Claude Rains is at his mischievous best in this fantasy drama as the Devil who decides that he can use a recent arrival in his domain - gangster "Eddie" (Paul Muni) to thwart the goody-goody antics of "Judge Parker", a jurist who has aspirations to run for governor. Now "Eddie" is more than happy with his Satanic proposal and relishes the fun he can have as he takes over the body of the judge and has a whale of a time. Thing is, though, his actions actually start to enhance the reputation of the man he was sent to tarnish, and when he meets Anne Baxter ("Barbara") who is now his new-found fiancée, he rapidly starts to look like he might not be such a great choice for Old Nick after all... Both are on good form, the characters are engaging and as the worm turns, I felt a slight degree of satisfaction as his puppet master has to look on, powerless... The ending isn't great, but I suppose desserts were just all round, and I enjoyed the whole thing.
