Angels over Broadway (1940)

60% of critics liked it
(5 reviews)
55% of users liked it
(1,322 ratings)

In the Ben Hecht-scripted Angels over Broadway. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays a poker hustler working in cahoots with good-time girl Rita Hayworth. Alcoholic playwright Thomas Mitchell, having saved embezzler John Qualen from suicide, decides to enter Fairbanks' high-stakes game, using Qualen as an… More In the Ben Hecht-scripted Angels over Broadway. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays a poker hustler working in cahoots with good-time girl Rita Hayworth. Alcoholic playwright Thomas Mitchell, having saved embezzler John Qualen from suicide, decides to enter Fairbanks' high-stakes game, using Qualen as an easy-mark "bait." Mitchell's clever schemes to beat Fairbanks come acropper, but Fairbanks has a sudden change of heart and decides it's more fun to perform good deeds. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 18 min.
Directed By: Ben Hecht, Lee Garmes
Genres: Drama, Classics, Comedy

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1940 Wide
On DVD: Aug 20, 2002

Critic Reviews

Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Featuring Rita Hayworth (before she became a star), this mildly amusing if verbose comedy is co-directed by Lee Garmes and Ben Hecht, better known as a writer (Hitchcock's Notorious).
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
What turned me off was that the downbeat tone never changed for me even as it piled on all its moral lessons.
Leonard Klady, Movie City News
3.5

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Cast

            Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Bill O'Brien

            Rita Hayworth as Nina Barona

            Thomas Mitchell as Gene Gibbons

            John Qualen as Charles Engle

            George Watts as Hopper

            Ralph Theodore as Dutch Enright

            Eddie Foster as Louie Artino

            Jack Roper as Eddie Burns

            Constance Worth as Sylvia Marbe

            Harry Antrim as Court Clerk

            Walter S. Baldwin as Rennick

            Richard Bond as Sylvia's Escort

            Stanley Brown as Master of Ceremonies

            Jack Carr as Tony

            Frank Conlan as Joe

            Jimmy Conlin as Pawn Shop Proprietor

            Carmen D'Antonio as Specialty Dancer

            Edward Earle as Headwaiter

            Roger Gray as Gambler

            Carlton Elliott Griffin as Waiter

            Ethelreda Leopold as Cigarette Girl

            Blanche Payson as Large Woman

            Lee Phelps as Police Lieutenant

            Walter Sande as Lunch Wagon Waiter

            Al Seymour as Jack

            Harry Strang as Gambler

            John Tyrrell as Cabby

            Billy Wayne as Taxi Driver

            Lee Garmes
            
            Ben Hecht
            
            Jerry Jerome as Gambler

            Bill Lally as Doorman

            Al Rhein as Gambler

            Catherine Courtney as Miss Karpin

            Tommy Dixon as Checkroom Boy

            Art Howard as Night Court Judge

            Patricia Maier as Girl
See full cast

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