Rent Heaven Can Wait (1943)
3.5 of 5 from 91 ratings
1h 44min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche), an aged former playboy, has died and gone to hell. But the ruler of the realm of darkness, His Excellency, isn't convinced Van Cleve's come to the right place. Henry proceeds to recount his life story, from his first real stirrings of passion with a French governess, to the wooing and winning of his beautiful wife, Martha (Gene Tierney). Yet, though deeply in love, he found it impossible to remain completely faithful, and is convinced his punishment will be an eternity of damnation. As his story unfolds, and a lifetime of love fills the screen, it's up to His Excellency to pass final judgement on Henry. Set in a beautifully rendered turn-of-the-century world of high society, the timeless theme of love vs. lust is handled with wit, taste and sophistication. - Actors:
- Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Spring Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern, Helene Reynolds, Aubrey Mather, Tod Andrews, Florence Bates, Scotty Beckett, Clara Blandick, Leonard Carey, James Conaty, Jack Deery, Claire Du Brey
- Directors:
- Ernst Lubitsch
- Producers:
- Ernst Lubitsch
- Writers:
- Samson Raphaelson, Leslie Bush-Fekete
- Others:
- Edward Cronjager
- Studio:
- 20th Century Fox
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
- Collections:
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- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- Not released
- Run Time:
- 106 minutes
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Reviews (2) of Heaven Can Wait
“Do you think I’m the kind of girl who would take a boy’s last beetle?” - Heaven Can Wait review by LJ
Boring supernatural comedy about a dead man trying to convince the Devil that he deserves to go to Hell. He should get sent to Hell for wasting everyone’s time with his lame not-evil story.
0 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Comic Fantasy. - Heaven Can Wait review by Steve
Nostalgic social comedy which was legendary director Ernst Lubitsch's only completed film in glorious Technicolor. It's a life story which begins in the 1880s and extends into the 20th Century as the boy grows up into Don Ameche, a wealthy libertine who presents at the gates of hell to explain why he deserves to be admitted.
And the irony is that the devil's receptionist (Laird Cregar) is smooth talked just like everyone in his privileged life. Mainly women. Or alternatively, that in a time of social puritanism, we feel guilt for our normal human impulses. The whole film is saturated in a woozy haze of whimsy as the newly deceased describes his misdemeanours.
Gene Tierney- as his wife- is top billed but doesn't appear in the first half hour. Ameche is handsome and she is beautiful and their opiated performances give the fantasy the resonance of a dream. Though they are upstaged by Eugene Pallette and Marjorie Main as her feuding parents and Clarence Muse as their stoical domestic help.
Some period details are now obscure. And it's a comedy with few laughs. Where it excels is the extraordinarily literate script which accumulates a momentum that elevates the whole film into poetry. It's an exercise in the art of romantic flirtation and a monument to Lubitsch's longtime screenwriter, Samson Raphaelson.
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