After his release from prison, gangster Eddie Kagle (Paul Muni) is killed by his partner in crime, Smiley Williams (Hardie Albright). Kagle ends up in Hell, where "Nick" (Claude Rains) offers him a chance to leave and avenge his own death in exchange for help with a problem. Kagle looks exactly like Judge Frederick Parker, an upright man who is causing Nick distress because he is too honest. Nick fears that Parker may cause him more anxiety in future, as he is running for governor of his state. Nick wants to destroy Parker's reputation, and Kagle readily agrees to have his soul transferred into Parker's body in exchange for the opportunity to exact revenge on Williams.
As soon as Kagle appears as Parker, odd things begin to happen. Kagle pursues his goal with evil intent (though often at cross purposes with the Devil), but everything he does to ruin Judge Parker's reputation somehow results in making Parker look better. Along the way, Kagle falls in love with Barbara Foster (Anne Baxter), the judge's fiancée, causing him to question his whole outlook on life and to eventually rebel against Nick.
Nick presents Kagle with the opportunity to shoot Williams, but instead Kagle confronts Williams with the truth. Shocked and frightened, Williams backs away and falls out of an open window to his death. Beyond Nick's power by virtue of having committed no wrongdoing since his return to life, Kagle is eager to stay, start a life with Barbara and take up Judge Parker's mission to support troubled young people. However, Nick tells him that every moment Kagle is present he is denying Parker and Barbara their rightful life together. Kagle agrees, bids Barbara farewell and relinquishes Parker's body, allowing the couple a tearful reunion.
Exasperated and defeated, Nick takes Kagle back to Hell, leaving Judge Parker in a much better position than before. Nick threatens to make the reformed Kagle's punishment even more painful than usual, but Kagle blackmails him; in return for not revealing Nick's blunders, Kagle wants to be made a trustee. Nick has no option but to agree to the demand.
A 1946 American Black & White supernatural film (a/k/a "Me and Satan") directed by Archie Mayo, produced by Charles R. Rogers, screenplay by Harry Segall and Roland Kibbee, story by Harry Segall, cinematography by James Van Trees, starring Paul Muni, Anne Baxter, Claude Rains, Onslow Stevens, George Cleveland, Erskine Sanford, Marion Martin, Fritz Leiber, and James Flavin. Final screen appearance of Hardie Albright. Released by United Artists.
After his definitive performance in "Scarface" (1932), Paul Muni vowed never to play a gangster again. This tactic worked well for a couple of years, with an Academy Award for "The Story of Louis Pasteur" (1936) and an Oscar nomination for "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937), but eventually the good parts started to dwindle. By 1946, Muni was keen to play a major role again, so took the part of a gangster in this film. Director Archie Mayo clashed repeatedly with star Paul Muni during production. Muni didn't make another film for six years.
Claude Rains played a similar role in "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" (1941). In that movie, he played "Mr. Jordan", who helped the central character, "Joe Pendleton", find a new body after he died. This similarity is not a coincidence, as the screenwriter for both movies was Harry Segall.
This independent production from Premier Productions was the final film of director Archie Mayo. Far from a Hollywood legend, Mayo was a serious, consistent director, and this film proves it.
The film's original title was "Me and Satan", but producer Charles R. Rogers decided to change it, concerned that the public would want to go to see a film about the Devil.
The film was remade for television, directed by John Berry and starring Peter Strauss, Richard Kiley and Barbara Hershey. It premiered on ABC on May 11, 1980. The 1980 version has a different ending, where as Nick is about to take Kagle back to hell, God (played by Murray Matheson) appears and takes Kagle to Heaven, reasoning that Kagle has changed for the better since his reappearance on Earth and is worthy of redemption.
"The Hedda Hopper Show - This Is Hollywood" broadcast a 30-minute radio adaptation of the movie on October 12, 1946 with Paul Muni and Anne Baxter reprising their film roles.
This movie inspired the syndicated television series "My Partner the Ghost" (1969-71), originally titled, "Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)".
A clever, amusing and funny film with comedy, romance and a little surprising. This entertaining fantasy offers up classic performances by such legendary stars as Paul Muni, Anne Baxter, and Claude Rains, give timeless performances. It's fun, deceptive, sometimes humorous, and sometimes romantically serious. Worth seeing for Paul Muni alone, an actor ahead of his time. Most actors in the 1930s and 40s were typecast into roles that didn't allow them to play a variety of characters, but not Muni.
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