Vacation from heaven

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Movie
German title Vacation from heaven
Original title Here comes Mr. Jordan
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1941
length 91 minutes
Rod
Director Alexander Hall
script Seton I. Miller ,
Sidney Buchman
production Everett Riskin
music Friedrich Hollaender
camera Joseph Walker
cut Viola Lawrence
occupation

Vacation from Heaven (Original title: Here Comes Mr. Jordan ) is an American comedy film by director Alexander Hall from 1941 based on the play Errtum im Himmel ( Heaven Can Wait , 1938) by Harry Segall .

action

Joe Pendleton, a boxer, crashes his little machine on a pleasure flight. The angel 7013 believes that Joe will not survive the crash and - to save him pain - takes care of his soul before the crash. In the afterlife it turns out that Joe's death was a mistake. He would have survived without the angel's influence and still had 50 years ahead of him. The angel's supervisor, Mr. Jordan, orders that Joe return to his body - but in the meantime it has been cremated in the crematorium on the orders of Max Corkle, Joe's boxing manager . Now a new body is to be made available to Joe, who does not want to be cheated of his 50 years of life. Mr. Jordan explains that the body is just a shell, but Joe will stay the same through his soul as he was. Since Joe would like to continue as a boxer, it should be a physically fit one.

After a few unsuitable copies, Jordan shows Joe the body of Mr. Farnsworth, a banker who has just been drowned in his bathtub by his wife Julia and his secretary Abbott. Joe is reluctant to take over the body. But when he sees the murderous couple repulsive to the lovely Miss Logan, the daughter of a client wrongly imprisoned by Farnsworth's cheating, he chooses the body. From now on, the audience and Joe himself will continue to see the real Joe, the people in the film perceive him as Farnsworth.

Pendleton in Farnsworth's body pays off all investors and manages to get Miss Logan's father out of jail. He tells his manager Max that he is really Joe. To prove it, he plays a saxophone the bad way the real Joe did. Max trains him, and after a while he can challenge the current heavyweight champion Murdoch. Mr. Jordan warns Joe that if he, as Farnsworth, wins the title that Pendleton was supposed to win, there could be a conflict. Meanwhile, Julia and Abbott, the secretary, are planning another attempt at murder of the generous Farnsworth, although they cannot explain how he survived their previous assassination attempt. Joe as Farnsworth is shot dead by Abbott. Joe returns to the spirit world and learns from Mr. Jordan that the Farnsworth corpse has been hidden in a freezer in the basement.

Julia and Abbott now claim that Farnsworth went into hiding. Max doesn't believe that and turns on the police, who, however, don't believe his talk about angels and body changes. During an interrogation in the Farnsworth House by the inspector, Joe uses telepathic manipulation to get Max to turn on the radio. The spokesman announced that Murdoch collapsed without anyone touching him. Jordan finds out that Murdoch was shot by betting scammers so that the fight could go to his opponent. Joe takes over the body of Murdoch, whom he knows and respects, and wins the fight in that body. Since Joe, as Murdoch, has a saxophone with him again, Max knows that Joe is now performing in Murdoch's body. Joe reveals the hiding place of Farnsworth's body to Max, whereupon the police find the body in the freezer a little later. Julia and Abbott are arrested. Still as Murdoch, he fires Murdoch's corrupt manager and hires Max.

Mr. Jordan explains to Joe that this is his lot, that he can now live as Murdoch. He heals the gunshot wound and makes his memories of his previous life as Joe and his encounters with the angels disappear. Miss Logan appears, sees Murdoch and feels that they have seen each other before. She recalls that Joe, as Farnsworth, shortly before he was murdered, had told her to be kind to a boxer she was about to meet and who would remind her of him. As the two go away together, Jordan smiles to himself.

Cinema premieres

  • USA - August 7, 1941
  • Austria - November 15, 1945
  • Germany - October 18, 1946

background

Columbia Pictures originally secured the rights to Harry Segall's 1938 stage play to be adapted for the big screen with Cary Grant in the lead role. Ultimately, however, Robert Montgomery got the role. The success of the film with critics and audiences led Columbia to shoot a sequel with the film A Goddess on Earth (1947), in which Columbia's greatest star at the time, Rita Hayworth, played the leading role and which was also directed by director Alexander Hall. Actors Edward Everett Horton and James Gleason were seen again in their roles as Engel 7013 and Max Corkle, but the role of Mr. Jordan was played by Roland Culver .

Warren Beatty filmed a remake of Vacation From Heaven in 1978 under the title Heaven Should Wait . Beatty also starred, with Julie Christie as Miss Logan and James Mason as Mr. Jordan. In 2001 another remake followed under the sky and back .

James Gleason becomes the first actor to be nominated for an Oscar for a role that another actor was nominated for in a remake, in this case Jack Warden .

Reviews

Theodore Strauss of the New York Times described the film at the time as "a delicious and completely disarming joke at the expense of heaven". He is "happy, witty, loving and not a bit sensible" and thus "one of the most exquisite fantasy comedies of the year". Variety praised Robert Montgomery's performance as a “highlight” among the cast's “excellent performances”. Alexander Hall's direction kept a “high tempo” throughout.

The film service called the film "a tactful, original and lovable fantasy comedy that is as exuberant as it is romantically entertaining".

Awards

At the Oscar ceremony in 1942 , the film was in the categories of best original story (Herry Segall) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Sidney Buchman, Seton I. Miller) with the Oscar awarded. He was also nominated in the categories of Best Film , Best Director (Alexander Hall), Best Actor (Robert Montgomery), Best Supporting Actor (James Gleason) and Best Cinematography (Joseph Walker).

literature

  • Harry Segall : Error in heaven. A fantastic comedy in three acts (original title: Heaven Can Wait ). German translation and editing by Peter Hansen . Desch, Munich 1963, 112 pp. [Stage manuscript].

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cinema premieres in the IMDb
  2. ↑ “Columbia has assembled its brightest people for a delightful and totally disarming joke at heaven's expense. […] Here comes Mr. Jordan is gay, witty, tender and not a little wise. It is also one of the choicest comic fantasies of the year. " Theodore Strauss 'Here Comes Mr. Jordan,' in Which Robert Montgomery Appears, Opens at the Music Hall . In: The New York Times , August 8, 1941
  3. ↑ "Montgomery's portrait is a highlight in a group of excellent performances. […] Direction by Alexander Hall sustains a fast pace throughout. " See Review: 'Here Comes Mr. Jordan' . In: Variety , 1941.
  4. ↑ Vacation from Heaven. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 24, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used