Don Goes to the Devil

Heaven Can Wait (1943) tells in flashback the life of Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche). After his death, Henry heads directly to Hell, where he meets with His Excellency (Laird Cregar). His Excellency is puzzled as to why Henry is there (he's a bit behind, due to the level of arrivals), and queries Henry on his reason for not heading first to  The Other Place (as most arrivals do). For one thing, His Excellency notes, the quality of the music is far better in The Other Place (Mozart and Beethoven are there!).  But Henry, who was a bit of a rapscallion in life, relates his story to explain why he didn't bother trying to obtain entry upstairs.

There is often some confusion between this film and the 1978 film with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. That was indeed a remake, but its plot was taken from the Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941).  This story is a much simpler one, concerned with a man, his family, and their lives in turn-of-the-century New York City. Directed by Ernst Lubitsch with his tongue firmly embedded in his cheek, this is an amusing, slightly suggestive film that is always entertaining. Sure, in the 21st Century, it is a trifle sexist - Martha Strable Van Cleve (Gene Tierney) is off-handedly equated with her father's symbolic cow, Mabel by Grandfather Hugo Van Cleve (Charles Coburn) when Martha and Henry elope (We'll take Martha/You keep Mabel). But, in the final analysis, Martha is the backbone of the family, and much wiser than her mother-in-law, Bertha (Spring Byington) or her mother Mrs. Strabel (Marjorie Main) - or her husband, for that matter!

Several performances really shine in Heaven Can Wait, but none more than that of Charles Coburn. A remarkable character actor who coulc play anything, he is superb as Grandfather Hugo. With that little bit of a twinkle in his eye, you know from the start just where Henry "got it from." Mr. Coburn was already 60 when he began his film career. He had worked on the Broadway stage - beginning in 1901, he would appear in and/or produce 28 plays. He had formed his own theatrical company with his business and acting partner  - and wife - Ivah Wills Coburn. It was after Ivah's death in 1937 that he ventured permanently to Hollywood (he would return to Broadway in 1952, to produce The Long Watch). In the years between 1933 (he filmed a short that year, and a film in 1935) and his death in 1961, he appeared in 99 films and television shows (as well as occasional radio programs). Among his exceptional performances are The More the Merrier (1943), Bachelor Mother (1939), King's Row (1942), and In Name Only (1939). He was (sadly) an advocate of segregation, and a member of both the White Citizens' Council and the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (a right-wing, anti-Communist group in the 1950s). He married a second time at age 82 and fathered a daughter. He died of a heart attack at the age of 84.

Director Lubitsch was reluctant to use Don Ameche in the part of Henry - he had wanted Fredric March or Rex Harrison (AFI Catalog). But Ameche's screen test proved him perfect for the role, and Lubitsch reluctantly agreed (TCM article). Reginald Gardiner was considered for the role of Albert (which would eventually go to Allyn Joslyn), and Simone Simon was set to play Mademoiselle (Signe Hasso would take on the part when Simon's billing demands were not met).

Bosley Crowther, in his New York Times review was reasonably pleased with the film. Regardless, it has been acknowledged as a classic, discussed by Richard Brody in the New Yorker, who calls it a story of "riotous, uninhibited love." Senses of Cinema calls it "a commentary on marriage, an appreciation for love and dedication, and belongs firmly in Lubitsch’s canon alongside One Hour With You (1932)."

All in all, Heaven Can Wait, is a lovely, wry, and witty film, well worth your viewing. I'll leave you with this interview between Henry and His Excellency, as they discuss the musical options in Hell.