We're No Angels

Premiered July 7, 1955.

Joseph:As soon as it gets dark, we'll help ourselves.  

Albert:The old man might object.

Joseph:If he gets in our way, it'll be just too bad for him.  We'll climb down off his roof and cut his throat for a Christmas present.

Albert:That's the kind of thing that could make you stop believing in Santa Claus.

This year's series of "Oscar Takes A Holiday" reviews begins with We're No Angels, which features multiple Academy Award winners.

Film legend Humphrey Bogart won Best Actor for playing Charlie Allnut in The African Queen. 

Humphrey Bogart, accompanied by his wife Lauren Bacall, celebrates his Oscar win.

It was directed by Michael Curtiz, who won a Best Director Oscar for Casablanca, which of course also featured Bogart.

Michael Curtiz poses with the Oscar he won for directing Casablanca.

Peter Ustinov won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor, the first for Spartacus and another for Topkapi.

Peter Ustinov celebrates his Spartacus Oscar with fellow-winner Shirley Jones at the 1961 ceremony.

On to today's review:

On Christmas Eve, 1895, a trio of convicts named Joseph (Humphrey Bogart)...

 Albert (Peter Ustinov)...

and Jules (Aldo Ray), escape from Devil's Island prison.  

They're accompanied by Jules' pet viper snake Adolphe, who spends most of his time in a carry-case. It's easy for them to hide in plain sight on the island, since lots of convicts are out working on parole.

They visit a store owned by Felix Ducotel (Leo G. Carroll) and offer to repair his damaged roof.  They're true intent is to kill Felix, his wife Amelie (Joan Bennett) and their daughter Isabelle (Gloria Talbott) and rob them, then flee Devil's Island on the next boat out.

Felix and his store have been going through a rough patch.  The store has been losing money and Felix is dreading a Christmas visit from Andre Tochard (Basil Rathbone), his cousin and financial benefactor.  Andre knows about Felix's problems and plans to remove Felix from the business.

Isabelle is excited about Andre's visit because he's bringing along his son and sole heir Paul (John Baer).  She's in love with Paul but doesn't know if the feeling is mutual.

As part of their "murder plot," the convicts decide to help Felix.  Joseph, whose criminal specialty was falsifying documents, offers to "adjust" the financial records and save the Ducotel's family business.  Joseph also impresses the Ducotels with his "business acumen" when he manages to sell a hairbrush and comb set to a bald man!

In exchange for their help, Amelie invites the convicts to Christmas Eve dinner.  Albert, Jules and Joseph decorate the house... 

...and prepare a turkey for Christmas dinner. 

The trio even serenades the Ducotels with a Christmas song.  The family invites them to spend the night, not knowing that the convicts have planned to kill them and take their money.

The holiday celebrations are interrupted when Felix's cousin Andre arrives and immediately throws his weight around and belittles everyone in the house.  Andre demands to see the financial records before Joseph has a chance to "fix" them.  

The convicts also learn that Paul is not in love with Isabelle and he plans to tell her so. 

The scenario gets even more complicated when Adolphe the snake goes missing!  

Will Joseph, Jules and Albert go through with their plans to rob and murder the Ducotels?  Can they prevent Andre from learning the financial conditions of Felix's store?  What will happen between Paul and Isabelle? 

J.A. Morris says:

When I was a kid, I was a huge fan of Humphrey Bogart and made every effort to watch every one of his films.  However, We're No Angels was not a movie that was readily available on TV or home video.  That's changed in the last decade and this movie is now part of TCM's annual Christmas programming.  

And that's a good thing, because We're No Angels is lots of fun!  Bogart, Peter Ustinov and Aldo Ray make a great trio and Basil Rathbone is delightfully sleazy as Andre.  Jules' pet snake Adolphe also plays an important role in the film, but to say more about Adolphe would spoil jokes and plot points. 

Bogart didn't appear in many comedies, and he shows off some nice, subtle comic timing here.  It's a shame he didn't squeeze in a few more humorous roles during his career.  Leo G. Carroll, Joan Bennett and Gloria Talbott provide solid support as the Ducotels.   

Some viewers may have a problem with some of the darker jokes.  The "angels" don't express much sympathy for a guard they "tried to kill" during their escape from Devil's Island.  Albert makes multiple jokes about killing his wife (which is one reason he's in prison), not something you usually hear in Christmas movies!  However, 30 minutes into the movie, it's obvious that (SPOILER ALERT), this is a trio of "whimsical" criminals who will commit no violent crimes during the film's running time.  

We're No Angels is based on a stage play called My Three Angels, which was adapted from French play titled La Cuisine Des Anges by Albert Husson.  

We're No Angels has a great ensemble cast and is filled with funny moments and is recommended to all fans of holiday films, especially film fans who enjoy a side of dark humor with their eggnog.  It's a nice excuse to spend time watching "Bogie" every December.  

J.A. Morris's rating: 

4 candy canes!

RigbyMel says:

We're No Angels was unknown to me until a couple of years ago, when we watched it on TCM, which is a shame because it is a delight.   This comedy features excellent performances by Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov and Aldo Ray as criminals who turn out to have hearts of gold.    

The holiday setting helps to keep the viewer off balance initially.  Then Christmas works its transformative power on our criminals who have a change of heart thanks to the warmth and kindness of their erstwhile victims, the Ducotel family.   

From thence, our non-angelic trio tries to fix the Ducotel's financial and familial difficulties...by any means necessary.   We even get an unexpectedly heroic turn from Adolphe the Viper! 

I really love the dry wit of the dialogue throughout this script, as well as Basil Rathbone's obvious enjoyment at playing cousin Andre, the REAL villain of the piece. 

Another unexpected treat in this film is that the audience gets to hear Bogart, Ustinov, and Ray SING during the family Christmas party scene.   The words concerning angels were written for the movie, but the tune is an old hymn tune called "St. Athanasius" which has had many different lyrics set to it over time.    The singing is far from gorgeous, but is utterly appropriate for the characters and charming in that appropriateness.  

Moreover, I agree with J.A. Morris that it would have been nice to see Bogie in other comedic roles since he handles this one so well. 

Interestingly, Joan Bennett who plays Amelie Ducotel had been caught up in a tabloid scandal a few years prior to this movie -- her husband shot her manager!  Although it was not her fault,  she was tainted by association and was not getting much work.   Humphrey Bogart actually went to bat for her to be cast in this movie as he thought she was treated unfairly -- an example of real-life kindness underpinning a holiday film -- and Bennett's performance is lovely.  

If dry and dark wit is not your thing, We're No Angels is probably not going to resonate with you, but for those that appreciate the humor, this is a non-treacly holiday film that is well worth adding to your seasonal rotation! 

RigbyMel's' rating: 

4 candy canes! 

A Christmas Carol (1938)

Premiered 16 December 1938

In this slick MGM adaptation, directed by Edwin L. Marin and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Scrooge is played by Reginald Owen.

Reginald Owen as Scrooge, early in the film.

Lionel Barrymore (who played Scrooge on the radio for several years) was originally cast to play the old miser, but a hip injury prevented this.

Title card for the 1938 adaptation.

Barrymore does introduce the trailer for the film, watch it here:

As for other principal characters:

Bob Cratchit is played by Gene Lockhart, who has a bit of a Christmas movie pedigree.  He also plays the judge in the 1947 classic, Miracle on 34th Street.

Scrooge confronts Bob Crachit.

Scrooge's nephew Fred is played by Barry MacKay, who was best known for similar light comedic roles in British films from the 1930s.

Scrooge with Fred (Barry MacKay).

Tiny Tim here is portrayed by (Terry Kilburn), who went on to appear in Goodbye, Mr. Chips in 1939.

Here's a fun bit of trivia about the Cratchit family as portrayed in this verison:  as previously mentioned, Bob is played by Gene Lockhart.  Mrs. Cratchit is played by Kathleen Lockhart, Gene's wife, and their daughter June Lockhart (best remembered for her tv roles on  Lassie and Lost in Space) plays daughter Belinda Cratchit.

Marley's Ghost (Leo G. Carroll) appears in Scrooge's room.

Other notables include Leo G. Carroll (one of the best character actors of the 20th century) as Marley's Ghost and Ann Rutherford (who played Scarlett's sister Carreen in Gone With The Wind) as the Ghost of Christmas Past.

The Ghost Of Christmas Past (Ann Rutherford) takes Scrooge back to his old school.

As you may recall from last year's Dickensfest, we break from our usual summary/review format (since most of you know the plot of A Christmas Carol) and discuss the major differences found in various adaptations.

What's different about this adaptation?  Quite a bit.

After the opening titles, we get this image:

Most film and tv versions open in Scrooge's counting house.  This version begins with Fred joyfully walking through the snowy streets of Victorian London.  He stops and chats with some young boys playing in the snow, one of whom turns out to be a son of Bob Cratchit. 

Fred then enters Scrooge's business.  He brings Cratchit a bottle of wine to keep him warm, since Scrooge won't allow more coal to be put on the fire.

Later, Cratchit leaves for home and gets ambushed by kids having a snowball fight.  He shows them how to make a "real" snowball.  Cratchit proceeds to inadvertently throw the snowball at Scrooge and scores a direct hit.  Scrooge fires Cratchit on the spot and is mean enough to say that Bob owes him a shilling for ruining his hat.

In spite of this turn of events, Bob goes shopping for Christmas dinner anyway.  He is determined that his family shall have a nice meal even if he has lost his job.  We don't normally see Cratchit  purchasing Christmas dinner at all, much less Cratchit actually losing his situation in most adaptations. 

When Marley's ghost appears, Scrooge sticks his head out of the window and calls town criers into his house to get rid of Marley's ghost.  The ghost disappears, one of the criers says that the "intruder seems to have ex-truded" and they ask Scrooge for some "Christmas spirit" (aka alcohol). 

Scrooge's Sister Fran comes to pick him up from school; Calls him Ebbie.  Scrooge's sister in the book is named "Fan" and (as far as I can tell), there's no other adaptation where she calls Scrooge Ebbie. 

We see "adolescent" Scrooge working for Fezziwig.  The Christmas party, is omitted from this adaptation, so is Scrooge's fiancee.  

The Ghost Of Christmas Present (Lionel Braham) with Scrooge.

Next, the Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to a church.  They observe Fred and his fiancee Bess singing "O Come All Ye Faithful".  Scrooge says they should be married. 

Bob and Tiny Tim are in church too.  They bump into Fred and Bess outside, Tim says she's very pretty.  Fred and Bess decide to slide on the ice.  A Minister scolds them for sliding, then goes for a slide himself.  They slide, then kiss in public.

Tiny Tim & Bob sing at church.

The Ghost of Christmas Present and Scrooge make their usual visit to the Cratchit home.  Bob tells his daughter Martha that Scrooge fired him.  When it comes time for the Christmas toast, it's Mrs. Cratchit who toasts Scrooge.  This is a major departure from the book and most films, where Mrs. Cratchit detests the man and get's angry when Bob toasts his boss. 

Bob & Tiny Tim arrive home from church.

Scrooge's visit to Fred's house is similar to other adaptations.  But when it's time to go, Scrooge  says he wants to stay and that he "loves Christmas".  This version does NOT show us "Ignorance and Want".  

Scrooge next appears on a hill, with Ghost of Christmases Yet To Come.  This segment is consistent with most re-tellings.

When Scrooge wakes up, we get some more differences:

Scrooge personally delivers the prize turkey to Cratchit's house.  He's brought toys for the kids; Fred  and Bess are with him too.  Scrooge mentions that Fred is now his partner. 

Scrooge raises Bob's salary, offers Peter a job when he's old enough.

Scrooge toasts Christmas, Tim says The Line.

J.A. Morris says:

I have mixed feelings about this adaptation.  This was the first live-action version of A Christmas Carol that I ever watched, so I will always have a sentimental attachment to it.  For whatever reason, the local UHF stations in my area aired this much more than the 1951 adaptation that features Alistair Sim.  So Reginald Owen is "my" Scrooge.

Scrooge encounters the Ghost Of Christmases Yet To Come.

I'd say Owen is a good Scrooge, rather than a great one.  He does a decent job with the adapted script he has to work with.  And I feel that his transformation happens a little too fast.  By the end of his visit to "Christmas Present", he announces that he "loves Christmas"?  Already?  Then why bother with the last spirit?

But one problem with this film is that Scrooge seems no more important than his nephew Fred, whose role is expanded here.  The film opens with Fred, we see Fred and his fiancee at church, they play in the snow outside the church.  There were times when I thought the movie should have been called "Fred, Nephew Of Scrooge".  It seems like MGM wanted to emphasize this "young love" subplot.  I can understand, this film came out in 1938 (when the Great Depression was still going on) and they didn't want this to be too...depressing.  But it doesn't play so well today.    

Another problem is the Cratchits.  Gene Lockhart was a good character actor, and he's fine here.  But the Cratchit's home is too nice.  They have knickknacks on the shelves and pictures on their walls as well as quite a few rooms for a poor Victorian family.  

The Ghosts are all pretty good, especially Carroll as Marley.

I'll always enjoy the 1938 adaptation of A Christmas Carol  since it's the version I grew up with.  But compared to other versions, I'd say it's not so great today.

J.A. Morris' rating:

 2 and a half candy canes.


RigbyMel says:

This version of A Christmas Carol is relatively new to me.   The MGM budget makes for good production values, but there are a few too many liberties taken with the story for my taste.

As J.A. Morris says, Scrooge's conversion happens too quickly and the film's focus on nephew Fred is a bit strange.   After all,  A Christmas Carol is about Scrooge and his journey from parsimonious sinner to generous man suffused with the Christmas spirit.  Fred is there as a foil to Scrooge.   Fred's scenes sliding on the ice and smooching (in public?! -- not very good Victorian etiquette!) with Bess are cute enough but are very peripheral to the tale at hand.

This is an interesting, but not great adaptation.

RigbyMel's rating:

2 candy canes