And the Angels Sing

And the Angels Sing is a 1944 musical film directed by George Marshall and starring Dorothy Lamour, Fred MacMurray, and Betty Hutton. Released by Paramount Pictures, it is a classic example of a film written to capitalize on the title of a previously popular song, in this case Benny Goodman's 1939 number one hit, "And the Angels Sing" by Ziggy Elman and Johnny Mercer, sung by Martha Tilton, though the song is not actually in the film. The standout original songs in the musical were "It Could Happen To You", sung by Dorothy Lamour, which quickly became a pop standard, and "His Rocking Horse Ran Away", which became one of Betty Hutton's most popular numbers.

And the Angels Sing
Directed byGeorge Marshall
Written byClaude Binyon
Melvin Frank
Norman Panama
StarringDorothy Lamour
Betty Hutton
Fred MacMurray
Diana Lynn
Mimi Chandler
CinematographyKarl Struss
Edited byEda Warren
Music byVictor Young
James Van Heusen
Johnny Burke
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • April 25, 1944 (1944-04-25)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The story is about a singing sister group, their exploitation by a bandleader, and their subsequent rise to fame. One of the sisters is portrayed by Mimi Chandler, daughter of former Kentucky governor and baseball commissioner Happy Chandler. "Happy" is also the name of Fred MacMurray's character in the story.

Time magazine wrote about the film at the time, "From [the start of] Happy's two-timing, [it] gets more & more complicated and less & less funny. Too much of this dizzy story shows signs of hard labor; about half is rather enjoyable. Betty Hutton (The Miracle of Morgan's Creek) gets funnier with every picture. She is the most startling expression of natural force since the Johnstown Flood.[1]

Plot

The four Angel sisters are singers, although all wish to pursue other careers. At a roadhouse, bandleader Happy Marshall makes a pass at Nancy Angel, but she already has a boyfriend, cab driver Oliver.

After the girls are paid just $10 for a performance, Bobby Angel gambles with her sisters' money and wins $190. But she is conned out of it by Happy, whose band needs it to make a trip to Brooklyn to perform at a club. Bobby thinks he wants to both hire and romance her, neither of which is true.

Happy ends up falling for Nancy, and the girls' act is so good, the club's owner will not hire Happy's band in the future without them. Nancy is fine with the arrangement, particularly when Bobby ends up falling for Happy's friend in the band, Fuzzy.

Cast

See also

References
  1. "The New Pictures". Time 43/22 (May 29, 1944).
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