The Trouble with Angels

[quote] brilliant film

Michelangelo Antonioni doesn't agree.

You'll need $10 for leotards!

It's hard to believe June Harding (RIP) was 28 in this.

I first saw this on television when I was about 10yo, and genuinely had a crush on Haley Mills, I watched everything she was in, even though I was fully aware that other cute boys floated my boat and pitched my tent... ;-)

^^This was in the mid 1970s

This was shown as part of TCM's "Directors' Last Films." It was Ida Lupino's last feature film as a director.

I wonder if Roz and Gypsy discussed Mrs. Hovick while filming.

sniff

The book on which the film is based, “Life with Mother Superior”, is a treasure, especially if the reader attended Catholic school. There are several laugh-out-loud moments, and many touching ones as well. The chapter on Sister Ligouri’s sudden passing is wrenching, ending with what happened to the dog she’d adopted.

(I know, Mary!)

Hayley Mills and June Harding are charming in the film. No matter how many times I see it, I still chuckle at their hijinks (I snuck into the nun’s quarters of my Catholic high school, too!) and get choked up at the end.

And the opening credits are a DELIGHT!

Roz is deliciously dry in this movie.

Dry was Roz's stock in trade.

Because we all know where angels go, trouble follows!

Jim Hutton using an alias in the credits is just bizarre. The scene in the retirement home always makes me weepy. And I love the ending.

This would be on my Sight & Sound top ten for their Top 100 list.

This was the first movie I ever saw in the theater - a drive in.

I was three years old - Roz terrified me.

Marge Redmond is wonderfully warm.

The Angels get groovy in the sequel. Barbara Hunter played Marvel Ann in both films. She's the blonde who can't get the guy's attention in the clip. The film is essentially a road movie.

Marvel Ann = weirdest name ever, then and now.

A queer reading of TTWA

"The Trouble with Angels" is a brilliant, timeless (scathing!) comedy. I don't know anyone my age who hasn't laughed and gotten a lump in their throat when seeing it.

Fun fact- The Rosalind Russell role was offered to Greta Garbo (huh?) before Russell was signed. I think it was a superb role for Roz Russell's skills, she's fantastic in it.

LOVE THIS MOVIE - And, where Angels Go Trouble Follows.

Thanks for the heads up!

HEEL-TOE, HEEL-TOE!

It was said that Garbo felt humiliated by the experience of the unmade film La Duchesse de Langeais and would never again try to make a movie.

This was such a great movie. Too bad Hayley Mills would not be in the sequel. Semmes she and Rosalind Russel didn't get along. So they made a sequel where the troublemaker was Sister George, A 'hip" nun who is played Stella Stevens. I guest casting thought that would be SO clever; a blonde sexpot who'd posed nude in PLayboy as a nun! But it was just a chaap stunt. The movie was s0-so, not nearly as good as the original.

Sister John Eudes Courtney, whom Mary Clancy was based on, died in 2018 at 95.

Jane Trahey, the author of [italic]Life with Mother Superior,[/italic] was a lesbian and a noted advertising executive.

[quote]The opening credits are a DELIGHT!

The sequel isn't as good, but the theme song is very catchy.

[Quote]Fun fact- The Rosalind Russell role was offered to Greta Garbo (huh?) before Russell was signed.

are you getting your GGs mixed-up? I thought it was Greer Garson not Garbo.

Does Hayley Mills talk about this in her autobiography? Curious about why she didn't get along with Russell

I think Roz pushed/exaggerated the narrative that Hayley was mean to her in her autobiography.

Love this movie, but why didn’t any parents attend the girls’ graduation?

It's a wonderful film that holds up because it is well-written, well-acted, and well-directed. It is also aided by a superb score by Jerry Goldsmith.

I found it really abrupt when Mary Clancy joined the convent. It seemed very out of character.

Go back and watch the film again, R31. The reason we are initially surprised is because we have mostly viewed Mary through Rachel's eyes. As the film progresses we see Mary Clancy watching Reverend Mother's actions with greater understanding and appreciation. At the same time we see her becoming more and more introspective. The dressmaking scene is very telling, as is the Christmas sequence.

R27 it gets a brief mention, nothing major. She compliments June as an actress.

Liking this movie as a kid in 1966 and quoting some of the girls' lines was yet another reason I felt (and was told) that I "wasn't like the other boys." One of the other reasons was liking "Pollyanna" and quoting from it in the early '60s. Like R4, I seemed to have had a thing about Haley Mills while clearly being physically attracted to male actors in films as early as 1963.

Roz writes in her book that Hayley was a demon who couldn't stand her. she used to stick out her tongue whenever Roz passed but felt the girl was bright and talented.

Those of you who choose to stay behind, can spend the day in Chapel, meditating on the SIN of SELFISHNESS!

I always cry during the scene at the retirement home, when Mary Superior is comforting an old woman whose children failed to come visit her at Christmas even though they promised to, while Mary looks on with sadness and pain at her loneliness, as she becomes aware of her own mortality.

It's such a beautiful scene.

Hayley said in an interview that she ran into Roz years later and everything was fine. Hayley was tired of ingenue roles and wanted to play more adult roles so she may have felt frustrated during filming. TAKE OFF HER BINDER always cracks me up.

I love the scene at the department store where all the girls are clamoring for fancy bras and Mother Superior tells the cashier to give them the frumpy Barbara Bush model.

[quote]Hayley said in an interview that she ran into Roz years later and everything was fine. Hayley was tired of ingenue roles and wanted to play more adult roles so she may have felt frustrated during filming.

Someone posted a theory in an older thread that Roz's husband may have ginned up the tension between them in her posthumous book to make it more sensational and boost sales.

WEHT Susan St. James? She was everywhere during the 70s-80s and then just disappeared. I found her to be one of the most likable actresses of that era.

If memory serves, Hayley wrote nice things about everyone connected with the film (Rosalind Russell, June Harding, Ida Lupino) in her book. She also wrote about being thrilled to meet Gypsy Rose Lee.

June Harding also played Elizabeth Ashley’s sister on Broadway in “Take Her, She’s Mine” a few years before “The Trouble with Angels”.

Another aspect of Catholic schools that “Life with Mother Superior” got hilariously right — how cold they were! Our schools were always freezing in winter, and the nuns’ responses to our complaints were inevitability, “Put on a sweater!”

The wiki on Jane Trahey claims that she ran off at some point to fuck a nun from her past.

Presumably Sister John.

At my parochial school in NJ, r42, it was either too hot or too cold in winter. The nuns told us to just "offer it up" and that it was nothing compared to what our Savior wenrt through.

I love this movie. I remember they usually aired it on TV around Christmas. I wonder why they never did a reamake?

[quote]WEHT Susan St. James?

It's Susan SAINT James. Never abbreviated.

I think she has been mostly retired since she lost her son in a plane crash. She did do a "Stars In the House" with the Kate & Allie crew during the COVID

June Harding, Phyllis Thaxter, Art Carney and DL icon Elizabeth Ashley in “Take Her, She’s Mine” by Al Hirschfeld.

Found this gem on Instagram.

That's fabulous, r48.

Didn't know that Phyllis did Broadway, r47.

The thought of Greta Garbo appearing in this comedy is silly.

The only time she laughed was at someone else's misfortune.

She was chortling when she hit me in the head with a fondue pot, r51.

R51- You need to see more Garbo films. She was funny and could have handled the role. She just didn't want to do it.

"Excuse me while I have a word with Miss De Lys and Miss . . . Novak."

I'm also fond of Rosie, a late-career Roz film loosely based on King Lear (!) Sandra Dee, Audrey Meadows, Juanita Moore, Margaret Hamilton.

What is the exchange when Mother catches the girls smoking in the bathroom? Rachel is talking about coming out of her cocoon and Mother says, "Well it's time now!"

[quote]You need to see more Garbo films. She was funny

Name 3 funny Garbo films.

[quote]Marvel Ann = weirdest name ever, then and now.

It's old-fashioned, but it does exist outside the movie. I Googled "Marvel Ann" and got results for obituaries in the Midwest and Upper Midwest.

She is funny in Camille, Ninotchka and Two-Faced Woman despite the latter being awful.

I was cringing all the way through 'Two-Faced Woman'.

She looked so awkward and embarrassed slumming for her employer.

[quote] She is funny in Camille…

? ? ?

Exactly, r60. She was out of her lane and she knew it. She was never going to be a Swedish Lombard. At least Dietrich could be a Teutonic one.

^Shit, didn't realize it was dubbed. Well, if you can find an English version, The Lady is Willing is fun.

During the late '40s and early '50s, my mom went to an Episcopal girls' boarding school run by Anglican nuns. The sisters wore full habits with the funny Flying Nun cornets.

Her best story from her school days was about a stuck-up bitch named Diana. She was very in love with herself and called herself "Diana the Goddess." All of the other girls hated her and conspired to get her in trouble during a school dance with boys from the neighboring military academy. Mom and her BFF Dot took turns shining a spotlight on her while she sucked face with a cadet on the dance floor.

ROZ Live!

Was Ida Lupino Catholic?

She seemed rather working class to me.

She was from show people, r66:

[quote]Lupino was born at 33 Ardbeg Road in Herne Hill, London, to actress Connie O'Shea (also known as Connie Emerald) and music hall comedian Stanley Lupino, a member of the theatrical Lupino family, which included Lupino Lane, a song-and-dance man.

Lupino Lane introduced the Lambeth Walk...

[Quote]The thought of Greta Garbo appearing in this comedy is silly.

Yes, it is and with her accent. It was Greer Garson who turned the role down. She played a nun in another 1966 release The Singing Nun and was in Disney's The Happiest Millionaire the following year. Garson resembles Rosalind Russell.

I worked assistant props on the 1980s first seqeul to the Parent Trap and had to age an address book Hayley was to flip though in a particular scene. From a distance, "scathingly brilliant" written in different pens and pencils looks amazingly like names and addresses. I filled the pages with that phrase. Mills mentioned her amusement once the scene wrapped.

Greer replaced Roz on Broadway.

Greer looked lovely, r69!

[quote]Haley Mills

Oh, dear.

You wanna know what the trouble with angels is?

They're WHORES.

Nasty...

Lupino was ,much married but also Catholic. She directed a ton of tv series, but usually only one episode of each, which was odd. Her husband, Howard Duff, was a drunk and I think she was one, too.

Roz Russell is good as the Mother Superior--not hammy as she could be in some roles (as in Picnic). Mary Wickes steals every scene and Marge Redmond, being warm and centered also can take the light away from Roz. I wonder if Russell had trouble being a co-star with a Disney kid star like Mills.

[quote]I wonder if Russell had trouble being a co-star with a Disney kid star like Mills

Probably at some level, r76. But Roz seemed pretty pragmatic.

Under an alias Russell penned the screenplay for her last feature film

She never had to go the Hagsploitation route.

probably the most bizarre film Roz ever appeared in

Garbo Meets The Wolf Man was hysterical.

Love this movie so, so much. <3

[quote] At least Dietrich could be a Teutonic one.

But I was a Teutonic twat!

Where can I find that one, r81?

I still think this is the best rendition of "Angels We Have Head on High" that I've ever heard.

I hated the old ladyish floral dress Mary wore at the end of the film. But I loved Rachel’s lavender suit.

I'm not going to stuff His Holiness in the window!

Well I'm not giving you Burt Lancaster!

Helen Reddy Airport 75

and...

Didn’t Mary have to give up her more “worldly” clothes when she entered the convent?

Somehow Sister Clarissa ended up moving to San Francisco and changing her name to Sister Mary Lazarus.

Wasn't casting a big dyke like Mary Wickes as the PE teacher a bit too "on the nose?"

I liked everything about this scene (starting around @ 1:00)...

[quote]“Mary has a will of iron. To bend but not to break … to yield but not capitulate … to have pride but also humility. This has always been my struggle, Sister. Can I be less tolerant of Mary than the Church has been of me?”

Nuns were so camp and haggy

R18 Really interesting reading of the film.

Even watching it as a child, it seemed fairly clear to me it wasn't God or Catholicism that ultimately drew Mary to joining the order, but instead it was the female camaraderie and sisterhood she came to admire and respect--that sense of community rooted in generosity, kindness and love.

For a film centered around nuns at a Catholic school, it's never heavy-handed or dogmatic in its discussions of "God," but rather focuses on the spiritual fulfillment the nuns (and Mary) find in leading a life of worship. It's not about pleasing God or getting into heaven. It's about leading a life of purpose and connection to each other.

I think that's why, as a non-religious person, who abhors religion as an organized institution, I enjoy this film so much.

Found the Roz It's Time Now scene.

Mother Superior helping Rachel win the dress contest, and having to forcibly rip the ten dollar out of her hand, that was great comic timing.

R96 What made it even funnier was Rachel starting to give her the sewing thread set as well, assuming Mother Superior would also rip that away.

The dress itself was gorgeous.

The Trouble With Angel Dust

What takes me out of a lot of movies featuring nuns is the fact that they're wearing lipstick and makeup. Maybe that's changed, but nuns in that era (AFAIK) weren't allowed to wear makeup.

Agreed, R96 and R97, Rachel’s dress contest win scene was a delight!

Seeing the girls dressed like frumpy old school teachers when they're out of uniform is exactly how girls, especially Catholic school girls, dressed in the 60s. Everyone put alot of effort in their appearance back then. They wanted to look sophisticated and it was sweet. Then the 70s came and it all went to shit.

The 70’s came and it was truly Healter Skelter

[quote]Everyone put alot of effort in their appearance back then.

Someone's knuckles are going to be rapped with a ruler for thinking that "alot" is a word.

Wait a sec, girls put a lot of effort into looking like frumpy school teachers back then? Why?

R94, I vacillate on that question. I think that the Catholic church had more of a pull for Mary than we thought. Wasn't her family background a little chaotic? I think her father was the one who was single and had various girlfriends, or maybe it was that there was a stepmother. What I see is Mary understanding more and more the nuns' relationship to their faith and growing to accept what she realized was her vocation. The way a vocation is usually explained is as a call that might not be what you think you want but come to accept as your destiny and what will bring you fulfillment. I don't espouse those beliefs, but I don't think we can discount that Mary had a vocation underneath her hoydenish ways.

I thought Mary's parents had died and she was living with her uncle?

Oh, that's right, it was her playboy uncle in the picture.

You have to smile at the lame aliases the other two girls gave themselves in the opening scene. "Pearl Ring" and "Sandy Beach" are no match for "Fleur de Lis" and "Kim Novak."

I probably saw this film as a Saturday afternoon TV movie. Back then, I could relate to the rebelliousness. This discussion has made me see it more through the lens of Mary's spiritual journey. I'm also an admirer of Ida Lupino, and for that, I'm grateful to R48 for the link to the BTS clip of her directing. Time to rewatch and savor this gem.

[quote]You have to smile at the lame aliases the other two girls gave themselves in the opening scene. "Pearl Ring" and "Sandy Beach" are no match for "Fleur de Lis" and "Kim Novak."

Well, at least they didn't use one of the original choices: Hedda A. Borshun.

There's some role reversal between the Mary and Rachel characters compared to the book that the film was based on. The Rachel (Jane) character wrote the book, and was the leader and instigator of most of the pranks. Mary was quieter and the follower. Her anxiety-provoked sweaty hands are mentioned several times in the book, so she was not as brave and outgoing as in the film.

Knowing that, it's more plausible that it was the quieter character who eventually decided she had a calling for the church, while her more dominant female friend got angry about it, convinced that Mary had been "roped" by the nuns into joining as a novitiate. That is a detail also mentioned several times in the book - how wary the schoolgirls were of the nuns trying to rope them into becoming nuns themselves. Anyone raised Catholic in that era knows the amount of pressure put on kids by priests and nuns, and often also their own parents, to become a priest or join a religious order.

Of course, for a film the star has to be the dominant character, including having the most interesting thing happen to her, not to her sidekick, so that's how it played out on the screen.

"Daddy, folk singers aren't communists, only the ones with beards!"

I agree with R111. Catholic families did like to have at least one member become a priest or nun. My great-grandma dropped out of the convent and was mad when my dad didn't follow through at the monastery. She was a hypocrite, though, and took it out on my mom.

I was in Catholic school in that era and it was impressed upon us that only girls with “vocations” could become nuns. Even then I wondered how they could tell.

By knowing her and counseling her about it.

Sending a kid off to the convent or seminary served a lot of functions---fewer mouths to feed, education for a promising student in the absence of money, and (esp. for boys) a "get out of purgatory" card

I can understand Mary Clancy going from being a hellion to a novice. My own cousin Carol Ann was nothing but trouble -- smoking, wild parties, boys, etc. Then she went to Alaska -- from NJ! -- to a small native settlement to teach. It was a program run by the Catholic church. It wasn't a novitiate, but a volunteer gig. She's been there ever since, marrying an Alaskan native, having four kids, and settling down. Carol Ann just retired a few years ago as a school superintendent for a region in the state.

[quote]Even then I wondered how they could tell.

The stigmata, Rose.

Agreed with R111, in the book, the Rachel character (Jane) was pulling pranks right up to graduation day, when she swiped some pages of a fellow student's (who she and Mary didn’t like) Valedictory speech, leaving her with a jumbled unrelated speech at the ceremony!

R119 in the film, it would have to be the ever solicitous Valerie.

Bought on Amazon steaming, I'm still laughing.

^^^ When Datalounge obsesses over a film, it's usually worth watching.

Remember the "Bubbles" scene Sister Prudence gets me everytime LOL

I find this one a little dry, whereas the sequel is a bouncier and I enjoyed the many road trip episodes.

Also, I like the sequel’s bittersweet ending where the nuns habits are modernized; little did we or they know it was the end of convent life as we knew it.

The sequel was pointless without Mary.

But it had me…!

Girls Town did it first — and better!

Mamie Van Doren plays a character actually named “Silver!”

Elinor Donahue!

Mel Torme AND Paul Anka!

[quote] Bought on Amazon steaming

I really don’t recommend steaming Amazon — it ruins the circuitry in the tv.

The 'mini habits' at the end of the sequel were a nice touch. The nuns in my school had just switched over to the new habits and the sisters loved them.

[quote]The sequel was pointless without Mary.

MARY!

R125 I always wondered if Sister George in the sequel was supposed to be Mary. She was the rebellious, progressive nun. I love Stella Stevens in the role (I loved Hayley Mills too.)

I'm sure the role of Sister George was written to be Haley Mills/Mary Clancy. When Mills said no, they did some minor rewrites and carried on.

I would have loved to see *that* movie, R132. I always thought the sequel was a pale imitation and somewhat incoherent. It would have been much better as a true sequel with Mary Clancy as a novice.

Well the sequel had the Boyce/Hart title song AND closeups of Mary Wickes' high top sneakers when she's driving the bus - and gets stuck on the railroad tracks.

The song.

I love the part where Rachel 'blesses' herself when about to eat her lunch by putting one hand on each shoulder when doing the 'in the name of the Father, the Son...' as if to save time and Russell just stares.

I also love Mary Wickes is in the movie. Nice to see her familiar supporting actor's face. She was always good.

[quote] [R125] I always wondered if Sister George in the sequel was supposed to be Mary.

“The Killing Of Sister George” was a SEQUEL to THIS?! My LORD.

The girl that plays Rachael, for the longest time I thought she was the girl in Rosemary's Baby, 'Victoria Vetri' she reminds me of her so much but it is not the same girl.

Understandable confusion, R138. Rosemary Woodhouse made the same mistake. It wasn’t Victoria Vetri, it was a drug addict from the streets who was being given a second chance.

R135 Those opening credits took me right back to my prepubescent boy hood, I had no idea what the movie was going to be about but I fell in love with it at first sight.

Sister George couldn’t have been written for Mary. Mary and Marvel Ann were around the same age. Sister George was an adult, Marvel Ann was still in high school. Was she held back for several years?

Furthermore, Marvel Ann was a pissy character in The Trouble With Angels. Her personality change didn’t make sense either.

Having Marvel Ann in the sequel made zero sense and the actress who played her was meh compared to Susan St James. The sequel took place a few years after the original so Mary would have been a full fledged nun by then. Sister George was a little too extreme in her lack of respect for Mother Superior. The dynamic would have worked better with Sister Mary.

The only thing I remember about the sequel was when the bus stalled on the railroad tracks and the nuns were attempting to get the screaming, hysterical girls off the bus, and the nun at the wheel kept attempting to get the bus to start. I remember nothing else.

Sister Debbie

r68, I can't hear that song without thinking of how much Emma Thompson came to loathe it during her run as the female lead in the hugely successful revival of "Me and My Girl" in the West End in the 1980s.

When I read an interview where she said that, i thought she was a monstrous ingrate: she got the role when she was pretty much just out of Cambrudge, and it's what launched her to fame on the British stage. but once you hear the song, you can see why she hated it: although it's unbelievably catchy, it's the same melody repeated ad infinitum with key change after key change. I think it would drive anyone crazy if they had to perform it night after night.

*Cambridge, not Cambrudge

[quote]are you getting your GGs mixed up - I thought it was Greer Garson not Garbo.

R26 Wikipedia says Garbo was the first choice of producer William Frye. Maybe you're thinking of Greer Garson playing the mother superior in The Singing Nun (starring Debbie Reynolds) - also made in 1966.

[quote]Garson resembles Rosalind Russell.

R69 In what universe?

Rosalind Russell was a much bigger star than Greer Garson in the mid-60s - Garson was no longer a box office draw by then - so I can't picture her turning down the lead in this film for a supporting role in The Singing Nun - nor can I see Roz taking Garson's leftovers.

I always get this confused with Where Angels Fear to Tread

We could have a fun thread with mangling titles with The Trouble With.....

The Trouble with Angels

becomes

The Trouble with Harry

becomes

The Trouble with Harry Potter

^^^^ becomes

The Trouble With Tribbles

The Trouble with Angels in the Outfield.

The Trouble with Angels with Dirty Faces

The Trouble With Angels In Chains

The Trouble with Angels in America, Parts I & II

The Trouble with The Exterminating Angel

The Trouble with Angel

I just got a copy of the play Life with Mother Superior out of the library and I’m looking forward to reading it. It doesn’t seem as though the original book is available in my library system; maybe I should make a special request.

The Trouble with Angelique

[quote]Having Marvel Ann in the sequel made zero sense and the actress who played her was meh compared to Susan St James.

Marvel Ann was most definitely retarded.

Actually, moving Marvel Ann from a minor character to a lead was rather a stroke of genius. She provided some student continuity from the first film, and her jealousy of Susan St. James was an excellent plot point for the new storyline.

No, it made no sense. Mary and Marvel Ann were in the same grade and the movie began with Mary’s first of four years at St. Francis. So why was Marvel Ann still there after Mary graduated?

No, R164, Marvel Ann was a younger cousin -not in the same grade. Go back and watch the movie again.

R165 You are correct and it’s in Jane Trahey’s book as well that Marvel Ann was Mary Clancy’s younger cousin.

My stepmother got pregnant when she was at a girls' Catholic school the year when this came out, so she always made fun of it. "They're supposed to be BAD?" she's say, 'Those girls were goody two-shoes compared to me and my friends!"

Didn't Mary and Rachel spend three years at St Francis and not four. Rachel transferred from New Trends and Uncle George couldn't handle Mary so he sent her to the nuns. I always assumed she got kicked out of wherever she spent her freshman year.

Marvel Ann was clearly a "special needs" student and probably got held back several times.

Is New Trends a stand-in for New Trier or for one of the more “progressive “ privates schools like Frances Parker?

Marvel Ann is coming back. Marvel Ann will star Jennifer Aniston as an aged Marvel Ann who will receive special powers from the spirit of Mother Superior (Dame Judi Dench). She will fight Mephisto, and will be aided by Captain Marvel, Nick Fury and Ant-Man. The nuns from Sister Act make a special appearance. Cameo by Pope Francis. Directed by the Russo Brothers. Rated R for tasteful nudity and shameless violence.

r18

r171

Watching an Angels double feature on MOVIES! channel. The title song for WAGTF is too too groovy!!!!!!

One of the older women in my volunteer conservation group was the other day regaling me with stories about her experiences of convent school. As just one of a dozen creative punishments, Nuns would stand her on a chair and backhand her until she fell off.

R145 Robert Lindsay is brilliant in a musical. It's a pity he didn't do more.

The brunette girl in OP’s pic looks like Jack Wild in a wig.

[quote]she used to stick out her tongue whenever Roz passed

Perhaps she just wanted to eat her cooch?

Jack Wild looks like Mackenzie Phillips (circa age 12) in that pic.

Stella Stevens had some really good moments in this. Oddly enough, it may be one of her best performances.

Stella Stevens was an odd choice for the role because she had a gorgeous figure and usually played sexy girlfriends or villains. In WAGTF she got to play the opposite of that and she was wonderful. Her confrontations with Roz were excellent.

R181 I love it when casting against type comes off. It's always so satisfying to see.

Those last moments between Stella (Sister George) and Rosalind (Mother Superior) really resonated. They both had tears in their eyes and so did I.

I thought the casting of Stella Stevens as a gorgeous, rebellious nun was pretty lame. It was stunt casting: "What an idea! Casting a Playboy Playmate as a nun!" Hayley Mills would have been a much better foil for the Mother Superior, but Mills had no desire to reprise the role. Seems she and Roz Russell didn't get along.

Stevens was awful. Even 'modern' nuns were not like that.

The sequel is so different from the original but it's so much fun especially if you were lucky enough to live in that era. The groovy mini dresses, the short hair on Susan St James, the music, the dance at the boys academy and, finally, the mini habits (as they were called) in the final scene. Every time I watch it I remember happier times in an unsettled but not out of control world.

This always reminds me of the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I don't know why.

Ohhhh yes, Angels are a lot of trouble, believe me.

R188 Dems v. Repubs.

I'm watching a double bill of ANGELS on the Movies! Network. I don't even mind the commercials.

Me, too. I recorded them both and intend to watch them momentarily

With Stella, all the other nuns became Sister Peg

From a fan of the film...

[quote]the original subtitle of the movie was “a habit forming comedy”

[quote]Also, as a perfect example of type casting, three of the actresses who play nuns in this movie, repeat their performances in later films. Marge Redmond goes on to play Sister Jacqueline in the TV show The Flying Nun, Mary Wickes stars in Sister Act and its sequel and Portia Nelson had the year before portrayed a nun in The Sound of Music. On the other hand, one of the nuns is played by Camilla Sparv, who three years later stars as Robert Redford’s glamorous love interest in Downhill Racer.

Camilla Sparv in a caftan...

R194. She's a flawless beauty!

Mary's chat with Sister Constance was one of the (many) highlights of the film.

Kind of a fun, 60's-retro montage of snippets from her films...

[quote]Camilla Sparv (born in 1943 in Stockholm) is a retired Swedish actress. She was briefly circa 1965, the second wife of the actor and businessman who would eventually reign as Paramount Pictures's production chief - the legendary Robert Evans. She was brought to Hollywood by Columbia Pictures in 1965. Sparv was third-billed as Sister Constance in "The Trouble With Angels" (1966), then specialized in sexy-foreigner roles. But she uttered the best line in the 1967 "Matt Helm" espionager "Murderer's Row" (with Dean Martin and Ann-Margret); cast as the mistress of villain Karl Malden, Sparv comforted her lover after his latest doomsday device has failed by murmuring "Cheer up. Maybe you can run someone over on the way home." She was awarded a Golden Globe as Most promising newcomer (female) in 1967 for her role in "Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round" (1966, with James Coburn). She also appeared in "Assignment K" (1968, with Stephen Boyd), "The High Commissioner" (1968, with Rod Taylor, Christopher Plummer, Lilli Palmer, Daliah Lavi), "Mackenna's Gold" (1969, with Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas), "Downhill Racer" (1969, with Robert Redford and Gene Hackman), "The Greek Tycoon" (1978, with Anthony Quinn, Jacqueline Bisset, Raf Vallone), among others. Enjoy Camilla Sparv's glamour!

Boy, can I relate. I hated Geometry too!

"Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round" with Sparv and James Coburn, had one of the best "twist" endings.

Agreed, R199, “Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round” had a great twist ending, right out of O. Henry!

Camilla Sparv was a stunner, and Nina Wayne was lovely in the film, too!