We're No Angels

In December 2020, one of the movies in TCM's Christmas marathon that I hadn't blogged about before was We're No Angels. I had thought a couple of times over the past 12 months about doing a post on it, but figured there was a good chance it would show up in the TCM December 2021 Christmas marathon. Sure enough, it's on the schedule, tonight at 8:00 PM. So recently, I sat down to watch it and do a post on it.

It's Christmas Eve in the late 1890s on Devil's Island, which at the time was a French prison colony just off the coast of French Guiana. The island has any number of parolees who have served their sentences but aren't allowed to go back to metropolitan France, as well as a lot of people trying to get off the island. Among them are three escapees from the prison: embezzler Joseph (Humphrey Bogart), safe-cracker Jules (Peter Ustinov), and killer Albert (Aldo Ray). Their plan is to rob somebody to get the clothes and money they need to get on a boat and off the island.

To that end, and to evade detection from the police, they climb up on the roof of the Ducotels' house and business. Felix Ducotel (Leo G. Carroll) runs a sort of general store, although he doesn't own the place, instead managing it for his cousin André Trochard (Basil Rathbone). Felix has a wife Amélie (Joan Bennett), and an adult daughter Isabelle (Gloria Talbott) who has been in love with André's nephew Paul (John Baer). Perhaps Paul and Isabelle can get married and run the business together, securing the Ducotels' financial future.

But there are a couple of problems. First is that Ducotel hasn't been very successful in business. The books are a mess because Ducotel hasn't been able to turn a profit. And André and Paul are coming out to examine the books. Felix unsurprisingly expects there's going to be hell to pay, or would be if he could use the word hell in a Production Code-era movie. Worse is that he's received a letter from the Trochards saying that Paul has fallen in love with a girl in France and is not going to marry Isabelle.

By this time, the three escapees have been discovered, in part trying to help Isabelle after she faints. Isabelle is just so beautiful that Albert, who hasn't had the company of a good woman in ages, can't help but having romantic thoughts about her (of course, in reality, the thoughts would be much more lustful, probably violently so). Partly in order to help delay the Ducotels' ratting them out to the police, the three convicts decide they're going to try to help solve all of the Ducotels' problems.

We're No Angels is the sort of movie that you can see why a lot of people would like it, but one where it's easy to see some of the flaws that it has as well. For me, the first big one is that the three convicts seem like unrealistic characters. If you think Ophelia from yesterday's selection of Trading Places might be over the top as a prostitute with a heart of gold, the good nature of these three escapees is astounding. The other big flaw for me is the presence of the Production Code. In real life, even if you had an escapee willing to help the Ducotels, it would probably be much more violent. Not only does the movie have to dance around how to deal with the Trochards, it has to deal with the fact that the three men are escapees who aren't supposed to get away with it.

Having said that, however, everybody gives a good enough performance with the material they've been given. We're No Angels is another movie where, if you can suspend your disbelief long enough, you'll probably really enjoy the 100-minute fantasy world it gives you.