''Angel on My Shoulder'' is a 1946 American

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction ...

directed by

Archie Mayo Archibald L. Mayo (January 29, 1891 – December 4, 1968) was a film director, screenwriter and actor. Early years The son of a tailor, Mayo was born in New York City. After attending the city's public schools, he studied at Columbia Unive ...

(his last film) and starring

Paul Muni Paul Muni (born Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund; September 22, 1895– August 25, 1967) was an American stage and film actor who grew up in Chicago. Muni was a five-time Academy Award nominee, with one win. He started his acting career in ...

Anne Baxter Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress, star of Hollywood films, Broadway productions, and television series. She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, and was nominated for an Emmy. A granddaughter of Fr ...

and

Claude Rains William Claude Rains (10 November 188930 May 1967) was a British actor whose career spanned almost seven decades. After his American film debut as Griffin (The Invisible Man), Dr. Jack Griffin in ''The Invisible Man (1933 film), The Invisible Ma ...

. The plot involves a deal between the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

and a dead man. The film was an independent production produced by Charles R. Rogers and David W. Siegel, written by

Harry Segall Harry Segall (April 10, 1892 – November 25, 1975) was an American playwright, screenwriter and television writer. Segall was born in Chicago. Harry Segall's writing career spans 1933 to 1959. Segall's plays, including '' Lost Horizons'', a ...

and

Roland Kibbee Roland Kibbee (15 February 1914 in Monongahela, Pennsylvania – 5 August 1984 in Encino, California) was an award-winning American screenwriter and producer. He was a frequent collaborator and friend of actor-producer Burt Lancaster. Caree ...

and released by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...

. The producer changed the original title of ''Me and Satan'', concerned that the public would not see a film about the devil.

Plot

After his release from prison, gangster Eddie Kagle is killed by his partner in crime, Smiley Williams. Kagle ends up in

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

, where "Nick" offers him a chance to leave 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 too honest. Nick fears that Parker 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 Judge Parker's reputation somehow results in making Parker look better. Along the way, Kagle falls in love with Barbara Foster, the judge's fiancée, causing him to question his whole outlook on life and to eventually rebel against Nick. Nick presents Kagle with the opportunity to shoot Williams, but instead Kagle confronts Williams with the truth. Shocked and frightened, Williams backs away and falls out of an open window to his death. Beyond Nick's power by virtue of having committed no wrongdoing since his return to life, Kagle is eager to stay, start a life with Barbara and take up Judge Parker's mission to support troubled young people. However, Nick tells him that every moment Kagle is present he is denying Parker and Barbara their rightful life together. Kagle agrees, bids Barbara farewell and relinquishes Parker's body, allowing the couple a tearful reunion. 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 Kagle's punishment even more painful than usual, but Kagle blackmails him; in return for not revealing Nick's blunders, Kagle wants to be made a

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to ...

. Nick has no option but to agree to the demand.

Cast

Copyright status and remakes

The film is now in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

because the producers neglected to renew the copyright in 1973. The film was remade for television, directed by John Berry and starring

Peter Strauss Peter Lawrence Strauss (born February 20, 1947) is an American television and film actor, known for his roles in several television miniseries in the 1970s and 1980s. He is five-time Golden Globe Awards nominee. Early life Strauss was born in C ...

Richard Kiley Richard Paul Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American stage, film and television actor and singer. He is best known for his distinguished theatrical career in which he twice won the Tony Award for Best Actor In A Musical. Kiley ...

and

Barbara Hershey Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including weste ...

. It premiered on ABC on May 11, 1980.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Angel On My Shoulder (Film) 1946 films 1946 fantasy films American fantasy films 1940s English-language films American black-and-white films Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin Films directed by Archie Mayo Films about the afterlife United Artists films 1940s American films