Claude Rains Sees Paul Muni in Hell

Muni Back To Gangland: Angel On My Shoulder (1946)

Checked Paul Muni's filmography, and this looks like the only occasion since Scarface that he played a gangster, which is surprising as, despite lean toward "Great Man" parts, Muni seemed ideally bestial for further crime parts. Like E.G. Robinson, he could have bounced between intellectuals and thuggery, but apparently lacked the inclination (maybe Muni felt he'd got beyond rough stuff after Pasteur). Was he independently fixed as not to need so much cash flow as art-collecting Eddie? Angel On My Shoulder was independently made, slow on the draw at times, but a grabber for opening act in Hell, Claude Rains its satanic ruler. A Dimitri Tiomkin score adds necessary fire/brimstone. Muni gets leave from the pit to seek vengeance on a rackets turncoat and discredit a do-gooder judge by entering his body, per bargain with Claude. Offbeat to be sure, Angel's fantasy element commending it to modern viewers, whose number might swell were this PD title around in better prints; the one TCM uses is pretty good, certainly a best I've yet seen. Also available on DVD from Alpha, VCI, and others.