Half Angel

Half Angel
Directed by	Richard Sale
Produced by	Julian Blaustein
Written by	George Carleton Brown
Screenplay by	Robert Riskin
Starring	Loretta Young; Joseph Cotten; Cecil Kellaway
Music by	Cyril J. Mockridge
Cinematography	Milton R. Krasner
Edited by	Robert Fritch
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Release date	May 5, 1951;
Running time	77 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.5 million (US rentals)[1]

Half Angel is a 1951 Technicolor comedy directed by Richard Sale, starring Loretta Young, Joseph Cotten, and Cecil Kellaway. Nora Gilpin (Young), a prim and proper nurse, is engaged to the stuffy Tim (John Ridgely). Unknown to both, Nora is a sleepwalker; during her nocturnal forays, the less-inhibited side of her personality takes over.[2][3][4]

Plot

No-nonsense nurse Nora Gilpin (Young) does not care much for John Raymond Jr. (Cotten), a famous, rich lawyer. Her immediate plans are to marry Tim McCarey (Ridgely), a building contractor, and settle down to a nice, normal life.

That night, a sleepwalking Nora slips into a provocative dress and goes to the home of a startled John, behaving seductively. She does not reveal her name and he cannot figure out where they have met. They spend several hours together, but she then gets away before John notices.

John spots her on the street one day and excitedly brings up their evening together, but Nora has no idea what he is talking about and is greatly embarrassed, because this happens in front of Tim. She tells John he has misidentified her, and they rush away, leaving John confused.

Later, as John is leaving by train on a business trip, Nora pops up again, playfully enticing him and then cavorting with him for hours at an amusement park, until the wee hours of the morning.

Dr. Jackson (Basil Ruysdael) is consulted about sleepwalking and thinks Nora's behavior must stem from something in her past. John realizes that he knew her many years ago as the gardener's daughter, but Nora adamantly denies it, continuing to prepare for her wedding day.

She packs a suitcase for her honeymoon, but that night, while John waits outside, sure enough, Nora appears again. He rushes her to a justice of the peace and they are married. She wakes up the next morning (with John in the adjoining bed) in a motel. Surprised, embarrassed, and unnerved, she hurries to her wedding (with Tim), only to have John interrupt the ceremony by claiming she is already married. Nora faints, but comes to and finally realizes whom she truly loves.

Cast

Loretta Young as Nora Gilpin
Joseph Cotten as John Raymond Jr.
Cecil Kellaway as Harry Gilpin
Basil Ruysdael as Dr. Jackson
Jim Backus as Michael 'Mike' Hogan
Irene Ryan as Nurse Kay
John Ridgely as Timothy 'Tim' McCarey

References

'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951', Variety, January 2, 1952
"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2012-01-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Basinger, Jeanine (1995). A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women, 1930–1960. Wesleyan University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-8195-6291-3. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
Bawden, James; Miller, Ron (2016). Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era. University Press of Kentucky. p. 301. ISBN 978-0-8131-6712-1. Retrieved 7 December 2020.

External links

Half Angel at IMDb
Half Angel at AllMovie
Half Angel at the TCM Movie Database
Half Angel at the American Film Institute Catalog

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[1] 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951', Variety, January 2, 1952

[2] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2012-01-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[3] Basinger, Jeanine (1995). A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women, 1930–1960. Wesleyan University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-8195-6291-3. Retrieved 7 December 2020.

[4] Bawden, James; Miller, Ron (2016). Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era. University Press of Kentucky. p. 301. ISBN 978-0-8131-6712-1. Retrieved 7 December 2020.