I Married an Angel (1942)

Thanks for the memories!

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I guess in Hollywood's mind, when an angel commits the pleasures of the flesh (if that is possible), then they are going to loose their wings. And in the case of Jeanette MacDonald's angel here, she looses her wings twice: one a cardboard costume piece, the other one a feathered version which appears to be the real thing. MacDonald is a secretary in the bank run by wealthy Nelson Eddy who is invited to his birthday party and given a cheap looking costume obviously meant to embarrass her for giving fresh flowers to him every day by his jealous head secretary. She makes an awkward entrance to hoards of laughter by the snobbish ladies all decked out in their finery, but her innocence is bound to capture the handsome Eddy who for some reason dreams of her appearing to him as a real angel rather than the more sophisticated females who made fun of the lady.The opening of the party sequence is highlighted by a lavish "Ziegeld Follies" style production number where all of the wanna-be brides of the very single Eddy sing and dance in order to get his attention. Then, his sister (an outrageous Binnie Barnes) makes her entrance, and you see where the film intends to move into tongue-in-cheek in the dream sequence. This is fluff of the highest nature, and MGM goes overboard to give its war weary audiences something to sink their eyes into so they can forget about the issues of the day.An angel cannot tell a lie, we hear, and MacDonald's is no different than any other every day ordinary angel. "My husband and I are arguing over whether or not this dress makes me look fat", a stout party guest tells her. "The dress doesn't make you look fat. You are fat.", she tells the guest, turning the woman's smile into a shocked sneer. That's just the beginning as she reveals certain infidelities and other secrets that only an angel would know. This gains the amusement of one of Eddy's biggest stockholders (Douglas Dumbrille) and sets up the film for its only really serious plot as Eddy and MacDonald are separated as his bank is put in jeopardy by Dumbrille's threats to destroy him.Probably the lightest in atmosphere for the MacDonald/Eddy pairings, this is an underrated finale to their 7 year teaming. The chance to hear MacDonald singing a bit from "Carmen" is the highlight of a sequence where Eddy witnesses MacDonald heading all over the world with the scoundrel Dumbrille and realizes just what she has come to mean to him. W.S. Van Dyke, as with previous entries in the series, presents a lavish atmosphere, yet made more lighthearted with the comical storyline that is all fluff and yet delicious to look at.

One used to say, concerning Nathaniel Hawthorne, that his failures were more interesting than his successes. I believe that the same remark could suit to McDonald-Eddy's pictures. And especially this one. It apparently possesses many characteristics of a failed movie: it's kitsch, the script, because of censorship, sounds inconsistent… Yet, this movie gets also some good points: good Rodgers-Hart's music ("I married an angel", "Tira tira tira la"), good acting with E.E.Horton and Reginald Owen. Anyway, if you may dislike it, you can't forget it. This strange movie actually leaves a very strong, dreamlike, impression, and you are very likely to keep it in mind for days, maybe for weeks. Why? In the thirties and the beginning of the forties, movies didn't have the same mean than today: it aimed, like a dream, to divert the public in order to make it forget a difficult reality. Of all the the dream-movies that was made, in that time, this one stands as particularly powerful.In short, let's say that the better way to appreciate this movie, is to watch it without wondering whether it's good or bad. To watch it, like you would watch a dream.

The movie is a fantasy. The story line is thin but serves as the structure upon which some wonderful songs are sung and sung beautifully. (I still cannot believe that such handsome and attractive people could sing this well.) Some of the dialog is wonderfully clever. The costumes made me feel as though I was watching a haute couture fashion show from 1942.Movies are designed to serve various purposes. This one is designed to entertain and it certainly does. If I have one negative comment it would be that Nelson Eddy was a little too old to be the handsome dashing Count. Some of the closeups made me uncomfortable. But he could still sing and sing magnificently. However, Jeanette MacDonald was just as dazzling as ever. She makes a spectacular angel.This genre is well before my time, and I an new to the Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy films and related conversation. The music in this movie is beautiful. As much as I love the classic rock music which fills most modern movies, there is no question in my mind that this music is simply and clearly more memorable, more delightful, better constructed. The stars in this movie are more talented than the stars I see in the movie theaters today. And Jeanette MacDonald, without the benefit of Beverly Hills plastic surgeons, was more beautiful than the stars I see today. I am unclear as to why so many other posters are apologetic about liking this movie and more generally this group of movies. They say it is dated and try to explain why it is the way it is. And those that do not like it say that it is not very good but compared to what? I think this movie will doubtless still be entertaining people when so many other movie are long forgotten. There is just too much quality in every way in this movie for it not to be remembered and enjoyed. I recommend this movie without reservation to anyone who appreciates great talent, great beauty and great music.

I just finished reading a book on Anita Loos' work and the photo in TCM Magazine of MacDonald in her angel costume looked great (impressive wings), so I thought I'd watch this movie. I'd never heard of the film before, so I had no preconceived notions about it whatsoever. Thought it got off to a cute start with Eddy as the playboy and MacDonald as the secretary he doesn't know exists. The scene where she shows up at the costume party in her simple angel outfit with an uncooperative halo and wings that won't stay on was really endearing. I was even with the film when Eddy goes to sleep and imagines her as a real angel. But after a while it just started to fall apart for me. Eddy stays "asleep" for the entire rest of movie, so it's all a dream. Whatever happens from there on doesn't really matter, because he's just dreaming. The rest of it was pretty much plot less and pointless. I had to force myself to stick with it. And the final number where MacDonald goes from musical number to musical number in some mad hallucination was just plain freaky.Had Eddy "woken" a sooner and the original story continued, or had he really married an angel, I think it would have been a lot more interesting. I wanted to see more of her real character.There weren't really enough musical numbers to call it a musical. The first few songs were good, but the jitterbug number that MacDonald performs was like nails on a chalkboard. Completely wrong for her operatic voice. Even so, Eddy and MacDonald still manage to shine, showing what true stars they were.