And the Angels Sing (1944)

The singing/dancing Angel sisters, Nancy (Dorothy Lamour), Bobby (Betty Hutton), Josie (Diana Lynn) and Patti (Mimi Chandler), aren't interested in performing together, and this plays havoc... See full summary »

Director:

George Marshall

Writers:

Claude Binyon (based on a story by), Melvin Frank (screenplay),

Stars:

Dorothy Lamour, Fred MacMurray, Betty Hutton

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dorothy Lamour	...	Nancy Angel
Fred MacMurray	...	Happy Morgan
Betty Hutton	...	Bobby Angel
Diana Lynn	...	Josie Angel
Mimi Chandler	...	Patti Angel
Raymond Walburn	...	Pop Angel
Eddie Foy Jr.	...	Fuzzy Johnson
Frank Albertson	...	Oliver
Mikhail Rasumny	...	Schultz
Frank Faylen	...	Holman
George McKay	...	House Man
Harry Barris	...	Saxy
Donald Kerr	...	Mickey
Perc Launders	...	Miller
Tom Kennedy	...	Potatoes

Storyline

The singing/dancing Angel sisters, Nancy (Dorothy Lamour), Bobby (Betty Hutton), Josie (Diana Lynn) and Patti (Mimi Chandler), aren't interested in performing together, and this plays havoc with the plans of Pop Angel (Raymond Walburn) to buy a soy bean farm. They do accept an offer of ten dollars to sing at a dubious night club on the edge of town where a band led by Happy Marshall (Fred MacMurray) is playing. Bobby takes the ten dollars and runs it up to $190 at the dice table. Happy hits on Nancy but she rebuffs him. He doesn't have the money to pay his band and borrows the gambling winnings from Bobby on the pretext that he will give her a job with his band. Bobby discovers the next day that Happy has hastily departed for New York. The girls follow to a night club where he is working and, after an audition, the manager is willing to give Happy a contract if the girls will sing with his band.

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Plot Keywords:

contract | gambling | proposal | second chance | 1940s | 

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Taglines:

4... Count 'Em... 4 Heavenly Honeys... and One Lone Wolf!

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Genres:

Comedy | Music | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 April 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

Quatre flirts et un coeur

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

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Connections

Referenced in Preston Sturges and 'The Miracle of Morgan's Creek' (2005)

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Soundtracks

"BLUEBIRDS IN MY BELFRY"
Written by Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen
Performed by Betty Hutton

User Reviews

I wish they wouldn't

The Angel sisters go to New York to get back $190 dollars that was taken from them by band leader Happy (Fred MacMurray). There are 4 of them - Nancy (Dorothy Lamour), Bobby (Betty Hutton), Josie (Diana Lynn) and Patti (Mimi Chandler). Once there, they find a job and 2 of the sisters also find love.

This film is saved by Fred MacMurray. His effortless humour drags this film past the OK mark. It's not enough to make this a good film, though. The music is terrible apart from the first song "The First Hundred Years". After that, it's downhill on the music front with a number of forgettable songs. Betty Hutton's 2 solo songs are enough to make you press the stop button and sling the film onto a reject pile. She delivers them in her typical brash and shouty manner. Still, I suppose you know what you're gonna get with her. And she steals every scene of the film that she's in coz she is so boisterous. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's grating. If the film was just about the sisters with them singing, it'd be a turkey. Thank God for MacMurray.

The cast are OK and there is an enjoyable dance sequence with Frank Feylan who plays "Holman". Lamour and Hutton find love in New York although I'm not sure what Lamour's boyfriend Oliver (Frank Albertson) would think about the situation. He seems to have been completely forgotten in the story. He just disappears!