This was an effort to rekindle the success of Here Comes Mr Jordan in which Claude Rains played a heavenly emissary righting some wrongs. Here Paul Muni plays a thug who gets out of the joint, is instantly killed but returned to life in the body of a judge, and can't let go of his sense of vengeance. This time Rains plays the devil himself. He's quite good and more menacing than a movie of the era would typically allow. The noir stylings are nice. These may be the blackest compositions I've ever seen in a movie. The early minutes in hell look terrific and the movie gets a lot of mileage from a few flames and some grimy, underlit faces. Rain's supernatural character also receives special lighting against dark backgrounds throughout.
But it's rather odd that a fantasy goes with a "frustrated romance" format, when comedy seems to be just beneath the surface. And the script is bad; the narrative gets convoluted and the movie lacks any really great scenes. After hell the movie is very blah. A promising, atypical concept is just converted into dozens of unmemorable, conventionalized scenes. All the Kings Men, State of the Union and His Girl Friday all make finer, funnier and smarter moments from political intrigue. And the simple fact is; it's not enjoyable to spend 90 minutes with a lead character this ignorant and vulgar. Muni's redemption arc is very schlocky, and his performance is something out of the distant past. At 50, he's looking a bit gruesome for a leading man role.
But it's rather odd that a fantasy goes with a "frustrated romance" format, when comedy seems to be just beneath the surface. And the script is bad; the narrative gets convoluted and the movie lacks any really great scenes. After hell the movie is very blah. A promising, atypical concept is just converted into dozens of unmemorable, conventionalized scenes. All the Kings Men, State of the Union and His Girl Friday all make finer, funnier and smarter moments from political intrigue. And the simple fact is; it's not enjoyable to spend 90 minutes with a lead character this ignorant and vulgar. Muni's redemption arc is very schlocky, and his performance is something out of the distant past. At 50, he's looking a bit gruesome for a leading man role.