The Trouble with Angels

"Ohhh! It's positively Medieval!"
"All it's missing is the Dragon."

The Sisters of St. Francis Academy prepare for another school year, but nothing can prepare them for two of their new girls: Mary Clancy (Mills) and Rachel Devery (Harding).  Mary is rebellious and has many ideas, and Rachel was pulled out of an experimental art school and doesn't know how to do anything well.  They give guided tours of the nuns living area (which is off-limits), they smoke in the bathroom, and terrorize Mary's cousin Marvel Ann (Hunt), and that's only in the first few months... Can the Sisters survive 3 years of Mary and Rachel?


A fun, funny film, starring one of my favorite child actors: Hayley Mills (Pollyanna, The Parent Trap, That Darn Cat).  Mills is great when she is matching wits with Rosalind Russell.  Both have been in better films, but they are great here.  Mary Wickes is also a standout as Sister Clarissa.  You may recognize Wickes from her other memorable turn as a nun: as Sister Mary Lazarus in Sister Act and Sister Act 2.

The film covers all 3 years of Mary and Rachel's time at St. Francis, telling snapshots of the school year.  The stories are funny, heartbreaking, serious, and absurd.  It's a great film to watch when you're feeling sick or the weather is ugly (or both).

The Trouble with Angels (1966) 112 minutes
Director: Ida Lupino
Starring: Rosalind Russell as Mother Superior
Hayley Mills as Mary Clancy
June Harding as Rachel Devery
Binnie Barnes as Sister Celestine
Camilla Sparv as Sister Constance
Mary Wickes as Sister Clarissa
Marge Redmond as Sister Liguori
Barbara Hunt as Marvel-Ann