QUICKIE: Campaining judge is possesed by a gangster who's guided by the devil. I guess that's politics as usual, huh? Snicker.
PLOT: Gangster Eddie Kagel (Paul Muni) is killed by a trusted lieutenant and finds himself in Harry Redmond Jr's special-effects Hell, where Nick/The Devil (Claude Rains) sees that he is an-exact double for a judge who Nick doesn't approve of. Eddie is agreeable to having his soul transferred to the judge's body, as it will give him a chance to avenge himself on his killer. But every action taken by Eddie (as the judge) results in good rather than evil and, to Nick's dismay, the reputation and influence of the judge is enhanced, rather than impaired by Eddie. And Eddie also falls in love with the judge's fiancée, Barbara (Anne Baxter.) Even Eddie's planned revenge fails and Nick is forced to concede defeat. He returns to Hell, taking Eddie with him, after Eddie has extracted his promise that Nick will not molest the judge or Barbara in the future.
SUMMARY: Claude Rains as the Devil?!!! What great casting that was. Anne Baxter was also quite glamorous as well. There's some truly great lines in this film like when the devil says "what in my creation was that noise?" Or when Eddie calls the devil alot of wrong names like Bettlebub. This is a very amusing film, a different story, and just good entertainment.
Angel on My Shoulder ~ 1946 -BW
Sinners in Paradise ~ 1938 -BW
QUICKIE: It's Gilligan's Island before there was a tv series!
PLOT: (from IMDB) A seaplane departs for China. On board are a nurse escaping a loveless marriage to do work with refugees, an elderly woman hoping to surprise her estranged son, a wealthy heiress trying to distance herself from labor troubles, an oily Senator, a moll and a mobster fleeing the wrath of the gangs they've double-crossed, two rival munitions salesmen out to cash in on the misery of war, and a fresh-faced young steward. Caught in a course-altering storm, a crash-landing destroys the plane, kills the plane's officers, and tosses the surviving passengers into the sea. They are washed ashore on an isolated island inhabited solely by mysteriously reclusive Mr. Taylor and his servant, Ping. Until Taylor decides if, how and when he will allow them to take his boat back to China for help, this disparate band must work together, change their self-centered ways, and examine their motives for wanting to escape from the island and their pasts.
SUMMARY: Fabulously hokey film about various characters whose plane goes down and they're marooned on an island. There is a DR/felon living there with his servant who at first refuses to help them. It just so happens that the Dr killed the son of one of the passengers. Of course! The island work is divided and they all go about their chores, fighting and courting one another. A couple of thugish guys steal the boat and kidnap the servant who is the only one who can navigagte the boat. In rough waters the servant manages to kill both thugs yet is wounded himself. He manages to sail the boat back and dies right when the good DR gets aboard to help him. The DR sails the lot back to the Chinese mainland knowing he'll be arrested for murder once he arrives.
What really steals the show is the moll Marion Martin and the parrot that mocks everyone.
