Wuchak
Dec 13, 2020
6/10
A couple of troublemaking girls at a Catholic school/nunnery
Mary (Hayley Mills) is sent to a Catholic school in Pennsylvania where she constantly causes problems along with her “follower” Rachel (June Harding). Can Mother Superior (Rosalind Russell) & the other nuns tame these troublemakers before they enter society as adults?
"The Trouble with Angels" (1966) was based on the 1962 biography “Life with Mother Superior” by Jane Trahey, which chronicled her years at an all-girls Catholic high school near Chicago. This explains the low-key approach to the episodic material. In other words, this is a generally realistic drama with several fun moments, but not a zany comedy.
While not in the same league as “The Parent Trap” (1961) and “Pollyanna” (1960), this is still a worthwhile Hayley Mills drama with a few amusing bits. Hayley was 19 during shooting and it’s interesting seeing her in the role of a rebel teen in contrast to her bubbly preadolescence of those other flicks. There’s still some bubbliness, but she’s more cynical here with a wicked sense of humor.
Stunning Camilla Sparv appears as one of the nuns while former burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee shows up as a dance instructor.
The film runs 1 hour, 51 minutes, and was shot in Ambler and Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia, with establishing shots of Merion Train Station. Other sequences were done in Southern Cal as follows: Los Angeles (school pool), Beverly Hills (courtyard and other outdoor scenes) and Monrovia (train station scenes).
GRADE: B-/C+