We’re No Angels

Devil’s Island, 1895. Three escaped convicts, Joseph (Humphrey Bogart), Jules (Peter Ustinov), and Albert (Aldo Ray) arrive looking for an opportunity for some easy money. Through chance they arrive at a store run by the Ducotel family with patriarch Felix (Leo G. Carol), the main shop manager who is in over his head. He is running the store into the ground through incompetence and an inability to pressure his few clientele into paying their outstanding bills. They immediately see an opportunity to con him out of money and supplies. While ostensibly repairing a leaky roof on the shop the three cons overhear all the drama currently going on in the Ducotel household. Felix is indebted to his cousin Andre (Basil Rathbone) a wealthy businessman who owns the shop and will kick the family out if it isn’t turning a profit. Amelie (Joan Bennett) is the long suffering wife who worries about losing everything they have if this happens. The daughter Isabelle (Gloria Talbots) is in love with Andre’s son, Paul (John Baer) who may not be reciprocating that love. In fact, a letter arrived that very day stating that Paul was to be married to someone else to help further his father’s business interests. All of this is revealed rather amusingly to the three convicts as they watch like angels from above through an open window leading out to the roof.

We’re No Angels is a farce, a bit of a screwball comedy that plays out a little like a soap opera with a double shot of comedy to get it over the threadbare story. It gets its inspiration from a French play La Cuisine Des Angels by Albert Husson which was Americanized as My Three Angels by Samuel and Bella Spewack and well it plays out as such, making use of minimal sets and being dialogue heavy, it never really feels like a filmed play the way many such films 40’s and 50’s did. Director Michael Curtiz was no director for hire, having made such classics as The Adventures of Robin Hood and Casablanca, and knew how to shoot a film, even one as low key as this, and have it avoid the claustrophobic effect many filmed plays have.

So much of this film rides on the performances and every one of the main cast is stellar here. Leo G. Carol, whom I mostly associate with sci-if and governmental roles like Alexander Waverly in The Man From U.N.C.L.E, is perfect here as the awkward and unsure of himself Felix, a man who can’t knuckle down and do what he knows is needed to be successful. Joan Bennet has a little less to work with as a character but she shines as the wife who knows what her husband is and isn’t and doesn’t come down too hard on him. Gloria Talbott makes the most of what could have been a thankless roll but her bright optimism makes her a delight to watch, even if much of her role has her fainting at the drop of a hat.

But the real stars of the film are Bogart, Ustinov and Ray. These three have the unenviable task of making murders and thieves likable. There is little subtlety to any of their performances but we cannot help but fall in love with them. Aldo Ray is the ladies man who is romantic at heart. He drives much of the romantic plot between Isabelle and Paul. Bogart is the craggy one who deep down has a heart and wants to help out the Ducotel family when it won’t personally benefit himself, though he will continue the charade of planning to steal them blind long after he no longer plans to do so. Ustinov is the least developed of the three but his goofy Safe-cracker is at times the most relatable of the three. If there is a weak element among the cast it is Basil Rathbone and John Baer as the rich cousin and his equally disdainful son. Neither is much of a character and seem to exist for no other reason other than to be an obstacle for the Ducotel’s to overcome. They’re mustache twirling baddies there to be vanquished by the three cons with hearts of gold. A little too much of the film’s plot is dedicated to these two and the story suffers a little for it. 

The film was marketed as a Christmas comedy and while it does take place around Christmastime it is really more of a religious allegory. The three cons play out like guardian angels from above, hearing of a struggling family and descending from the heavens to make all things right. And when all that is accomplished they walk off into the distance with halos ablaze, content that their deed is done and it’s time to move on. It’s cheesy and corny and the story is virtually nonexistent but it is a sheer delight to watch. It doesn’t need plot twists and contrivance to keep  things interesting. It doesn’t need action and adventure. It doesn’t even need mystery or suspense. There could have easily been a subplot involving the police closing in on the three escapees. None of that really matters and thus is left out of the story and it is the better for it. The film ran over fifteen minutes longer than the typical comedy yet nothing feels unnecessary or bloated. It goes down easy and is just fun to watch so many seasoned veterans enjoying themselves on screen even as we enjoy watching them. That chemistry plays out on screen making this a highly enjoyable film.

Release Date: July 7, 1955

Running Time: 106 Minutes

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray, Peter Ustinov, Leo G. Carroll, Joan Bennett, Gloria Talbot

Directed By: Michael Curtiz