Rosalind Russell and Hayley Mills match wits in “The Trouble with Angels”

The Trouble with Angels (1966) is an American comedy film directed by Ida Lupino and starring Rosalind Russell and Hayley Mills. The strong supporting cast includes Binnie Barnes, Mary Wickes, Marge Redmond, Gypsy Rose Lee, Camilla Sparv, and June Harding in her film debut.

The film is set at the fictional St. Francis Academy, a Catholic boarding school for girls in Pennsylvania. The school is operated by nuns and headed by The Mother Superior (Russell). When two students arrive, Mary Clancy (Mills) and Rachel Devery (Harding), the Mother Superior and the rest of the nuns at St. Francis have their hands full.

Mary has a will or iron but so does Mother Superior. Who will come out on top in the battle of wills?

June Harding, Hayley Mills, and Rosalind Russell

Ida Lupino (1918 – 1995) was an English-American actress, director, and producer. She appeared in over 50 films and was one of Warner Bros.’s biggest contract players during the 1940s starring in High Sierra (1941), The Sea Wolf (1941), and The Man I Love (1947). After she left Warner Bros., Lupino formed her own production company, producing, writing, and directing films that tackled subjects the big studios wouldn’t touch. During the 1950s, Lupino was the only female director working in Hollywood. She directed several small independent films but really made a name for herself directing for television. Lupino directed episodes of The Twilight Zone (starred in one too), The Rifleman, Bonanza, Gilligan’s Island, It Takes a Thief, Family Affair, and Columbo. In 1966, she directed her one-and-only big-budget studio picture, The Trouble with Angels starring Rosalind Russell and Haley Mills.

Rosalind Russell (1907 - 1976) was an American film and stage actress. She was nominated for four Best Actress Academy Awards throughout her career. She won five Golden Globe Awards and a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Ruth in Wonderful Town. Russell was a versatile actress who excelled at both comedy and drama. She was also one of the few actresses of her day to portray lawyers, judges, and psychiatrists. Some of her famous films include The Women (1939), My Sister Eileen (1942), Sister Kenny (1946), Picnic (1955), Auntie Mame (1958), Gypsy (1962), and The Trouble with Angels (1966).

Hayley Mills (1946 - ) is an English actress and at one time was one of the biggest child stars in the world. The daughter of actor John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell and younger sister of Juliet Mills, she got her start in films playing Gillie in Tiger Bay (1959). It was her performance in that film that brought her to the attention of Walt Disney and international stardom. Mills made her American movie debut in Pollyanna (1960), winning the Academy Juvenile Award in the process. Other films she made at Disney include The Parent Trap (1961), In Search of the Castaways (1962), Summer Magic (1963), and That Darn Cat! (1965).

 

Gypsy Rose Lee and Rosalind Russell

The Trouble with Angels trivia

• The exterior shots of St. Francis Academy were or St. Mary’s Home, an orphanage in Ambler, Pennsylvania. All of the interior shots were done in a studio in California.
• Mary Wickes didn’t know how to swim and she was supposed to take swimming lessons for the pool scene with Hayley Mills and June Harding. She didn’t. In some scenes they had to use a double which cost the production time and money.
• Greta Garbo was offered one million dollars to play Mother Superior. Rosalind Russell was offered the role at a much lower salary.
• Hayley Mills was nineteen at the time of filming and June Harding was twenty-eight.
• This was Ida Lupino’s first studio directorial assignment and the last movie she directed. She finished her directing career working in television.
• Mary Wickes would go on to play nuns in three move movies. She played the same character in Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! (1968), Sister Act (1992), and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993).
• Jim Hutton plays Mr. Petrie and appears in two scenes but is uncredited.

 

To watch the movie on YouTube, click here.

 

To join the discussion on October 2, 2023, at 6:30 p.m., click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

 

Discussion questions

1. The film is a comedy but it did have its serious moments. Do you think the film balanced the comedy with the drama?
2. What did you think of Rosalind Russell’s performance as Mother Superior? Was she a convincing nun?
3. Were Hayley Mills and June Harding convincing as high school girls? Did they have on-screen chemistry?
4. There were several great character actors playing nuns in the film. Did you have a favorite nun?
5. Some critics thought that Mary’s decision to become a nun at the end didn’t make sense. Do you agree?
6. Did anything about the film surprise you?

 

John Mills, Horst Buchholz, and Hayley Mills struggle in “Tiger Bay”

Tiger Bay (1959) is a British crime drama directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring John Mills, Horst Buchholz, and Hayley Mills in her first major film role.

The plot centers around a young Polish sailor named Bronislav (“Bronek”) Korchinsky (Buchholz) who returns from a voyage to visit his girlfriend, Anya (Yvonne Mitchell). He discovers that she is no longer living in the apartment he was paying for, he tracks her down at her new flat. There she tells him that she no longer wants him and is involved with a married man (Anthony Dawson). They argue and in a fit of jealously, he hits her. She defends herself with a gun, but Bronek takes the gun from her and shoots her dead. 

Unbeknownst to Bronek at the time, a young tomboy named Gillie (Mills) watches the whole scene through the letterbox. Gillie at first fears for her life when Bronek confronts her, but instead the two develop a bond that will change both their lives.

Hayley Mills and Horst Buchholz

J. Lee Thompson (1914 - 2002) was a British film director. He made pictures in England and Hollywood and is best remembered for Cape Fear (1962) and The Guns of Navarone (1961). Thompson began his career as a screenwriter and dialogue coach. After a stint in the RAF during World War II, he went back to screenwriting. In 1950 he directed his first feature Murder Without Crime (1950) in England. Other Hollywood films directed by Thompson include What a Way to Go! (1964), John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965), and Mackenna’s Gold (1969).

John Mills (1908 - 2005) was an English actor who made over 100 films in the United States and in Great Britain. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Ryan’s Daughter (1970). Mills worked on the stage in London in the Noel Coward revue Words and Music (1932). He made his film debut in the U.K. in 1932 and appeared with Ida Lupino in The Ghost Camera (1933). He had a supporting role in Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939) starring Robert Donat. Mills starred as Pip in Great Expectations (1946) to great acclaim and popular box office. Mills continued acting into the 2000s.

Horst Buchholz (1933 - 2003) was a German actor who was once called “the German James Dean” was an international movie star and voice artist. In America, he starred in The Magnificent Seven (1960), On, Two Three (1961). He starred opposite Leslie Caron in Fanny (1961) and Nine Hours to Rama (1963). He’s almost as famous for the roles that got away. He was offered the roles of Tony in West Side Story (1961) and Sherif Ali in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) but scheduling conflicts prevented him from starring in those films.

Hayley Mills (1946 - ) is an English actress and at one time was one of the biggest child stars in the world. The daughter of actor John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell and younger sister of Juliet Mills, she got her start in films playing Gillie in Tiger Bay (1959). It was her performance in that film that brought her to the attention of Walt Disney and international stardom. Mills made her American movie debut in Pollyanna (1960), winning the Academy Juvenile Award in the process. Other films she made at Disney include The Parent Trap (1961), In Search of the Castaways (1962), Summer Magic (1963), and That Darn Cat! (1965).

Tiger Bay trivia:

• The role of Gillie was meant to be a boy, but when the director met John Mill’s daughter Hayley, he thought making Gillie a girl would improve the movie.
• This was the English-speaking movie debut of Horst Buchholz.
• John Mills said that Hayley received no film offers in the U.K. after her acclaimed performance.
• John and Hayley Mills worked together again in The Chalk Garden (1964).

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on Zoom on Tiger Bay on February 16, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time click on the link here. Once you RSVP, you will get an email with a Zoom link.

Questions for discussion:

1. Do you think the film would have been different if the role of Gillie had been played by a boy?
2. Why do you think Gillie bonded with Bronek?
3. Did anything about the film surprise you?
4. What do you think happened to Bronek after his arrest at the end?