Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Allissa .Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

dzoppoli-58001 I give this a 10 because I love both of these actors, but I hate the story. Why would anyone put Stewart through all of this when Sullavan loves Pidgeon? This is terrible. I recently began looking for Margaret's films and since I love both of these actors, this was the next choice. I've already seen the magnificent Shop Around the Corner. This was unbelievable! Why would anyone write a story where Jimmy Stewart is taken advantage of? I know he loved Sullavan in real life, so I can see that coming through. Maybe I'm rambling, but this film has really affected me. This is the very first review I've ever given so you can imagine what it took to get me here. Anyway, I still LOVE MS and JS. Love live both of them in my heart.

James Hitchcock In 1917, following America's entry into World War I, a young soldier named Bill Pettigrew meets Daisy Heath, a famous Broadway actress. In order to impress his army buddies, Bill pretends that Daisy is his girlfriend, even though they are only casual acquaintances. They do not believe him, and hoping to expose his deception take him to see the play in which Daisy is appearing so that he can introduce them at the stage door. To their discomfiture, however, Daisy decides to go along with Bill's story and pretends to be his girl. Bill and Daisy begin to spend more time together, and he falls deeply in love with her. There is, however, a complication in that Daisy already has a boyfriend, Sam, who becomes increasingly jealous of her friendship with Bill.For most of its length, "The Shopworn Angel" resembles a romantic comedy, the sort with a storyline about two very different men in love with the same girl. I suspect that a few years later, following America's entry into World War II, it would have been made as such with Bill, the simple but patriotic young farm boy, returning from the war a hero to claim Daisy's hand ahead of the wealthy, cynical Sam. (Although Sam is of military age, he seems keen to avoid serving in the forces). In 1938, however, most Americans were keen to avoid involvement in the looming European conflict, and a film which took an overtly patriotic approach to war might not have done well at the box-office.The mood of the film therefore changes abruptly at the end from one of romantic comedy to one of tear-jerking melodrama. Although Daisy is in love with Sam, she marries Bill immediately before his departure for France, in the belief that this will give him a brief period of happiness. Ah well, you've got to be kind to be cruel. Daisy and Sam never seem to have considered what might have happened if Bill had returned from the war alive. When he is killed, they both seem heartbroken, although my rather cynical thought was that his death was actually a rather convenient way out for them. "Broadway Star Greets Returning Hero with Divorce Papers" is not the sort of headline that would have done much for Daisy's career.The fact that Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart made four films together in as many years suggests that someone obviously thought them a good screen couple. They were to be good in "The Shop Around the Corner" (I have never seen their other two films, "Next Time We Love" and "The Mortal Storm"), but here there is no chemistry between them at all. Sullavan's Daisy comes across as patently insincere, and Bill as a complete booby for believing that she could possibly be in love with him. (Bill, incidentally, is supposed to be from Texas, something stressed several times in the dialogue, but Stewart, a native of Pennsylvania, makes no attempt at a Texan accent, sounding exactly the same as he does in all his other films). Stewart was actually a year older than Sullavan, and it might have been better had a younger actor been cast as Bill to emphasise the contrast between the naive young soldier and the more mature, worldly-wise actress.Like another reviewer, I was struck by the lack of effort to give the film a period feel; the clothes and hairstyles are much more those of the 1930s than of the 1910s. These things changed more quickly in the early twentieth century that they do today; there would have been a much greater difference between the fashions of 1917 and 1938 than between those of 1991 and 2012.I must admit that this film was largely a disappointment to me. James Stewart made some of his best films in the late thirties and early forties ("Mr Smith Goes to Washington", "Destry Rides Again", "The Philadelphia Story"), but "The Shopworn Angel" is not in the same class. Indeed, with its corny, sentimental story, its sub-standard acting and its abrupt change of mood near the end it must rate as the weakest of his films which I have seen. 4/10

whpratt1 This is a great Classic film with great actors like James Stewart,(Pvt. William Pettigrew),"The F.B.I. Story",'59,who was very young in this picture and played a love sick soldier going to fight in WW1. Pvt. Pettigrew met Margaret Sullivan,(Daisy Heath),"The Mortal Storm",'40, a show gal who had a kind heart and some what fell in love with him even though she liked Walter Pidgeon(Sam Bailey),"The Bad & the Beautiful",'52, Sam stood by and watched the young couple go dating and enjoying themselves in Luna Park, Coney Island, N.Y. Amusement Park. Hattie McDaniel (Martha, Daisy's Maid),"Gone With the Wind",'39, who had a brief supporting role, gave a great performance and a few laughs. There was a musical scene during the film where Margaret Sullivan sings and dances to an audience of soldiers and sang,"Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag & Smile Smile Smile",which was an old time song sung during WWI. If you like an old Classic Film from 1938, and loved James Stewart when he was very young, this is the film for you!

lindee This film let's you use your imagination James Stewart made this film even though he has not got a very big part remember in the film he is a long way from home no friends and off to war and the twist in the film make it clear and the way the song pack up your troubles was put across if this film was made today that song would have the number one slot for sure