"One of us may have to go. But I guarantee you, it won't be me."
—Mother Superior, to Mary
The Trouble with Angels is a 1966 comedy film about the adventures of two teenage girls in an all-girls Catholic school run by nuns. The film was directed by Ida Lupino and stars Hayley Mills as rebellious teenager Mary Clancy, Rosalind Russell as the stern-but-reasonable Mother Superior, and June Harding as Rachel Devery, Mary's clumsy partner in crime. The film's cast also includes Marge Redmond as math teacher Sister Liguori, Mary Wickes as gym teacher Sister Clarissa, and Portia Nelson as art teacher Sister Elizabeth.
The film was based on Jane Trahey's book Life with Mother Superior, about her own high-school years at a Catholic school near Chicago in the 1930s.
Tropes:
- Anyone Can Die: Sister Liguori dies unexpectedly.
- Boring, but Practical: In one scene the girls are all shopping for bras. There's a large table set out with a wide variety of colors, styles, and designs, and everyone is having lots of fun trying them out. Then Reverend Mother walks in, looks over the bras on the table, picks up a plain white one, and tells the clothier, "This one. Two dozen." The girls react with a Collective Groan.
- Butt-Monkey: Rachel. But more so, Marvel-Ann.
- The Cameo: None other than Gypsy Rose Lee in a small role as an interpretive dance teacher.
- Catchphrase: "I've got the most scathingly brilliant idea."
- Dark and Troubled Past: Sister Ursula, the German nun who survived the Holocaust after being caught hiding Jewish children from the Nazis outside Munich in a ruined convent's cellar.
- Deadpan Snarker: Mother Superior.(finding Sister Clarissa rescuing the girls from the pool in full habit) "How's the water, Sister?"
- Didn't Think This Through: Many of Mary's "scathingly brilliant ideas" run into this. For instance, claiming that they need to go to the bathroom in order to sneak off to spy on a rival school...something that takes them at least three hours.
- Gilligan Cut:Mary: (seeing the school) "Oh...it's positively medieval!"Rachel: "The only thing missing is the dragon."(cut to Mother Superior)
- Hilarity Ensues: The result of most of Mary's "scathingly brilliant ideas".
- Ice Queen: Mother Superior.
- The Klutz: Rachel.
- Manipulative Bastard: The Reverend Mother, but always for the most benevolent of reasons.
- Not So Above It All: After reprimanding Mary and Rachel for spying on a rival school band, Mother Superior can't resist asking what they found out.
- Nuns Are Funny: Basically the fuel for the entire movie.
- Punny Name: Mary's first idea for pranking the nuns has her and three other girls claiming fake names when they first arrive at St. Francis. While Mary opts for a celebrity alias (Kim Novak), the other three choose punny names: Fleur De Lis, Sandy Beach, and Pearl Ring. They manage to fool the nun who picks them up at the train station, but Mother Superior sees through it immediately.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Mother Superior
- Running Gag: Charlotte is always on the verge of fainting.
- Sequel: Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1968), which has Mother Superior butting heads with a younger, more progressive nun as they chaperone a group of girls on a cross-country bus trip.
- Shout-Out: Mary adopts the name of Kim Novak. In the book, it's Fay Wray.
- Stern Nun: Mother Superior.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Kate Davis and Sandy Mackie, who went along with Mary and Rachel's first prank, are not seen again for the rest of the movie. Likely they are avoiding Mary and Rachel so they won't get into more trouble.
