's reputation somehow results in making Parker look better. Along the way, Kagle falls in love with Barbara Foster (Anne Baxter), the judge's fiancée, causing him to question his whole outlook on life and eventually rebel against Nick.
Nick presents Kagle the opportunity to shoot Williams, but instead Kagle confronts the man with the truth. Shocked and frightened, Williams backs away and falls out an open window to his death.
Exasperated and defeated, Nick takes Kagle back to Hell, leaving Judge Parker in a much better position than before. Nick threatens to make the reformed man's punishment even more painful than usual, but Kagle blackmails his would-be tormentor; in return for not revealing Nick's blunders, Kagle wants to be made a trustee. Nick has no option but to agree to Kagle's demands.

Tags: revenge, romantic

Review:
Judge Parker and Eddie Kagle are both played by the great Paul Muni.
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.
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.
what's not to love?"Angel on My Shoulder" (1946) offers up classic performances by such legendary stars as Paul Muni, Anne Baxter, and Claude Rains.
Uncomfortable in Hell, Mr. Muni hooks up with wicked Claude Rains (as "Nick"), who seems to know his way around the underworld.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
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 is hilarious, mugging outrageously when he's not leaping through the air to rumble with devils or thugs.Never been the biggest Claude Rains fan--his prissiness wears on me midway through any film he's in--but he makes a good, nasty Satan.
And it also is the only time that two of the best actors of the golden age of sound films worked in a film side by side in the same scenes of a movie.* I am referring to Mr. Paul Muni, who played Tony Carmonte in SCARFACE and Mr. Claude Rains, who played that beacon of heavenly fairness and decency Mr. Jordan in HERE COMES MR.
But Paul Muni played Benito Juarez, and shared no scene with Rains as Napoleon III of France - the two leaders never met.)Muni's Eddie Kagle is a reprise of his Tony Carmonte, complete with Carmonte's deadly looking slit-like stare.
Rains realizes that if Kagle can replace Parker, then he can ruin the Judge's campaign for cleaning up the corruption in his state.So Rains makes his offer to the eager Muni: if Kagle agrees to this switch, playing the role of Parker while the latter is in an enforced coma, and undoing Parker's campaign, Kagle will get a chance to even the score with good old "Smiler".
Kagel/Parker is not condemned in the papers but praised for his bravery against the gangsters.Also, as the film progresses, Muni meets the Judge's girlfriend Barbara Foster (Anne Baxter).
He falls for her, and she slowly "corrupts" him - he starts wondering if the Judge and Barbara don't have the better view of the world.The film is a good fantasy, that resolves well - a kind of a twist, in fact, on the conclusion of CASABLANCA, with Muni and Rains walking off together, tied by the knot of their agreement.
Picture concerns about a gangster called Eddie Kagle (Paul Muni) who is based his way of living on what Omar Khayyan once said : ¨Live fully while you may and reckon not the cost¨ .
He leaves the State Penitentiary where was imprisoned accused of murderous , Eddie makes a covenant with the devil (Claude Rains) and returns to earth for vengeance as an important judge .
He becomes incarnated a kind judge and the problems emerge when is romanced with his girlfriend (Anne Baxter) , falling in love with her , but the good-heart mobster spoils the relationship .It's a romantic movie with a supernatural love story .
Bemusing fantasy with excellent interpretation by Paul Muni (Scarface) in a comic character while he usually played historical or dramatic roles .
The motion picture is well directed by Archie Mayo (Bordertown , Petrified forest , Black legion) in his last film , he's a specialist on noir cinema and worked with almost all Warner Brothers biggest stars (Paul Muni , James Cagney, George Raft , Humphrey Bogart) though also directed some comedy , as this film and with Marx Brothers, ¨One night in Casablanca¨ which had more pace and spirit that some of their later works .
Angel on My Shoulder (1946)It's great to see Paul Muni in another role--he's a great actor who did too few films--and it's never bad to see Claude Rains.
Claude Raines is a smooth Devil who will cut Muni a deal if he goes back to Earth and ruins the name of a good and upright man.
Paul Muni is tough, funny and at times sensitive, Anne Baxter is a long suffering fiancé and just the kind of woman for whom a tough mug like Muni's Eddie could turn over a new leaf, and Claude Raines makes an excellent "Nick", both funny and ominous.There is a nice twist at the end and the closing scene is one of my favorite finales in filmdom..
Paul Muni leads a talented cast in Archie Mayo's dark comedy about a wise-guy (Eddie Kagle/Muni) who, murdered, finds himself entangled in one of Satan's (Claude Rains) schemes to outwit his arch-rival and steal the soul of a righteous judge who happens to look exactly like Kagle.
But living vicariously in the life of a good man (Judge Parker), loved by an even better woman (Barbara/Anne Baxter) Kagle begins to question the evils of his life.While Angel on my Shoulder is not quite a redemption story, it endows its characters with just enough conscience to make them sympathetic.
Eddie Kagle (Paul Muni) is shot dead by Smiley (Hardie Albright) but is given a second chance at life by Nick (Claude Rains).
However, circumstances don't go as planned and Nick hadn't counted on the influence that Judge Parker's fiancée, Barbara (Anne Baxter) exerts over Eddie......This film is a comedy that is very funny due to Eddie's out-of-character behaviour as Judge Parker.
Claude Rains is a stylish devil while Anne Baxter is a strong-minded woman who holds her own in the face of her husband's character transformation.
Paul Muni and Anne Baxter express their separate heartbreaks very convincingly, while Claude Rains is always amusing in his role.It's a fun story.
Nick, the Devil, (Claude Rains) allows murdered gangster Eddie Kagle (Paul Muni) to return to life in the body of a lookalike judge, hoping to destroy the judge's good reputation.
But neither Eddie nor Nick counted on the judge's fiancée (Anne Baxter), whose love may put Eddie on the side of the angels for once.Very entertaining movie.
however, once Claude Raines (The Devil) and Paul Muni (a hood who had been killed and sent to Hell) returned to earth and the latter became romantically involved, the film bogged down.Muni assumes the body of "Judge Parker" but still talks and thinks like the thug he was as his old self.
I stayed with the film the whole way, and it wasn't bad but I wouldn't watch it again.For those who don't believe there is a Devil, this is a good movie to see as it effectively shows how he whispers attractive things in one's ear and how persuasive he can be....all the while ruining you..
Archie Mayo's curio "Angel on my Shoulder" is virtually unknown despite a cast headed by Paul Muni, Claude Rains and Anne Baxter.
Muni seems totally lost in the role of a dead gangster fuelling the fires of Hell before he's brought back to inhabit the body of a 'good' judge the Devil is trying to get his hands on, (watching this you would never think Muni was once considered a great actor).
Of course, considering he's the Devil, Rains seems singularly unprepared for Anne Baxter's sweetness-and-light fiancée whose goodness messes up his plans somewhat.
******SPOLILERS****** Gangster Eddie Kagle, Paul Muni,serving his latest stretch in prison,is released and picked up by his fellow hood Smiley Williams, Hardie Albright.
Eddie becomes a good and decent person and even worse Eddie likes what he became!"Angle on my shoulder" is one of those life after death movies made in the 1940's like "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" and "A Guy Named Joe" where Eddie becomes the good Judge Fredrick and makes up for his life of crime and redeems his soul by doing it.
MY RATING-7.4Impossible to fail with a formula like this- A gangster is killed by his partner and the Devil gives him the chance of coming back to the world of the living in the body of a judge, to corrupt people.
Paul Muni is very nice here, spoofing his own image of gangster as well as Claude Rains, who we believe is really Satan.
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.
But even Rains gets quite a handful when Paul Muni makes a sudden trip their courtesy of Hardie Albright.This part of the story is taken right out the plot of Angels With Dirty Faces.
And Muni finds himself falling for the judge's fiancée, Anne Baxter and slowly changing his ways.Angel On My Shoulder was a charming fantasy that marked only the second time Muni returned to a gangster role other than his famous Scarface portrayal.
Angel On My Shoulder is an entertaining fantasy, but far from the work Paul Muni did in the Thirties..
I always liked actors Claude Rains and Paul Muni.
Even though I never saw any of the remakes, I will still say that the original would still be my favorite version, because I love old movies, and I always liked Claude Rains and Paul Muni, they were fine actors..
Paul Muni is fine and plays our main protagonists dual personality with credible verve, and Claude Rains is clearly enjoying himself as the devil of the piece, and I heartily applaud the dark shift the film took for its final reel, yet it is a hard film to reckie unless you can see and hear it properly.I have no hesitation in watching this film again if a restoration comes to pass, but until then I say approach with caution.
JORDAN - centers on Eddie (Paul Muni) a gangster shot to death by his presumed best friend and sent to Hell as a result.
Paul Muni gives a great performance as Eddie Kagle, gangster turned good guy.
ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER (United Artists, 1946), directed by Archie Mayo, stars Paul Muni in one of his finer film efforts in his latter movie career.
Rather than playing an Italian accented gang leader who becomes the "shame of a nation," this time Muni does one better, that of a tough-talking American mug who never got passed the third grade who learns a moral lesson during his second chance in life.Opening title: "This story is about Eddie Kagle, who based his way of living on what Omar Khayyam once said: 'Live fully while you may and reckon not the cost.'" After serving a four year prison term, Eddie Kagle (Paul Muni), gangster, walks out freely into the world where he's greeted by his boyhood pal and partner, "Smiley" Williams (Hardie Albright).
Because Eddie happens to be the spitting image of a Judge Frederick Parker, an honest politician running for governor, Nick (Claude Rains), the devil, wanting to take more souls with him into hell, allows Kagle temporary freedom outside Hades to avenge his killer in exchange for he assuming the body of Judge Parker to dishonor his good name.
Having found love with Barbara Foster (Anne Baxter), the judge's secretary and fiancée, the devil uses every possible motive to tempt Eddie into sin, even to a point of having him come face to face with Smiley.
Changing the emphasis from Heaven to Hell and Claude Rains assuming similar duties from guardian angel to guardian demon, with parallel ideas in different directions, the film overall is quite entertaining.
Having seen it now for a second time, I admit I was wrong,its not that good bit not as bad as I had ythough as an 18 yr old wise guy Paul Muni doesnt overact as badly as he usually does .
Paul Muni and Claude Rains really seem to be enjoying themselves, Muni as the stereotypical tough guy Bronx gangster with integrity and Rains as a Satan who acts more like a bemused business executive then the king of the underworld.
Paul gets sent to Hell, where he unknowingly makes a deal with the devil, Claude Rains.
I hope Claude had fun, playing a head angel and the devil himself in the span of five years!Of course, complications in Claude's master plan ensue once Paul meets the judge's sweet fiancé, Anne Baxter, and starts to fall in love.
Who doesn't love Claude Rains & Paul Muni?
Claude Rains was my favorite actor as a kid, and he may still be, and I clearly recall seeing this film when I was about 10 or 11 (1949/1950) and never having heard of it before, probably because it came out the same year I started going to movies by myself (yes, in those days one could go to a movie by himself - especially Saturday or Sunday afternoon Westerns and the like - when he was seven!) and maybe I missed its original release by a few months.
(For the first half of the century, I would nominate as America's greatest star character actors Walter Huston, Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, John Barrymore and Paul Muni, in any order you like, all of whom also played occasional leading man parts.) 3.
Muni could be anywhere from his late thirties up as Eddie Kagle, and Baxter really does come over as a lot older than 23, simply because she exudes the kind of maturity of style and presence that so many of the classic film actresses of those days possessed - think of the roles Garbo, Loy, Davis, Hobson and Hepburn played while still in their twenties (Hobson, in THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, was 18!).
It was my first look at Paul Muni, who expresses a wide range of emotions as the murdered gangster who returns to Earth in a switcheroo for a judge who's been restoring victims to a place in society at the expense of the Devil (Claude Rains).
A story of redemption and sacrifice...Claude Rains gives a spectacular performance as Satan and Paul Muni captures something missing in todays films ...an honesty and pain that too many "actors" are afraid to show.
Taken by his performance in the superb 1934 Film Noir Crime Without Passion,I was excited to recently discover that the BBC had shown a rarely mentioned Claude Rains movie,which led to me looking at my shoulders.The plot:Freed from jail,gangster Eddie Kagle gets picked up by his old friend Smiley Williams.
Returning to earth,Kagle soon begins to feel that he does not want to leave it in the hellish state he last left it.View on the film:Going to hell in a hand-basket within the first 5 minutes,director Archie Mayo (who argued with Paul Muni during production) kicks his final movie off with a blazing opening that covers the title in a devilish Film Noir atmosphere,as burning pits of fire and risqué clothes give the afterlife an ultra-stylised fetish gloss.
Paul Muni plays a gangster who is murdered towards the very beginning of the story and is sent to Hell.
This gangster seems an awful lot like his character from the movie SCARFACE (1932) and although Muni's acting is far from subtle, it is very entertaining.
The Devil is also entertained by how awful the man is--especially since this evil deceased gangster looks just like a nice judge who he wants to discredit.
Gangster star Paul Muni plays a thoroughly bad egg who dies and goes to Hell, where he meets the devil (an inspired bit of casting in the form of Claude Rains).
I like how it's different because we see a deceased gangster who was trapped in a polite judge's body in order to kill his killer.Paul Muni's attitude and accent was just so spot.
Here Paul Muni plays a thug who gets out of the joint, is instantly killed but returned to life in the body of a judge, and can't let go of his sense of vengeance.
Second half a performance good enough to make me want to see much more of Paul Muni.There are some things that work here.
Then Raines will let Muni give Smiley what's coming to him.Well -- the best laid plans, you know?