I Married an Angel
I Married an Angel
| 09 July 1942 (USA)
I Married an Angel Trailers

A playboy drops his many girlfriends when he falls in love with a grounded angel.

Reviews
ada the leading man is my tpye
Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews
filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
mark.waltz 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.
Neil Doyle I'll say one thing for Jeanette and Nelson--even when stranded in a mirthless, witless, painfully inept musical like this, there's still that twinkle in their eyes. Yes, the chemistry between the famous duo is there even when the material is paper thin. Even when the score is practically a throwaway, non-existent one depending on just a couple of catchy tunes. And even when the circumstances are so unbelievable--yes, even for a fantasy.Truth to tell, she has more chemistry with Nelson than with her own real-life husband Gene Raymond in SMILIN' THROUGH, which, nonetheless, was a considerably better film.Sorry, I love Jeanette and Nelson as much as the next fan, but this is the bottom of the heap. Jeanette is more than embarrassing in her one "hep" number with Binnie Barnes--and Nelson can only come up with a blank stare when faced with the most ludicrous situations.One can only wonder what this was like on Broadway in 1938. Surely, it must have had more wit and style than is evident in this weak MGM production. Edward Everett Horton fizzles in an unfunny role and none of the supporting players can breathe any semblance of life into this mess. It's like amateur night at the studio even with the few professionals sprinkled among the supporting cast.Summing up: Painfully clumsy rendering of a Rodgers and Hart musical. Can't recommend it, even for fans of MacDonald and Eddy. And even if Jeanette's close-ups still glow with her gossamer beauty, this film is jaw-droppingly bad.
bkoganbing It was not planned that way, but as it turns out the film adaption of the Rodgers&Hart Broadway musical I Married an Angel turned out to be the last pairing of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. Nelson in fact left Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after this film and bought his own contract out for $250,000.00 according to a recently published book about the pair by Sheryl Rich.They are in good voice and the songs of Rodgers&Hart never got a better treatment. Unfortunately the film ran into some censorship problems about celestial creatures doing some very earthly things. Rodgers&Hart were busy on Broadway and couldn't help. Two very big shows for them, Pal Joey and By Jupiter kept them occupied.Nelson is a happy carefree Hungarian playboy who's grandfather started the Bank of Budapest. But Nelson would rather spend his time with wine, women, and song and since it's Nelson Eddy, song doesn't take third place to the other two. At his birthday party he's taken by a little known to him employee at the bank in an angel costume. Guess who that is? Feeling a little the worse for wear from the revelry, Nelson takes a little snooze.During the dream Jeanette appears to him as a real angel and Nelson is smitten. He asks her to marry him and she agrees. She's without a dishonest bone in her heavenly body. Unfortunately her time in heaven has not prepared her to deal with certain earthly hypocrisies. It's one wild celestial ride that Jeanette gives Nelson.The title song, I'll Tell the Man in the Street, and Spring is Here are the big hit numbers from the Broadway show and the stars do them well. The satire comes off far better here than it did for Jeanette and Nelson in Bittersweet, but still censorship really crippled some of the best lines from Broadway.Binnie Barnes, Reginald Owen, Edward Everett Horton and Douglass Dumbrille give good support to the singing sweethearts. Barnes practically steals the show as the wisecracking earthly friend of MacDonald who sets out to teach her worldly ways. I think fans of MacDonald and Eddy and others who do knock this film ought to give it a second look. It's not as bad as some would make it out to be.
laurak23 I know a lot of people don't like this movie, but I just think it is adorable. There's not much I can say, but the movie is a feel-good movie I guess. The songs are beautiful, the costumes are beautiful, the voices are beautiful, and there are a lot of funny lines in the movie, especially as Briggitta learns about the do's and don't's of society. If you like musicals, I'd say you'd like this one!