Marty and Cindy review a little thought of Christmas comedy movie about escaped convicts and holiday redemption.

Origins & Production

• Based on Albert Husson’s French play “La cuisine des anges” (1952); Paramount bought rights weeks after the Paris premiere

• Broadway adaptation “My Three Angels” (Sam & Bella Spewack) ran 344 performances at the Morosco Theatre in 1953

• Working title: “Angels Cooking”; filmed mid-1954 but not released until July 7, 1955

• Spewacks sued Paramount in Nov. 1955, claiming their stage version was used scene-by-scene without credit

• A 1989 remake (De Niro, Sean Penn, Demi Moore; dir. Neil Jordan, written by David Mamet) shares little beyond the title

Bogart & Curtiz

• Fourth and final Bogart–Curtiz collaboration; prior films: Angels with Dirty Faces, Casablanca, Passage to Marseille

• Bogart embraced the lighter tone — and reportedly pranked the meticulous Curtiz with fake dog droppings on set

• Neither Bogart nor Curtiz was under contract; both came to this Paramount film as free agents

• Second Bogart film set on Devil’s Island — the first was Passage to Marseille (1944), also directed by Curtiz

The Cast

• Joseph (Bogart): the strategist and sole thief — Albert and Jules are technically murderers

• Jules (Ustinov): forger, cook, keeper of Adolphe the viper; many critics said he stole the film from Bogart

• Albert (Aldo Ray): physically imposing but warm-hearted — the gentle giant contrast is the running joke

• André Trochard (Basil Rathbone): imperious villain — his first film feature in nearly a decade

• Adolphe the viper bites both André Trochard and nephew Paul — both die; earns an animated halo at film’s end

Music

• Opening song borrows the melody of “Plaisir d’amour” — same tune Elvis used for “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (1961)

• “Sentimental Moments” (composer Frederick Hollander) was recorded by Eric Clapton for his 2018 Christmas album

• Hollander also wrote “Falling in Love Again” for Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel (1930)

Quick Facts

• Set Christmas Eve/Day 1895, Cayenne, French Guiana — shot entirely on Paramount studio sets

• Grossed $3 million in 1955 — 34th highest-grossing film in the U.S./Canada that year

• AFI nominated it for its Top 100 Funniest American Movies list (2000)

• NY Times panned it; Philly Inquirer said Bogart was miscast; Variety called it “breezy”; Hollywood Reporter was enthusiastic

• Audrey Hepburn, Van Heflin, and Irene Dunne were among those considered before final casting

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