Gregorio y su ángel

The little painted statue of an angel steps down from its niche to comfort and befriend a down-and-out who’s plagued by the very devil.

The devil is played by Tin Tan as a cajoler who offers a compadre an untaxed flask, in various guises. The role is driven in up to the hilt from first animosity to last gesture of thumb and little finger with a frenzied grimace. The angel on earth is a little girl, angelic as you please and constantly appealing to Gregorio’s better nature in whatever circumstances. Gregorio gives Broderick Crawford a chance to shuck off the trammels of executive-level mobdom and do a rich piece of acting played entirely to the material, which he analyzes for its pure value, as does Solares, in its capacity of Capraesque insight wedded to a departure from reason akin to Der Blaue Engel.