Heaven Can Wait (1943 film)

For other uses, see Heaven Can Wait (disambiguation).

Heaven Can Wait
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Ernst Lubitsch
Written by	Samson Raphaelson
Based on	Birthday/Születésnap 1934 play by Ladislaus Bus-Fekete
Produced by	Ernst Lubitsch
Starring	Gene Tierney Don Ameche Charles Coburn
Narrated by	Don Ameche
Cinematography	Edward Cronjager
Edited by	Dorothy Spencer
Music by	Alfred Newman
Production company	20th Century Fox
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	August 11, 1943 (1943-08-11)
Running time	112 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,115,400
Box office	$2.5 million (rentals) or $2.8 million (US rentals) $3,963,600

Heaven Can Wait is a 1943 Technicolor American supernatural comedy film produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The screenplay was by Samson Raphaelson based on the play Birthday by Ladislaus Bus-Fekete. The music score was by Alfred Newman and the cinematography by Edward Cronjager.

The film tells the story of a man who has to prove he belongs in Hell by telling his life story. It stars Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, and Charles Coburn. The supporting cast includes Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Spring Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern, Tod Andrews, and Clara Blandick.

The film has no connection to the fantasy-based stage play of the same title that was adapted as the film Here Comes Mr. Jordan (itself also a Best Picture nominee), nor remakes of Mr. Jordan using the play's original title, including the 1978 film, Heaven Can Wait.

Plot

An aged Henry Van Cleve enters the opulent reception area of "where innumerable people had told him so often to go", to be personally greeted by "His Excellency". Henry petitions to be admitted (fully aware of the kind of life he has led), but some doubt exists as to his qualifications. To prove his worthiness (or rather unworthiness), he begins to tell the story of his dissolute life.

Born in Manhattan on October 25, 1872, Henry is the spoiled only child of stuffy, naive, wealthy parents Randolph and Bertha. His paternal grandmother is also doting and naive, although his down-to-earth grandfather Hugo Van Cleve, a self-made millionaire, understands Henry quite well. Henry grows up to be an idle young man with a taste for attractive showgirls. One day, Henry overhears a beautiful woman lying to her mother on a public telephone. Intrigued, he follows her into a Brentano's bookstore and pretends to be an employee to get to know her better. Despite learning that she is engaged to marry, he begins making advances, finally confessing he does not work there, whereupon she hastily departs.

Later, his obnoxious cousin Albert introduces the family to his fiancée, Martha, and her feuding parents, the Strables. Henry is shocked to find that his mystery woman and Martha are one and the same. It turns out that Albert was the first suitor of whom both her parents approved. Fearful of spending the rest of her life as a spinster in Kansas City, Martha agreed to marry him. Henry convinces her to elope with him instead. Though everyone except Grandpa Van Cleve is scandalized, eventually they are received back into the family.

Henry and Martha enjoy a happy marriage and become the proud parents of a boy. On the eve of their tenth anniversary, however, Martha finds out about what appears to be Henry's continuing dalliances with other women and goes back to her parents. Henry and Grandpa follow her there. Sneaking into the Strable house, Henry corrects the misunderstanding, begs her forgiveness, and talks her into "eloping" a second time, much to Grandpa's delight.

Fifteen years later, Henry meets chorus girl Peggy Nash in her dressing room shortly before her performance. What seems to be an attempt at courtship is soon revealed as an attempt by Henry to turn her away from his son, Jack, who has been dating her. When Peggy reveals her knowledge of his true identity, Henry buys her off, instead, for $25,000 (equivalent to about $380,000 in 2023). Jack later reveals he was glad to have got rid of her so easily.

Martha passes away shortly after their 25th anniversary. Henry resumes an active social life much to the amusement of his son. On October 26, 1942, the day after his 70th birthday, Henry dies under the care of a beautiful nurse, her coming having been portended in a dream. After hearing Henry's story, His Excellency denies him entry and suggests he try the "other place", where Martha and his grandfather are waiting for him, hinting that there may be "a small room vacant in the annex".

Cast

• Gene Tierney as Martha
• Don Ameche as Henry Van Cleve
• Charles Coburn as Hugo Van Cleve
• Marjorie Main as Mrs. Strable
• Laird Cregar as His Excellency
• Spring Byington as Bertha Van Cleve
• Allyn Joslyn as Albert Van Cleve
• Eugene Pallette as E.F. Strable
• Signe Hasso as Mademoiselle
• Louis Calhern as Randolph Van Cleve
• Helene Reynolds as Peggy Nash
• Aubrey Mather as James
• Tod Andrews as Jack Van Cleve (as Michael Ames)
• Scotty Beckett as Henry Van Cleve, age 9
• Dickie Moore as Henry Van Cleve, age 15
• Dick Jones as Albert, age 15
• Clara Blandick as Grandmother Van Cleve
• Clarence Muse as Jasper, the Strables' butler
• Anita Sharp-Bolster as Mrs. Cooper-Cooper
• Florence Bates as Edna Craig
• Doris Merrick as Nellie Brown - Registered Night Nurse
• Edwin Maxwell as Doctor (uncredited)

Reception

A contemporary review by Bosley Crowther in The New York Times described the film as "certainly one you'll want to see" and "a comedy of manners, edged with satire, in the slickest Lubitsch style" that "is poking very sly and sentimental fun at Eighteen Nineties naughtiness," adding that although the "picture has utterly no significance. Indeed, it has very little point, except to afford entertainment [...] it does [that] quite well." The review also notes that "Don Ameche and Gene Tierney are flat in the roles. Or rather, they lack the flexibility which such mannered comedy demands." A review of the film in Variety reported that it features "generous slices of comedy, skillfully handled by producer-director Ernst Lubitsch [who] has endowed it with light, amusing sophistication and heart-warming nostalgia," noting that "Charles Coburn as the fond grandfather [...] walks away with the early sequences in a terrific comedy performance." Writing in Turner Classic Movies, critic David Kalat described the film as "a representative example of its time: It's a costume drama that luxuriates in period detail" and "a character study told with inventive narrative techniques and non-chronological structure."

The film made a profit of $1,286,200.

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
Academy Awards	Outstanding Motion Picture	Ernst Lubitsch	Nominated
	Best Director		Nominated
	Best Cinematography – Color	Edward Cronjager	Nominated
Hugo Awards	Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form	Samson Raphaelson and Ernst Lubitsch	Won
Photoplay Awards	Best Performances of the Month (September)	Gene Tierney and Don Ameche	Won

Preservation

Heaven Can Wait was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2015.

See also

• List of films about angels

External links

• Heaven Can Wait at IMDb 
• Heaven Can Wait at the TCM Movie Database
• Heaven Can Wait at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Heaven Can Wait at Rotten Tomatoes
• Heaven Can Wait at Box Office Mojo
• Heaven Can Wait: The Simple Act of Living an essay by William Paul at the Criterion Collection
• Bowman, James. Diary of June 29, 2011 introductory address on the film

Streaming audio

• Heaven Can Wait on Lux Radio Theater: October 11, 1943
• Heaven Can Wait on Screen Guild Theater: May 7, 1945
• Heaven Can Wait on Theater of Romance: August 21, 1945