And the Angels Sing
And the Angels Sing is a 1944 musical directed by George Marshall and starring Dorothy Lamour, Fred MacMurray, and Betty Hutton. Released by Paramount Pictures, it is a classic example of a film written to capitalize on the title of a previously popular song, in this case Benny Goodman's 1939 number one hit, "And the Angels Sing" by Ziggy Elman and Johnny Mercer, sung by Martha Tilton, though the song is not actually in the film. The standout original songs in the musical were "It Could Happen To You", sung by Dorothy Lamour, which quickly became a pop standard, and "His Rocking Horse Ran Away," which became one of Betty Hutton's most popular numbers.
| And the Angels Sing | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | George Marshall |
| Written by | Claude Binyon Melvin Frank Norman Panama |
| Starring | Dorothy Lamour Betty Hutton Fred MacMurray Diana Lynn Mimi Chandler |
| Music by | Victor Young James Van Heusen Johnny Burke |
| Cinematography | Karl Struss |
| Edited by | Eda Warren |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The story is about a singing sister group, their exploitation by a bandleader, and their subsequent rise to fame. One of the sisters is portrayed by Mimi Chandler, daughter of former Kentucky governor and baseball commissioner Happy Chandler. "Happy" is also the name of Fred MacMurray's character in the story.
TIME wrote about the film at the time, "From [the start of] Happy's two-timing, [it] gets more & more complicated and less & less funny. Too much of this dizzy story shows signs of hard labor; about half is rather enjoyable. Betty Hutton (The Miracle of Morgan's Creek) gets funnier with every picture. She is the most startling expression of natural force since the Johnstown Flood.[1]
Plot
The four Angel sisters are singers, although all wish to pursue other careers. At a roadhouse, bandleader Happy Marshall makes a pass at Nancy Angel, but she already has a boyfriend, cab driver Oliver.
After the girls are paid just $10 for a performance, Bobby Angel gambles with her sisters' money and wins $190. But she is conned out of it by Happy, whose band needs it to make a trip to Brooklyn to perform at a club. Bobby thinks he wants to both hire and romance her, neither of which is true.
Happy ends up falling for Nancy, and the girls' act is so good, the club's owner will not hire Happy's band in the future without them. Nancy is fine with the arrangement, particularly when Bobby ends up falling for Happy's friend in the band, Fuzzy.
Cast
- Dorothy Lamour as Nancy Angel
- Betty Hutton as Bobby Angel
- Diana Lynn as Josie Angel
- Mimi Chandler as Patti Angel
- Raymond Walburn as Daddy Angel
- Fred MacMurray as Happy Marshall
- Eddie Foy, Jr. as Fuzzy
- Frank Albertson as Oliver
- Mikhail Rasumni as Schultz
See also
References
- "The New Pictures," Time Magazine 43/22 (29 May 1944).
- Film Review 1945 by Maurice F. Speed