The Trouble with Angels

The Trouble with Angels is a 1966 American comedy film about the adventures of two girls in an all-girls Catholic school run by nuns. The film was the final theatrical feature to be directed by Ida Lupino and stars Hayley Mills (her first post-Disney film role), Rosalind Russell, and June Harding. The film's cast includes Marge Redmond (who would play a nun in the television series The Flying Nun, which premiered the following year) as math teacher Sister Liguori, Mary Wickes (who reprised her role in the sequel Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows and later played a nun in the film Sister Act and its sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit) as gym teacher Sister Clarissa, and Portia Nelson (who played a nun in The Sound of Music the previous year) as art teacher Sister Elizabeth. Burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee appears in a small role. An uncredited Jim Hutton appears briefly as the principal of a competing school. A sequel, Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows, starring Stella Stevens, was released in 1968, with Russell, Barnes, Mary Wickes and Dolores Sutton all reprising their roles as nuns. Plot The movie is set at St. Francis Academy, a fictional all-girls Catholic boarding school in Pennsylvania operated by an order of nuns. The Mother Superior is at odds with Mary Clancy, a rebellious teenager, and her friend Rachel Devery. The episodic story line follows the young women through their sophomore, junior and senior high-school years as they pull pranks on the sisters and repeatedly get into trouble. Both girls are nearly expelled when their smoking in the basement is mistaken for a fire. Mary often resents the Mother Superior's authority and puzzles over why any woman would choose a nun's life. As time passes, Mary is touched by the sisters' dedication, devotion, kindness, love, and generosity; she gradually begins to understand that their lives are of fulfillment, not deprivation. Mary experiences "the call" senior year and, after graduation, decides to remain at St. Francis to begin her novitiate in the order. Rachel is initially upset, then fully supports her friend's decision to become a nun.