An Angel from Texas

Watching this otherwise forgettable movie was a revelation, because for years I had been led to believe that Ronald Reagan always played "the good guy" until his role as a crime boss in his last film, "The Killers." Well (to use a favorite Reagan sentence-opener), that's just plain wrong. In "An Angel from Texas," the future president plays a none too likable character. He isn't a villain exactly, because it's not that kind of movie. It's supposed to be a comedy. But Reagan's character is a big-talking, overbearing jerk, the type Keenan Wynn played in so many pictures. It makes me wonder what other oddities I'll discover as I watch more Reagan movies. I guess it just goes to show that you should never listen to the pundits.

Strictly a by-the-numbers routine Warner Bros. programmer with RONALD REAGAN and WAYNE MORRIS as brash Broadway would-be producers in need of money to put on a Broadway show. Familiar territory for many a flimsy film plot. EDDIE ALBERT is the country bumpkin they try to con into putting his $20,000 into backing the show--thus the film's title AN ANGEL FROM Texas.

The fast-talking routines by Reagan, Morris and a very blonde and bleached JANE WYMAN at her snappiest are hardly the stuff of "bright farce" as an original review from The N.Y. Times states. The dull ROSEMARY LANE is supposed to be a gal with ambitions to become a great actress.

They're all capable performers and give their all to a tiresome show biz story that never is anything more than a routine programmer not worth a second look--or even a first one.

Based on a play by George S. Kaufman, it's strictly small time stuff, directed in the usual Warner Bros. frenzied style by Ray Enright.

This Warner Brothers movie uses its juvenile B leads from BROTHER RAT in another version of George Kaufman's BUTTER AND EGG MAN. The dialogue is sharp and brittle, but only Ronald Reagan as a fast-talking, down-at-the-heels Broadway producer and Jane Wyman are spot on. Wayne Morris is miscast as Reagan's partner and Eddie Albert is dull in yet another go around as a put-upon nice guy.

Jane Wyman was a wonderful comic actress at this stage in her career and this was precisely her meat: hair bleached blonde and talking a mile a minute. Unfortunately, in a few years she would win an Oscar for playing a mute in JOHNNY BELINDA and would never get a chance to be this entertaining again.

Small town girl Rosemary Lane heads off to NYC to become a famous actress. Boyfriend Eddie Albert follows her, bringing his family's life savings and a vague plan to buy a hotel. It's not long before this sweet and naïve couple encounter....

Wayne Morris and Ronald Reagan - a couple of stage producers who have a play but no money to produce it. Their friends and acquaintances are not forthcoming with cash. "Isn't it a wonderful thing," Morris notes, "how poor people can get when you're trying to raise some dough?"

Jane Wyman is hilarious as Reagan's wife. We meet her in his office, all dolled up, feet on his desk. She has won a big sweepstakes and is loaded--but she's not going to let Reagan blow her money on another lousy play. She hands him some bills: "Cuddles, there's your daily allowance." Reagan smiles delightedly. "TWO bucks?"

When our producers encounter Albert and his money, they quickly convince him to invest in their show and readily agree to hire Lane for the lead role. Complications set in when Ruth Terry shows up--she was the big star of their last flop and wants to star in this one too. She can't easily be brushed off because her boyfriend has taken an interest: "He's getting out of Alcatraz in three weeks. And boys? The kind of pineapples he throws don't come from Honolulu."

The great cast also includes Milburn Stone as the tough boyfriend and Tom Kennedy as his dim but enthusiastic henchman.

It's very funny, with lots of fast talking and a couple of neat plot turns. Rosemary Lane and Eddie Albert are just fine as the attractive lead couple--even though they are at times nearly drowned out by all the wackiness around them.

Eddie Albert follows his sweetheart from Texas to Manhattan. She wants to be a great star, a la Madame Cornell. He is not interested in the stage but crafty producers Morris and Reagan talk him into becoming the title character.

All the above give it their very best. Albert is a truly appealing, underrated performer and he is charming here. In addition, Jane Wyman is hilarious as one of the producer's wife who gets in on the act. When we first see her she is wearing a geometrically shaped hat, like those worn by Irene Dunne when she was playing chic and not frumpy. But this hat is covered in spangles. The hat alone is worth talking a look.

Ruth Terry is also very entertaining as the diva originally hired to play the lead in the play. One big question, regarding her and her cronies' tenacity, is whether or not there were any other plays on Broadway at the time this takes place. The play is not the greatest and her attachment to it is peculiar.

The rest -- Well, no giving away the plot. Suffice it to say that "Curtain Call" does something quite similar and is as stylish, funny, and polished as this is increasingly desperate and ramshackle.