An Angel from Texas (1940)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Ray Enright

Writers:

George S. Kaufman (play)
Fred Niblo Jr. (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

27 April 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Stage struck Lydia Weston leaves her small Texas town for Broadway. Left behind is her steady beau Peter...

Plot Keywords:

Texas | Newspaper Headline | Show Business | Times Square | Partnership

Cast

Eddie Albert	...	Peter Coleman
Rosemary Lane	...	Lydia Weston
Wayne Morris	...	Mac McClure
Jane Wyman	...	Marge Allen
Ronald Reagan	...	Marty Allen
Ruth Terry	...	Valerie Blayne
John Litel	...	Gordon Quigley
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Mr. C. H. Robelink
Ann Shoemaker	...	Addie Lou Coleman
Tom Kennedy	...	Chopper - Davis Henchman

Runtime:

69 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #6092) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Australia:G

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Two cast members in studio records/casting call lists did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie. These were (with their character names): Dudley Dickerson (Black Man) and Eddie Acuff (Stagehand).

Movie Connections:

Version of Dance Charlie Dance (1937)

Soundtrack:

There's a Small Hotel

A Play So Bad It's A Smash. Hmmm. Sounds Familiar

Eddie Albert follows his sweetheart from Texas to Manhattan. She wants to be a great star, a la Madame Cornell. He is not interested in the stage but crafty producers Morris and Reagan talk him into becoming the title character.

All the above give it their very best. Albert is a truly appealing, underrated performer and he is charming here. In addition, Jane Wyman is hilarious as one of the producer's wife who gets in on the act. When we first see her she is wearing a geometrically shaped hat, like those worn by Irene Dunne when she was playing chic and not frumpy. But this hat is covered in spangles. The hat alone is worth talking a look.

Ruth Terry is also very entertaining as the diva originally hired to play the lead in the play. One big question, regarding her and her cronies' tenacity, is whether or not there were any other plays on Broadway at the time this takes place. The play is not the greatest and her attachment to it is peculiar.

The rest -- Well, no giving away the plot. Suffice it to say that "Curtain Call" does something quite similar and is as stylish, funny, and polished as this is increasingly desperate and ramshackle.