We’re No Angels

• Directed by Michael Curtiz
• July 7, 1955
• Based on the play My Three Angels by Samuel and Bella Spewack

Three escaped convicts hide out in the home of a local merchant and help him out.

Set during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of 1895, We’re No Angels focuses on three Devil’s Island escapees-Joseph (Humphrey Bogart), Albert (Aldo Ray), and Jules (Peter Ustinov)-who find themselves involved in the goings on of a small shop in the French colonial town of Cayenne beginning on Christmas Eve. Joseph is a thief while his two companions are convicted murderers.

This is an interesting if mildly disposable film featuring some legendary Hollywood stars. Besides the aforementioned three we also have Joan Bennett, Basil Rathbone, Leo G. Carroll, and Gloria Talbott. It is a sweet and at times darkly humorous movie. They are no big laughs. It’s more along the lines of one of those films that will put a smile on your face rather than make you chuckle. Something cute you could find on Hallmark or Lifetime.

There is not too much story presented here. For much of the film our three convicts are lingering around the shop in one form or another plotting to rob the place and becoming involved in the goings on of the business. They hear the plight of the manager and his family and so forth.

As these hardened criminals stick around they begin to develop a touch of a conscience. We’re No Angels starts out presenting our main three as the relative bad with the others as the relative good. As the film goes on that begins to shift with by the end both sides being shown as not all that different. What separates one from the other is prison time.

I wish I could say plenty of great things about this movie given the era and the star power we have here. I just cannot. I also cannot complain about it. The best part of this are the all too few moments when Bogart as Joseph is working in the shop selling goods in a con artist type way. They are rather entertaining and pretty funny. There is also the story that Jules tells of how he came to find himself on Devil’s Island which while discussing a murder has a humorous twist.

This is a little bit of fluff that one could consider a Christmas movie, but Christmas honestly plays a very small part in the narrative. In fact this counts as much of a Christmas movie as Die Hard does. Why? Because the plot in both would occur without Christmas. Does not detract from either film but with this does nothing to help make it special.

The ending is cute and sweet as the main characters realize despite it being Devil’s Island they belong there and not on the outside. The people they meet are not that different than their fellow prisoners.

We’re No Angels is a fun enough film. It’s nothing spectacular but the talent does make it a little bit more special than most. This is not a must see but it’s not a disappointment if you come across it.