We're No Angels

Dir: Michael Curtiz

1955

****

We're No Angels is a rare example of the great Humphrey Bogart doing comedy, but funnily enough, this was the second time he played an escaped convict from Devil's Island (the first being 1944's "Passage to Marseille"). Michael Curtiz, who had directed Bogart in 1942’s Casablanca, collaborated with his old friend once more after thirteen years and twenty-five films including Mildred Pierce, Flamingo Road and White Christmas. Although it never quite feels like it, We’re No Angels is technically a Christmas film, it just doesn’t feature any snow. The screenplay was written by Ranald MacDougall, based on the play My Three Angels by Samuel and Bella Spewack, which itself was based upon the French play La Cuisine Des Anges by Albert Husson. The story is great but the film is all about the three leading characters, played by Bogart, Peter Ustinov and Aldo Ray. It begins with three convicts – Joseph (Bogart), Albert (Ray) and Jules (Ustinov) – who escape from prison on Devil's Island just before Christmas and arrive at a nearby French colonial town. Joseph is a prolific forger and a talented salesperson, Albert seems to have issues controlling himself with the ladies (his history and why he was imprisoned lingers uncomfortably) and Jules is an educated dandy, a splendid chap with a taste for dark humour – on the whole he seems like a good egg, except for the fact he killed his own wife. Each actor is perfectly cast, Bogart and Ustinov are on excellent form and outshine Ray but Ray’s performance feels so contemporary, I’ve often felt like he appeared in the film after arriving from the future. They go to a store managed by the Ducotel family, the only one to give supplies on credit. While there, they notice the roof is leaking and offer to fix it. They do not actually intend to, the roof is just the perfect place to hide so they decide to remain there until nightfall, when they will steal clothes and supplies and escape on a ship waiting in the harbor. As they wait, they find that the small family of Felix (the wonderful Leo G. Carroll), Amelie (Joan Bennett), and daughter Isabelle (Gloria Talbott), is in financial distress and offer their services to hide the trio's all-too-sinister ruse. Joseph even gets to work conning people and falsifying records to make the store prosperous. However, the three convicts begin to have a change of heart after they fix a delicious Christmas dinner for the Ducotels made mostly of stolen items. Tensions heighten after store owner Andre Trochard (Basil Rathbone) arrives from Paris with his nephew Paul (John Baer), the light in Isabelle's eye who had promised himself to her before he left the Island the previous year. The Trochards plan on taking over the store, which they perceive is unprofitable due to its use of credit. It turns out that Paul is betrothed to another woman, to Isabelle's dismay. Before any action can be taken, both men are bitten by Albert's pet viper, Adolphe, and die nearly instantly. Isabelle finds another love, and the family is happy as the convicts finally ready for their postponed escape. However, while waiting on the docks for their boat to arrive, the threesome reconsiders. Judging that the outside world is likely to be worse than that of the prison, they decide to turn themselves back in. As they walk toward it at film's end halos appear over their heads...followed by one above the cage of Adolphe. The three leads are awesome but Joan Bennett, Basil Rathbone and Leo G. Carroll give as good as they get, particularly well even, considering that they are essentially the film’s stooges. The timing is great but I do think it could have been tighter but only ever so slightly. Some scenes were a little forced but the physical comedy is superb considering that none of the actors were known for their comedy. Michael Curtiz was a brilliant director, and even though the film took place largely indoors in a small set, you still feel they were on an Island and that the weather was hot. The last scene whereby the three convicts get their halos is one of my favorite endings to a film ever, I’m surprised the film has only been remade one to be honest and I would argue that the remake is, much like the original, an overlooked gem.