MOVIE: Johnny Angel (1945)
Based on the story Mr. Angel Comes Aboard by Charles Gordon Booth
Screenplay by Steve Fisher
Adaptation by Frank Gruber
Directed by Edwin L. Marin
George Raft, Signe Hasso, Claire Trevor, Marvin Miller, Hoagy Carmichael
When Captain Johnny Angel (Raft) discovers his father’s ship abandoned, he sets off to uncover the mystery. Shifting through the shambles on the ship, his finds a room with a woman’s shoe and French newspaper. Where would a French woman hide in New Orleans? Off with the shoe on a Cinderella search.
With the help of an observant cabbie,Celestial O’Brien (Carmichael), Captain Angel searches the French quarter, until he finds a girl wearing a beret, Paulette Girard (Hasso). She pretends not to know anything about the abandoned ship, or Captain Angel’s father. But, when the good captain saves her from bullets, she confesses. Yes, she was on the ship. She was allowed passage from France to America.
Paulette recalls secret cargo brought aboard the ship at night. Then, gunshots. She confirms the captain was shot. What was the reason? It was the secret cargo was gold bullion! But who took it?
The storyline is rounded out by the ship company owner Gusty Gustafson (Miller), and his glamorous platinum blond wife, Lily (Trevor). Somehow, they are definitely involved.
