Director: Alexander Hall
Distributor: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Top Billed Actors: Robert Montgomery, Claude Rains, Evelyn Keyes
Won 2 Oscars:
Best Screenplay - Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller
Best Original Story - Harry Segall
Nominated for 5 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Columbia
Best Director - Alexander Hall
Best Actor - Robert Montgomery
Best Supporting Actor - James Gleason
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White - Joseph Walker
Plot: An overzealous Heaven associate prematurely pulls a prize fighter's soul out of his body. To rectify the mistake, he must inhabit a new body like putting on a new overcoat.
Distributor: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Top Billed Actors: Robert Montgomery, Claude Rains, Evelyn Keyes
Won 2 Oscars:
Best Screenplay - Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller
Best Original Story - Harry Segall
Nominated for 5 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Columbia
Best Director - Alexander Hall
Best Actor - Robert Montgomery
Best Supporting Actor - James Gleason
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White - Joseph Walker
Plot: An overzealous Heaven associate prematurely pulls a prize fighter's soul out of his body. To rectify the mistake, he must inhabit a new body like putting on a new overcoat.
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) marks my fourth review in the Project this weekend so pardon me if I am running on fumes. I am attempting to maintain a pace to complete this by the 100th Awards so if I ever fall behind like I did the past two weeks, I have to cram like this weekend. Thankfully, this isn't some two plus hour serious drama. The picture is a fantasy romantic comedy, something I wouldn't expect to be nominated for Best Picture but am glad it is. The story is based off of a 1938 stage play called Heaven Can Wait. The concept of representatives from Heaven getting involved has been done in countless future films but I think with this adaptation of the play, this is is what started it all. Another interesting piece of legacy trivia is that the character played by Best Supporting Actor James Gleason, Max Corkle, will be reprised by another Best Supporting Actor performance in Heaven Can Wait (1978) by Jack Warden. There isn't much else trivia for this film other than for these future incarnations of this type of story so if Heaven can wait, so can we.
The story and the mechanics of it is the highlight of the picture. I didn't read anything about the movie before hitting play so I was surprised to see the plane take a dive and the subsequent scene in the clouds. Walking among people in New York without hearing or seeing them is a cool idea as well. It's a fun concept and although foul play is abound, this structure breeds comedic situations and the body-inhabiting ultimately leads to the crux of the film. Although the Code didn't allow for explicit mentions of predetermination, the message was loud and clear to me. If there is a question of free will vs. fate, fate wins out here. It's not something I necessarily agree with, but it's still a worthy endeavor to explore with these fantasy elements. Perhaps more will be said about this theme when the Code isn't in the way in the 1978 remake. Another aspect that works is the performances. Robert Montgomery earns his second Oscar nomination and it's a good one. I was anticipating what the new body would look like when they eventually settled on Farnsworth but I learned to enjoy the decision to keep Montgomery in the physical role for the duration of the film. He has a good rapport with Claude Rains and Gleason and can turn on the romance with Evelyn Keyes.
Although I admire the fantasy mechanisms in place what with the Heavenly associates only being visible to Montgomery's character and his body switching, I wish the film moved a little faster with the rules. Montgomery seems to take a little too long to catch on to what is happening and I felt a little frustrated that the movie kept taking the time to explain everything. I also took issue with the predetermination angle of the story. I know it is mentioned that the script couldn't explicitly say predestination is at play but it comes as close as it could when Rains makes the claim that Montgomery will definitely be the next boxing champion. I suppose I am on Team Free Will in this discourse and simply disagree with the film's premise. Still though, the idea that Montgomery is working hard at his physical training no matter what "overcoat" he has on shows that free will still plays a role. There, I talked myself into thinking this is deeper than what it seems on the surface.
Overall, the fate of Robert Montgomery's prize fighting soul takes a fun journey with fantasy, romance, and comedy. The rapport shared between the actors and the wit at play in the script make this a nice little addition to the Best Picture nominee pantheon.
My Score: 7/10
The story and the mechanics of it is the highlight of the picture. I didn't read anything about the movie before hitting play so I was surprised to see the plane take a dive and the subsequent scene in the clouds. Walking among people in New York without hearing or seeing them is a cool idea as well. It's a fun concept and although foul play is abound, this structure breeds comedic situations and the body-inhabiting ultimately leads to the crux of the film. Although the Code didn't allow for explicit mentions of predetermination, the message was loud and clear to me. If there is a question of free will vs. fate, fate wins out here. It's not something I necessarily agree with, but it's still a worthy endeavor to explore with these fantasy elements. Perhaps more will be said about this theme when the Code isn't in the way in the 1978 remake. Another aspect that works is the performances. Robert Montgomery earns his second Oscar nomination and it's a good one. I was anticipating what the new body would look like when they eventually settled on Farnsworth but I learned to enjoy the decision to keep Montgomery in the physical role for the duration of the film. He has a good rapport with Claude Rains and Gleason and can turn on the romance with Evelyn Keyes.
Although I admire the fantasy mechanisms in place what with the Heavenly associates only being visible to Montgomery's character and his body switching, I wish the film moved a little faster with the rules. Montgomery seems to take a little too long to catch on to what is happening and I felt a little frustrated that the movie kept taking the time to explain everything. I also took issue with the predetermination angle of the story. I know it is mentioned that the script couldn't explicitly say predestination is at play but it comes as close as it could when Rains makes the claim that Montgomery will definitely be the next boxing champion. I suppose I am on Team Free Will in this discourse and simply disagree with the film's premise. Still though, the idea that Montgomery is working hard at his physical training no matter what "overcoat" he has on shows that free will still plays a role. There, I talked myself into thinking this is deeper than what it seems on the surface.
Overall, the fate of Robert Montgomery's prize fighting soul takes a fun journey with fantasy, romance, and comedy. The rapport shared between the actors and the wit at play in the script make this a nice little addition to the Best Picture nominee pantheon.
My Score: 7/10