maltvaterexpensivebeingpunk Thankfully, nothing to do with the awful 80's movie with the same name, starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. This is one of the finest comedies, criminally overlooked. A young Don Ameche and the beautiful Gene Tierney are both fabulous in the lead roles, in fact, they're one of the finest screen couples in film history. In an overall good cast, Charles Coburn and Eugene Palette, both great (comedy-)actors of their time (sadly, overlooked too), stand out particularly. Like many other Lubitsch-comedies, the clever plot and witty dialogue, are well ahead of its time. Trivia: The screenplay was based on the play 'Birthday' by Leslie Bush- Fekete.

Sergeant_Tibbs It's a shame that Heaven Can Wait doesn't live up to its initial premise because it starts on such an interesting and deliciously sardonic note. It still has its delights and certainly makes up for it in some accounts but isn't as great as it could've been. Despite plenty of lavish and colourful production design to enjoy, the film is a series of scattered and unfocused vignettes in the life of the character, played animatedly by Don Ameche, who's ever a delight here. Each scene does eventually have an interesting point, if depressing, about love, infatuation and relationships, but it doesn't feel like it connects to its framing device enough to be justified. You don't feel the warmth of the connection to a character and instead you're just watching trivial but often interesting drama. Perhaps that's the point that the film is trying to make about life. Only Lubitsch can make films this earnest and accessible.8/10

rdolan9007 Heaven can wait is a fine film in the Lubitsch canon, and is actually a very high quality melodrama masked by a very witty script. It's is the story of Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche) who wants to persuade Satan (Laird Cregar, who is superlatively smooth in the role) to let him go to Hell. On the surface his conduct, during times in his life, might qualify for it, and yet as the story is revealed, this is far from the whole story. He is shown, flaws and all, to be a basically decent guy, whose main 'sin' might be to enjoy life a little to much. He is remorseful about his turbulent relationship with Martha(Gene Tierney) and falling in love with a nurse after she dies. Yet this relationship is contrasted with the relationship Martha would most likely have had, if she had married the coldest of cold fish, his cousin Albert. So despite the marriage of Martha and Henry Van Cleve having its ups and downs, it is shown to be full of life and love. The other Marriages in the film are shown to be straight-laced and at times stullifyingly so, especially the Strable's Marriage. They are the parents of Martha, and are on practically non-existent speaking terms. This difficult material might not seem to fit in with a wry script, but Lubistch's direction makes the change in tone, when required, seem natural and unforced. There are very dark moments in the film. The death of Martha, and Henry Van Cleve(chillingly) paying his son's girlfriend not to see his son anymore, are perhaps the darkest. Those scenes are handled with a very deft touch however, showing the subtlety and skill of Lubitsch in dealing with both the comic and the bleak.There are unintentionally disturbing scenes when you notice all the servants in the Strable's household, are probably chosen by the director because they are black. One female servant is a particularly controversial racial stereotype. These elements are not I think designed to be any more racist than the mores of the time, would have accepted as normal. Yet they do make for uncomfortable viewing and it would I think be wrong not to mention those scenes do exist.The film aside from those misgivings is a film which surprisingly for a great film doesn't have all that much great acting in it. There are two notable exceptions. The first and already stated above, the relatively minor role of Lairg Cregar as Satan. The second is Henry's uncle(Hugo)played by Charles Colborn who has the wittiest lines, and delivers them all pretty much faultlessly. The leads are good enough, yet Gene Tierney strangely lacks charisma in the role of Martha. A year later for instance in the film Laura she is nothing but charisma and chic. She, however, doesn't seem entirely at ease in the Martha role; although not enough to detract from the film as a whole.The film does on the plus-side benefit from what seems paradoxical; the aged and faded lushness of its colours. This creates a nostalgic atmosphere when watching the film which I think adds something of an extra quality to the film.There are as I have said small flaws in the film, meaning it may not be quite as fondly remembered by some as Gone with the wind, Casablanca or Wizard of Oz. It is however not far behind those illustrious films in overall quality. A very good couple of hour's entertainment.

mark.waltz Don Ameche's Henry has gone to hell. No, this isn't the hell of fire and damnation. Not yet. That will have to wait. He's meeting with the head man (Laird Cregar), who looks like our rendition of Satan, but is suave, cool, and willing to listen. That is until a brief acquaintance's of Ameche's comes into the room unwelcome. With the push of a button, Cregar takes care of this pest (played delightfully by the grand Florence Bates) and Ameche is able to tell his story of why he thinks he's in hell.Young Henry was fought over by women from the day he was born. His mother (Spring Byington) and paternal grandmother (Clara Blandick) each wanted to smother him with love without the other around, and as he grew up (teenager Dickie Moore), that continued. A French nurse shows him about life while his prim and proper cousin gets more and more prissy, growing up to be Ameche's rival (Allyn Joslyn). Ameche does further damage by walking off (or really running off) with the pretty Gene Tierney (engaged to Joslyn), humorously sired by Marjorie Main and Eugene Palette, playing a wealthy country bumpkin couple who hate each other. All the while, Ameche gains the wisdom of life and his sense of humor from his delightful grandfather (Charles Coburn) who helps him win Tierney back (from Joslyn again!) when their marriage goes sour. As Ameche ages, he finds himself at the beck and call of the next generation, never loosing his attraction for younger members of the opposite sex, and prepares for his entrance into the next world, certain he has made a failure of his life.The Dante's Inferno feel of this slightly black comedy sets it up with a lot of questions. Henry only ends up in hell because he feels he belongs there, having been told to go there a number of times, and being told by grandpa that if he came to heaven, grandpa would be waiting for him with a baseball bat. Of course, grandpa was just joking, later seen on a spree with Ameche to get his beautiful wife back.There is a delightful sophisticated look to this Technicolor comedy with everybody dressed to the nines and reciting a lot of humorous dialog. If Coburn hadn't won the Oscar for the same year's "The More The Merrier", he would have been a front-runner for this one, his old codger a forerunner to his delightful "Piggy" from "Gentleman Prefer Blondes". The scene at Main and Palette's country home hysterically shows them badgering the butler, Jasper, to speak for each of them, fighting over Sunday's comics and Main enjoying spoiling one of the weekly serials as she makes sure Palette overhears each thing she tells Jasper. Every detail of this film sparkles. For example, at a family reunion, there is a delightful impromptuness of the family portrait with certain members being photographed in embarrassing poses, and then towards the end, the two different looking nurses who pass by each other offscreen, greet each other, each one of them looking into the hall mirror with different reflections staring back at them.Ameche is perfectly cast, playing a slightly younger variation of William Powell and enjoying every moment he is on screen. Tierney, not yet the siren of "Laura" or "Leave Her to Heaven", is a vision of breathtaking beauty and seems to be parodying her crimson goddess role. The subject of death is presented gently, and the transition from one world to another filled with such peace, that there is no macabre detailing to the theme, just a simple passing from one world to the next, as if each of these aging characters had simply left town.