Heaven Only Knows (1947)

Also released as Montana Mike Heaven Only Knows is an offbeat western with fantasy overtones Hardbitten gambling boss Brian Donlevy rules his frontier community with brawn and bullets To his dismay Donlevy discovers that he has a guardian angel Robert Cummings who shows up in the guise of an Eastern tenderfoot The angel has been sent from Above to save Donlevys soul and to that end encourages the onetime villain to squire a ministers daughter Jorja Curtwright rather than his usual dancehall girls Donlevy is also given tips on winning against his enemies without resorting to gunplay The gambler finally redeems himself with Heaven by rescuing the angel from a lynch mob how can you lynch an angel Heaven Only Knows deserves an E for Effort for bringing a fresh twist to the venerable western genre