Heaven Can Wait (1943 film)

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For other uses, see Heaven Can Wait (disambiguation).

Heaven Can Wait
Theatrical poster
Directed byErnst Lubitsch
Written bySamson Raphaelson
Based onBirthday/Születésnap
1934 play
by Ladislaus Bus-Fekete
Produced byErnst Lubitsch
Starring
Narrated byDon Ameche
CinematographyEdward Cronjager
Edited byDorothy Spencer
Music byAlfred Newman
Production
company
20th Century Fox
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • August 11, 1943 (1943-08-11)
Running time
112 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,115,400[1][2]
Box office
  • $2.5 million (rentals)[3] or $2.8 million (US rentals)[4]
  • $3,963,600[2]

Heaven Can Wait is a 1943 Technicolor American supernatural comedy film produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The screenplay was by Samson Raphaelson based on the play Birthday by Ladislaus Bus-Fekete. The music score was by Alfred Newman and the cinematography by Edward Cronjager.

The film tells the story of a man who has to prove he belongs in Hell by telling his life story. It stars Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, and Charles Coburn. The supporting cast includes Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Spring Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern, Tod Andrews, and Clara Blandick.

The film has no connection to the fantasy-based stage play of the same title that was adapted as the film Here Comes Mr. Jordan (itself also a Best Picture nominee), nor remakes of Mr. Jordan using the play's original title, including the 1978 film, Heaven Can Wait.

Plot

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An aged Henry Van Cleve enters the opulent reception area of "where innumerable people had told him so often to go", to be personally greeted by "His Excellency". Henry petitions to be admitted (fully aware of the kind of life he has led), but some doubt exists as to his qualifications. To prove his worthiness (or rather unworthiness), he begins to tell the story of his dissolute life.

Born in Manhattan on October 25, 1872, Henry is the spoiled only child of stuffy, naive, wealthy parents Randolph and Bertha. His paternal grandmother is also doting and naive, although his down-to-earth grandfather Hugo Van Cleve, a self-made millionaire, understands Henry quite well. Henry grows up to be an idle young man with a taste for attractive showgirls. One day, Henry overhears a beautiful woman lying to her mother on a public telephone. Intrigued, he follows her into a Brentano's bookstore and pretends to be an employee to get to know her better. Despite learning that she is engaged to marry, he begins making advances, finally confessing he does not work there, whereupon she hastily departs.

Later, his obnoxious cousin Albert introduces the family to his fiancée, Martha, and her feuding parents, the Strables. Henry is shocked to find that his mystery woman and Martha are one and the same. It turns out that Albert was the first suitor of whom both her parents approved. Fearful of spending the rest of her life as a spinster in Kansas City, Martha agreed to marry him. Henry convinces her to elope with him instead. Though everyone except Grandpa Van Cleve is scandalized, eventually they are received back into the family.

Henry and Martha enjoy a happy marriage and become the proud parents of a boy. On the eve of their tenth anniversary, however, Martha finds out about what appears to be Henry's continuing dalliances with other women and goes back to her parents. Henry and Grandpa follow her there. Sneaking into the Strable house, Henry corrects the misunderstanding, begs her forgiveness, and talks her into "eloping" a second time, much to Grandpa's delight.

Fifteen years later, Henry meets chorus girl Peggy Nash in her dressing room shortly before her performance. What seems to be an attempt at courtship is soon revealed as an attempt by Henry to turn her away from his son, Jack, who has been dating her. When Peggy reveals her knowledge of his true identity, Henry buys her off, instead, for $25,000 (equivalent to about $380,000 in 2023). Jack later reveals he was glad to have got rid of her so easily.

Martha passes away shortly after their 25th anniversary. Henry resumes an active social life much to the amusement of his son. On October 26, 1942, the day after his 70th birthday, Henry dies under the care of a beautiful nurse, her coming having been portended in a dream. After hearing Henry's story, His Excellency denies him entry and suggests he try the "other place", where Martha and his grandfather are waiting for him, hinting that there may be "a small room vacant in the annex".

Cast

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Reception

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A contemporary review by Bosley Crowther in The New York Times described the film as "certainly one you'll want to see" and "a comedy of manners, edged with satire, in the slickest Lubitsch style" that "is poking very sly and sentimental fun at Eighteen Nineties naughtiness," adding that although the "picture has utterly no significance. Indeed, it has very little point, except to afford entertainment [...] it does [that] quite well." The review also notes that "Don Ameche and Gene Tierney are flat in the roles. Or rather, they lack the flexibility which such mannered comedy demands."[5] A review of the film in Variety reported that it features "generous slices of comedy, skillfully handled by producer-director Ernst Lubitsch [who] has endowed it with light, amusing sophistication and heart-warming nostalgia," noting that "Charles Coburn as the fond grandfather [...] walks away with the early sequences in a terrific comedy performance."[6] Writing in Turner Classic Movies, critic David Kalat described the film as "a representative example of its time: It's a costume drama that luxuriates in period detail" and "a character study told with inventive narrative techniques and non-chronological structure."[7]

The film made a profit of $1,286,200.[2]

Awards and nominations

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Award Category Nominee(s) Result
Academy Awards[8] Outstanding Motion Picture Ernst Lubitsch Nominated
Best Director Nominated
Best Cinematography – Color Edward Cronjager Nominated
Hugo Awards[9] Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form Samson Raphaelson and Ernst Lubitsch Won
Photoplay Awards Best Performances of the Month (September) Gene Tierney and Don Ameche Won

Preservation

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Heaven Can Wait was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2015.[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Solomon, Aubrey (1989). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, p. 241, ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1.
  2. ^ a b c Mank, Gregory William (2018). Laird Cregar: A Hollywood Tragedy. McFarland.
  3. ^ Solomon, Aubrey (1989). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, p. 220, ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1.
  4. ^ "Top Grossers of the Season", Variety, January 5, 1944, p 54
  5. ^ Crowther, Bosley (August 12, 1943). "THE SCREEN; ' Heaven Can Wait,' an Amusing Comedy of Manners, With Don Ameche, Gene Tierey and Charles Coburn, Opens at Roxy". The New York Times. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  6. ^ "Heaven Can Wait". Variety. Variety Media, LLC. December 31, 1942. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  7. ^ Kalat, David. "Heaven Can Wait (1943)". Turner Classic Movies. Turner Classic Movies, Inc. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  8. ^ "The 16th Academy Awards (1944) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on October 14, 2013. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  9. ^ "1944 Retro-Hugo Awards Announced". The Hugo Awards. August 15, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  10. ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.
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Streaming audio

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