THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 13, 1994 TAG: 9407130046
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
IN POP SONGS, angelic traits are considered a compliment: ``She looks like an angel/she talks like an angel.''
In religion, at least the Christian religion, angels are the epitome of all we should want to become - even if Renaissance artists did make them vaguely silly, picturing them as little fat cherubs with round bottoms and wings.
Angels in the movies are another thing. They are usually treated irreverently, even whimsically. In ``It's a Wonderful Life,'' Henry Travers, perhaps the most famous of all movie angels, is a jowly little man struggling to get his wings. But those of us watching on Christmas Eve have no question that he is an angel - Frank Capra's direction leaves little to doubt.
In general, though, movie angels have been ambiguous.
In ``I Married an Angel,'' playboy Nelson Eddy dreams that he married an angel, Jeannette MacDonald. But was it just a dream? It was their last film together (1942) and had the title tune as well as ``Spring Is Here.''
``Green Pastures,'' the 1936 adaptation of the prize-winning play, had an all-black cast and a visualization of heaven that made it into a fun-time fish fry with angels everywhere. The film was more meaningful than many so-called biblical movies, proving that heaven can stand a sense of humor.
Through the years, angels have been played by the likes of Claude Rains in ``Here Comes Mr. Jordan'' and James Mason in its remake, ``Heaven Can Wait.'' In the first, a boxer (Robert Montgomery) is given a second chance. In the second, a football player (Warren Beatty) is the subject.
Other angels have included Kenneth Spencer (and others) in ``Cabin in the Sky,'' Jack Benny in ``The Horn Blows at Midnight,'' Clifton Webb and Edmund Gwenn in ``For Heaven's Sake,'' Leon Ames in ``Yolanda and the Thief,'' Robert Cummings in ``Heaven Only Knows'' and Diane Cilento in ``The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp.''
More recently, a beautiful angel loses control of her wings and lands at a bachelor's lair in ``Date With an Angel.'' Emmanuelle Beart looked angelic, but the 1987 movie flopped anyway.
Mae West lived up to the title of ``I'm No Angel.'' Ava Gardner, too, was non-angelic amid the Spanish Civil War in ``The Angel Wore Red.'' Angels are apparently box office, even if the movies have nothing to do with angels. Titles that sold, but have no angels, include ``Angels With Dirty Faces,'' ``Angel and the Badman'' (John Wayne and Gail Russel), ``Angels in Exile,'' ``Angel Baby'' and many more.
There is some confusion about the difference between ghosts and angels. Was the mythical team that came out of the corn field in ``Field of Dreams'' made up of angels or ghosts? (At the box office, they were definitely angels?)
For the arty crowd, ``Wings of Desire'' and its sequel, ``Faraway, So Close,'' dealt with ex-angel Cassiel (Otto Sandler) and a bout with mortality, directed by Wim Wenders. Both films proved that the subject could be whimsical and still be profound.
From ``Field of Dreams'' to ``Angels in the Outfield,'' there is no question but that a baseball team can use a little help. Visually, though, it's a problem. We all have our own ideas of what an angel should look like, and many of us haven't found the camera that could photograph them. by CNB