Heaven Can Wait (1943)'s comments

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dombrewer

It seems comical to think now that a man considers himself fit for hell for spending his life lusting after beautiful women... how far we've fallen since 1943... but Henry Van Cleve is never so bad, thanks to Don Ameche's charming performance. The hell's waiting room bookends are delightful and first hour is pacey but the latter half of the movie begins to drag as Henry becomes older and better behaved, the roster of excellent supporting characters gradually die off, and the witty script gives way to a sentimental earnestness. It was fun to discover that Henry and I share a birthday though.

11 years 9 months ago

Dieguito

Divorce Italian style is much funnier.. But I like this traditional and baroque aurea of Ernst Lubitsch movies. It's a cliche story but much better than in most Hollywood movies.

11 years 10 months ago

Ebbywebby

Softened as it went on, and I wished there had been more dialogue with "His Excellency."

2 years 5 months ago

Shazaaaam

I get tired of old Hollywood movies about male scoundrels redeemed by the love of a good women when there are so few where a female scoundrel is redeemed by the love of a good man. This would have been better off keeping the cynical tone of its beginning--something like Divorce: Italian Style.

12 years 2 months ago

Siskoid

The soul-swapping Heaven Can Wait remakes actually remade Here Comes Mr. Jordan. 1943's Heaven Can Wait has nothing to do with that, which is a little perplexing. Rather, a man (Don Ameche) recounts his entire life, from cradle to grave, to the Devil (a very kind version of him, at any rate), sure that his sin - women - warrants his skipping directly to the lower floor of the afterlife. This isn't top-tier Lubitsch, but it IS Lubitsch, so the language is often witty and ironic in a Wildean way. The passage of time is well presented, with costumes and set decorations transforming over the man's 70-year life-span (but what were they thinking with Gene Tierney's terrible hair style in her later years?). Charles Coburn steals the show as a the grandfather vicariously living through his grandson's "adventures", but there are other fun comic types. It's an unusual way to present as comedy of manners playing over decades - and amusingly non-denominational - but one might wonder if it isn't one of those Hollywood fantasies where men are exculpated of their sexual transgressions (while women are definitely not). And Signe Hasso's French maid accent - look, she's Swedish, okay? - makes her quick patter hard to understand, so there's just too much of her. Still quite amusing.

3 months 1 week ago