utgard14 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. Eddie's got plans of his own, namely getting revenge on the man who killed him. 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. I've always enjoyed Paul Muni's acting style. He can be very broad and hammy but really knock it out of the park for the emotional scenes. It's a nice blend that sets him apart from most of his contemporaries. Here he's a lot of fun playing a gangster with attitude but when it comes time to get serious he doesn't miss a beat. Claude Rains is also great. There usually was a little bit of the Devil in Mr. Rains' roles so this is a perfect fit for him. Anne Baxter is lovely as always. It's a good fantasy movie with some romance and a lot of humor. You should definitely check it out if you get the chance.

secondtake 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. In this case Muni plays a con who has gone to hell, and Rains is the devil himself. They have an arrangement to go up to the surface of the earth and some trickiness ensues. It's fun, deceptive, sometimes humorous, sometimes romantically serious.Because the plot is a clear contrivance, the movie does have a slightly illustrative sense, the way "Harvey" does with James Stewart. But sometimes you forget about the devil and the deals he's made, and you just watch, and the best parts of the movie rise above the cleverness. This is director Archie Mayo's last film, and though he no Hollywood legend, he was a serious, consistent director, and this proves it.

T Y This was an effort to rekindle the success of Here Comes Mr Jordan in which Claude Rains played a heavenly emissary righting some wrongs. 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. This time Rains plays the devil himself. He's quite good and more menacing than a movie of the era would typically allow. The noir stylings are nice. These may be the blackest compositions I've ever seen in a movie. The early minutes in hell look terrific and the movie gets a lot of mileage from a few flames and some grimy, underlit faces. Rain's supernatural character also receives special lighting against dark backgrounds throughout.But it's rather odd that a fantasy goes with a "frustrated romance" format, when comedy seems to be just beneath the surface. And the script is bad; the narrative gets convoluted and the movie lacks any really great scenes. After hell the movie is very blah. A promising, atypical concept is just converted into dozens of unmemorable, conventionalized scenes. All the Kings Men, State of the Union and His Girl Friday all make finer, funnier and smarter moments from political intrigue. And the simple fact is; it's not enjoyable to spend 90 minutes with a lead character this ignorant and vulgar. Muni's redemption arc is very schlocky, and his performance is something out of the distant past. At 50, he's looking a bit gruesome for a leading man role.

Spikeopath I have to say that my rating for this film is somewhat clouded because that is exactly what the films copy was, very cloudy. I can't believe there is not a restoration in line for this film from 1946, it is barely watchable and the sound mix is nigh on impossible to hear.The film is standard fare as regards the tale of the bad man gets a shot at life again, only here it's with a kicker, and watching this film unfold is never less than interesting without actually pulling up any trees. 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. 6/10