The comparisons for Angel On My Shoulder and Here Comes Mr. Jordan are too obvious to belabor the point. Naturally since the same guy, Harry Segall wrote both screenplays.
But in this one Claude Rains goes to the dark side. As Mephistopheles he's ruler of the underworld where the damned toil at their labors for eternity. 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. You remember that James Cagney took a hiatus from the rackets via a stretch in Sing Sing. When he came back he expected to resume where he left off, but Humphrey Bogart didn't see it that way.
But Hardie Albright must have seen Angels With Dirty Faces because he plugs Paul Muni with four shots after picking him up at the prison gate.
When Muni arrives in Hell he's only got one thing on his mind, crashing out and getting his former pal. Seeing a resemblance to a respected judge who he's trying to ensnare in sin or disgrace, Rains decides to let Muni out on parole so to speak. Of course he goes with him.
When Muni enters the judge's body courtesy of Rains, Rains expects him to just behave in his usual hoodlum manner and disgrace the judge. But somehow the best laid plans of the devil keep getting gummed up. 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. While he was at Warner Brothers Muni rejected gangster parts over and over again. According to his co-star Anne Baxter, Muni was hoping to revive his career with this one. It was not to be. Muni returned to the stage after this film except for two films in the Fifties.
Best in this film without a doubt is Claude Rains. Then again he's never bad in anything. If you liked him in Here Comes Mr. Jordan you will equally like him on the dark side.
Angel On My Shoulder is an entertaining fantasy, but far from the work Paul Muni did in the Thirties.
But in this one Claude Rains goes to the dark side. As Mephistopheles he's ruler of the underworld where the damned toil at their labors for eternity. 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. You remember that James Cagney took a hiatus from the rackets via a stretch in Sing Sing. When he came back he expected to resume where he left off, but Humphrey Bogart didn't see it that way.
But Hardie Albright must have seen Angels With Dirty Faces because he plugs Paul Muni with four shots after picking him up at the prison gate.
When Muni arrives in Hell he's only got one thing on his mind, crashing out and getting his former pal. Seeing a resemblance to a respected judge who he's trying to ensnare in sin or disgrace, Rains decides to let Muni out on parole so to speak. Of course he goes with him.
When Muni enters the judge's body courtesy of Rains, Rains expects him to just behave in his usual hoodlum manner and disgrace the judge. But somehow the best laid plans of the devil keep getting gummed up. 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. While he was at Warner Brothers Muni rejected gangster parts over and over again. According to his co-star Anne Baxter, Muni was hoping to revive his career with this one. It was not to be. Muni returned to the stage after this film except for two films in the Fifties.
Best in this film without a doubt is Claude Rains. Then again he's never bad in anything. If you liked him in Here Comes Mr. Jordan you will equally like him on the dark side.
Angel On My Shoulder is an entertaining fantasy, but far from the work Paul Muni did in the Thirties.