Movie Review - We're No Angels (1955)

A Christmas Movie a Day #2
We're No Angels
Starring Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray, and Peter Ustinov
Directed by Michael Curtiz

The premise is simple and drawn out over a very long 105 minutes. Three convicts escape from a prison on Devil Island in France on Christmas Eve and come upon a small French town where they attempt to rob a shopkeeper and his wife and daughter. Little do they know that the family itself is struggling to survive thanks to an overbearing cousin of theirs who owns the store and is making it very difficult for them to make ends meet. The crooks, who were intent on robbing the family blind, instead take it upon themselves to help the family out.

Ugh. Christmas movies are innately sugary sweet, but these crooks, two of whom are convicted murderers, are just too darn nice for their own good. Humphrey Bogart actually comes off the worst of the three. He's the roughest around the edges of the trio and his change to a pleasant demeanor just didn't fly with me. Aldo Ray who plays the charming murderer and Peter Ustinov who plays the charming British murderer fare a little better. The story does none of these crooks favors, however.

There's plenty of better holiday films out there...don't waste your time with this one.

The RyMickey Rating: D
The Christmas Spirit Scale: 2/10
(The Christmas Spirit Scale is a totally pointless rating that is simply my feeling about how "Christmas-y" the movie felt to me)