The Shopworn Angel

The second motion picture version of a Saturday Evening Post story by Dana Burnet, this romantic melodrama was also the second pairing of actors James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. Stewart plays Private Bill Pettigrew, a naïve young Texan in New York for basic training prior to being shipped ...more

The Shopworn Angel is a treacly and often unbelievable romance, redeemed by its luminous trio of stars. Waldo Salt's screenplay is manipulative to a fault, filled with plot points that are simply too artificial: can anyone honestly believe that Margaret Sullavan's character would really agree to marry James Stewart's soldier? The story's machinations force the actors to behave in ways that stretch credulity, with Sullavan and Walter Pidgeon asked to be Noble with a capital N and Stewart required ...more