Main Cast: Margaret O'Brien, James Craig, Marsha Hunt, Philip Merivale, Keenan Wynn, Henry O'Neill
Release Year: 1944
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
Plot
Margaret O'Brien, MGM's newest child sensation, was given her first starring vehicle with Lost Angel. O'Brien plays Alpha, who has been groomed to be a genius by a trio of well-meaning but misguided professors (Philip Merivale, Henry O'Neill and Donald Meek). Taking pity on the reluctant prodigy, police reporter Mike Regan (James Craig) takes it upon himself to "deprogram" Alpha and transform her into a normal, healthy child. In an effort to inflate this B picture into "A" proportions by increasing the running time, the scriptwriters contrive a silly subplot involving a gang of Runyonesque gangsters (headed by the ineluctable Keenan Wynn). Margaret O'Brien's appeal may be elusive to modern viewers, but she was a proven audience favorite back in 1944. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Lynden Sparhawk - Art Director, Roy Rowland - Director, Frank E. Hull - Editor, Daniele Amfitheatrof - Composer (Music Score), Robert Surtees - Cinematographer, Robert Sisk - Producer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Helen Conway - Set Designer, Isobel Lennart - Screenwriter
Lost Angel is a 1943 film starring Margaret O'Brien as a little orphan girl raised by professors to be a genius. James Craig plays a reporter who shows her the world outside the Institute of Child Psychology.
Lost Angel was adapted as a radio play on the June 19, 1944 and October 22, 1945 broadcasts of Lux Radio Theater and the December 18, 1946 broadcast of Academy Award Theater, each starring Margaret O'Brien.
