Fifteen years earlier Ida Lupino might have made a challenging film about the abuse of foundlings by an institution, and she later gave a terrifying performance as a brutal prison matron in a TV movie called 'Women in Chains (1972); but this (the only colour film she directed), feels more like a continuation of Hayley Mills' time at Disney, and looks as if it was made for television.St. Francis Academy seems more like a finishing school for young ladies than a religious institution; and there's a remarkable absence of God talk (there'd be plenty if it was remade today)! We're told what a tyrant Mother Superior Rosalind Russell is without being shown much evidence of this, and how naughty Mills is, while they trade abuse with Russell claiming Mills belongs in San Quentin, but usually with a twinkle in her eye and a smile playing about her lips; and she never settles arguments in the traditional manner by beating her. Russell also seems to have plenty of time away from her desk free of the burden of administrative duties, instead constantly popping up Miss Danvers style to interrupt Hayley's mischievous little schemes before they can usually fully take wing. It would have been interesting to see Lupino take Russell's part.

. . . THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS is a "scathingly brilliant" movie full of magic. The magic of Orphan-Hood. The magic of riding a train to boarding school. The magic of attending an academy shaped like a castle. The magic of smoking cigarettes in the Girls' Room and cigars in the cellar. The magic of an unscheduled fire drill. The magic of K.P. Duty eight days a week. The magic of forbidden hallways. The magic of bubbles. The magic of risking school expulsion. The magic of snow sifting through the dorm windows. The magic of burlesque dancing. The magic of first brassieres. The magic of the Stations of the Cross. The magic of summer vacation. The magic of school band competition. The magic of learning to swim. The magic of needlework. The magic of community service. The magic of going overseas to teach lepers. The magic of Taking the Veil. Obviously, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to cram any MORE magic than this into one movie. Who says nuns are no fun? This is the funniest nun movie Hollywood ever made until Joseph Guzman's loosely-based remake of THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS came out in 2010: for something that will REALLY knock your socks off, follow-up ANGELS by enjoying Guzman's NUDE NUNS WITH BIG GUNS!

if ya want your daughters to seriously consider enlisting Catholic and becoming a Nun then have them watch this movie it's very persuasive. as a Protestant and a Baptist, i found myself a little weary and suspicious of the whole thing. i mean the difference between Catholics and Protestants is like cats and dogs really.as a long time Haley Mills(is Haley Catholic?)fan since childhood i rather enjoyed this. it's better than you would think it would be. Haley Mills and Rosalind Russell are quite good and a lot of this is very funny. i mean really, any movie that shows Haley Mills of all people, smoking in the girl's bathroom and smoking a cigar is worth a viewing in my book. how scandalous. and the scene where they put Marble Ann's face in a plaster mold was excruciatingly funnyi can't say this was a great movie, but it was a lot more intelligent than you would think it would be. certainly more intelligent than it's brain dead junky sequel 'Where Angels Go Trouble Follows'. and this film was also directed by a woman director at a time when there were really no women in the industry directing mainstream commercial films. also the films over-serious ending doesn't ruin it, it actually has some depth.i sort of preferred the sequel however, because the sequel was such a brain dead piece of junk it was more interesting to watch. this movie simply had to much quality behind it to be as much fun. do you think your daughter would forgive you if you named her Marble Ann? i think someone should test that.

I always like good comedies and when a comedy story has just the right amount and kind of drama added in somewhere appropriate, the result is flawlessness.Hayley Mills gives a wonderful performance in this film from her "post-Disney" era. THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS is a fun film without any kind of immediate "plot", about the friendship of two girls, one headstrong and deeply rebellious, the other a somewhat dizzy tagalong, and how their pranks torment the Reverend Mother (Rosalind Russell) for 4 years in a catholic girls' school.You don't get to know many of the classmates of Mary (Mills) and her pal Rachel (June Harding), but there are interesting characters in the nuns Sister Constance, Sister Elizabeth, Sister Prudence, Sister Clarissa, Sister Celestine, and of course Sister Ligouri and Reverend Mother. Rosalind Russell does a perfect performance, and I find her voice very strong and distinctive.Each moment, each scene, is a story in itself. Even scenes with no dialogue, such as the one where Mary looks out the window at Christmas to see Reverend Mother walking in the snow to one of the statue saints, is saying something to you. This film is great to me because even though there are "scathingly brilliant" comedy scenes involving cigars, bubble bath crystals and plaster of Paris, there are quiet moments where you are just studying the characters and how their lives are changing and how their perspectives are too. The heartfelt drama is always at the right moments, and gives this film the genre of comedy-drama, rather than silly slapstick. This world, as seen through the eyes of Mary Clancy, and also of Reverend Mother, is a world you might want to visit for a couple of hours. It might be too "slow" or "mellow" a film for some, but for me, it was a wonderful surprise!