Movie review: ‘The Trouble with Angels’

Who would want to watch a movie about two Catholic schoolgirls getting into trouble? OK! So, of course there are those kind of movies about “Catholic schoolgirls” who “get into trouble” … and an entire segment of a certain film industry in Southern California has made a lot of money off that genre. However, we’re not talking about that today. We’re talking about a film that has a bad rep because its “wholesome family fun” manages to far overshadow the film’s true depth. The movie I’m writing about is “The Trouble With Angels” from 1966. It is much better than you might expect and has a simply sensational turn by the simply sensational Rosalind Russell. You shouldn’t miss this one, even all these years later.

‘The Trouble With Angels’
(1966; 122 minutes; rated PG; directed by Ida Lupino and starring Rosalind Russell, Hayley Mills and Binnie Barnes)

A (MOTHER OF A) SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE BY RUSSELL

(NOTE: I expanded and reorganized this review on March 17, 2016, with additional opinion and more trivia. I again expanded it on April 9, 2020. I again expanded it on March 17, 2026.)

The teenagers-getting-into-trouble genre is as old as Hollywood itself. It has turned out a consistent number of films over the years, but with mixed results. You can go from the silly to the gross to the so-bad-it’s-good films, but there are forgotten gems, such as “The Trouble With Angels” from 1966, that show such movies can actually have depth and be a drama worth your consideration today.

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“The Trouble With Angels” is a 1960s, clean-cut, family-style comedy with a nice touch of faith tossed in (not too much despite being set in a convent/girls school). Despite any stereotype of the period and genre, “The Trouble With Angels’” screenplay is solid and director Ida Lupino makes sure the film has wit, while not relying on cheap shots or gags to make its point.

In “The Trouble With Angels,” it is the work of Rosalind Russell, as the convent’s Mother Superior, that makes this one worth going out of your way to watch. If an actor ever managed to immerse himself or herself in a role, then Russell did it here – much like some men in film can appear to be military commanders with simply their bearing, Russell becomes a Mother Superior in every second she’s on screen.

Finally, Russell has excellent vulnerability to share with the audience, too, at both obvious and not-so-obvious moments.

In brief, Hayley Mills and June Harding are two teens who meet while traveling (by train) to a Catholic girls’ school. Mills quickly becomes the leader of the pair with one of her “scathingly brilliant” ideas. The girls, joined by two other newbies, play a joke by changing their names to “Kim Novak,” “Pearl Ring” and “Sandy Beach.” OK, lame is as lame does, but you can check out the difference between a funny name in 1966 and one from “Porky’s” in 1982 (click here for my review).

Of course, as you might guess, the girls’ “adventures” are pretty tame by today’s standards (by observing the standards of MTV today, “The Excorcist” is a tame motion picture): The girls spy on another school’s band; smoke the plumber’s left-behind cigars; put bubble powder in the nuns’ dinner drinks; and take other students on a tour of the nuns’ residence that’s off-limits to the students.

Wow. Thelma and Louise they were not.

Still, Mills loves to buck authority and takes glee in giving Russell the Nazi salute (behind her back, of course). By the time of graduation, as expected, there’s a big change (no spoiler alert here) and the film closes with Russell both understanding and strict.

Typically, I give a synopsis of the work by members of the principal cast equally, but I can’t do that here since I’m so taken by Russell’s work. So, I’ll give spotlight time to her alone for this review …

Each time I watch “The Trouble With Angels,” I’m amazed by what Russell brings to the role and to the character (one is not always the same). She makes sure her character projects the all-knowing, worldly-wise Mother Superior. She easily shows how she is motivated to make sure that the young women in her charge will be educated with a proper foundation for life and is patient with them in matters of faith. I can only imagine how difficult this is to convey on-screen, much less in actual practice (and even more so today).

Russell is stern, but not “Mommie Dearest;” knowledgeable, but not haughty; and, most of all, despite her countenance, she’s understanding, but never becomes obsequious. Frankly, she’d rather give it all up than appear human to her students, but it’s a role she knows she must play to be effective.

Russell first shows her compassion toward an unknowing Mills and Harding when the girls smoke cigars and the fire department is called. She was going to toss them out, but then reconsidered when she met Mills’ uncle (he’s her guardian since she is an orphan) and gets a look at his “secretary.” Russell understands immediately that the uncle could never provide the guidance that Mills would receive at the school.

Further, Russell manages to lead by example in faith. She is tough, but not all-the-time condemning those who stray; she is patient, knowing that faith doesn’t come in an instant; and she’s persistent and consistent (two key factors in the conveyance of anything, especially faith).

Also, it’s the attention to details of Russell’s ability and the thoughtfulness of the filmmakers in taking their time. As an example of the former, the two girls examine a bird’s nest upon their return to school after one summer vacation, Russell walks by and says, “Get rid of the bird’s nest.” The girls toss it away and Russell doesn’t even pause in saying, “Not that one.” She meant the hairpiece Mills was wearing. For the former, the film takes time to examine how the girls evolve throughout their high school years.

It is truly sad to recall that Russell died of metastasized breast cancer in 1976 at the age of 69, according to IMDb.com. I would have like for her to have been able to do an episode of “The Love Boat,” where many aging actors did some surprisingly good work (no, I’m not kidding … I truly enjoy “The Love Boat” and you can click here to read my treatise about it).

Thanks, Rosalind! You had the winner of your career (at least in my eyes) with this one!

As for the rest of the cast, here’s a quick rundown:

• 

  Mills is energetic and engaging in her usual competent turn as “Mary Clancy.” Her British accent remains a killer – and gets 95-percent of the screen time (only Russell’s greater acting stature got her top billing). Mill knows how to play to the camera and is a natural. She’s smooth throughout the film, but she can put on some edge when she wants. Mills is most notably known for “The Parent Trap” in 1961 (Lindsay Lohan, who became another of Hollywood’s version of a bad girl, did a nice revival of the role in 1998) and was a contract actor for Walt Disney. She also did “That Darn Cat” and, after a decade out of Hollywood from 1994-2004, she has since stayed on the big and little screens. She’s been on the TV series “Pitching In.” On the plus side, Mills had multiple appearances on “The Love Boat.” Interestingly, she has only 56 acting credits in a career spanning eight decades since the first in 1959 at age 12 (she was an infant with an uncredited part in “So Well Remembered” with father John Mills in 1947, but that one doesn’t count).

• 

  Harding’s work as “Rachel Devry” can only be described as workmanlike. She’s good, but not great and doesn’t manage to elevate her character. She does her best work at the end with her confrontation with Mills. “The Trouble With Angels” is the actor’s only credit in a motion picture. She had a career beginning in 1956 in the debut season of “As the World Turns” and continuing throughout the 1960s as a TV actor, but her last credit was in 1970 and she died in 2019 at 81. I’m sorry to say, but she didn’t have any “Love Boat” episodes on her resume.

• 

  In an example of a supporting character who shines is played by Mary Wickes. She is “Sister Clarissa,” who drives the school’s bus and teaches physical education (her character is fleshed out further in the sequel “Where Angels Go Trouble Follows” – click here for my review of that one). Wickes has a good time in the role and makes the sister come alive – an accolade not all actors achieve with a character. Wickes went on to play another nun in Whoopi Goldberg’s “Sister Act” and its sequel and she had a prolific career and notched 138 acting credits and worked right up to her death in 1995 at 85 and from complications involving breast cancer. Wickes was known for her physical comedy, sharp tongue and distinctive voice. Wickes did a “Love Boat” episode, too. Thanks, Mary!

• Gypsy Rose Lee does a wonderful job in a small role and while she isn’t really much in the film, it’s great to see her on screen. She was an entertainment legend through burlesque until her death at 59 in 1970 of lung cancer.

• 

  The ever under-appreciated Jim Hutton, who two years later would be in John Wayne’s “The Green Berets,” a controversial war movie about Vietnam, died of liver cancer at a youthful 45 in 1979 and plays the longsuffering “Mr. Petrie” in an uncredited role as the head of a “progressive” school despised by Russell.

Also, why “The Trouble With Angels” is rated PG is completely beyond me. Maybe it’s because when the girls are taken by a most inexperienced nun to buy “binders” and the film shows actual bras (but not being worn) and Mills tries on a bustier over her clothes (so racy!). It might be because a couple of teenagers enjoy the pleasures of an illicit smoke!

BTW … The signature building of “St. Francis Academy” is in Ambler, Penn., and was renovated in 1912 to emulate Windsor Castle in Berkshire outside of London: “Known then as Lindenwold Castle, the property featured gardens, fountains, and statues to rival the grand palaces of Europe.” It evolved much later to become the “The Villa” from the original “Mary’s Villa for Families and Children” in Ambler, Penn., but the beautiful acreage around the iconic castle has since further given way to a housing development. Sigh. Click here for a story about the castle and its history …

“The Trouble With Angels” was outside the top 25 films at the box office in 1966. It notched $4.1 million in sales on a budget of $2 million, according to Wiki. The top film was “The Bible: In the Beginning …” with $34.9 million while coming in at No. 25 was “Penelope” starring Natalie Wood with $8 million, according to Wiki. Other films I’ve reviewed from 1966 are …

• “Assault on a Queen” (OK Sinatra caper) – click here for my review
• “The Glass Bottom Boat” (amusing Doris Day) – click here for my review

Here are some cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

• Russell’s first name was Catherine and Rosalind was her middle name; Mills’ full birth name is Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills; Wickes’ birth name was Mary Isabelle Wickenhauser; and Hutton’s first name was Dana and his middle name was James and he was tall by Hollywood standards at 6-foot-4¾ (that’s three-quarters of an inch taller than Clint Eastwood).
• The movie is based on the book “Life with Mother Superior” by Jane Trahey.
• “The Trouble With Angels” was the first feature film directed by Ida Lupino in more than a decade.
• Directly from IMDb.com: “According to Rosalind Russell, she and Hayley Mills did not get along during filming. She claimed that every time she turned around or walked away from Mills, she would stick her tongue out at her.” Sounds to me like Mills was just staying in character.
• One other supporting actor who played on an episode of “The Love Boat” is Camilla Sparv, who played the beautiful and dedicated “Sister Constance.” She won a Golden Globe the year after “The Trouble With Angels” as Most Promising Newcomer for her work with James Coburn on the caper flick “Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round.”
• Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “Producer William Frye personally offered his friend Greta Garbo $1 million to play the Mother Superior in the film. When she declined, he offered the role to Rosalind Russell at a much lower salary.”

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