From Hell to Heaven (1933)

Director:

Erle C. Kenton

Writers:

Sidney Buchman (writer)
Lawrence Hazard (play) (story)

Release Date:

24 February 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The various residents and occupants of a resort hotel await the outcome of a horse race at a nearby track, as it will affect each of their lives in different ways. . |

Plot Keywords:

Hotel | Horse | Beautiful Woman | Racing | Based On Play

Cast

Carole Lombard	...	Colly Tanner
Jack Oakie	...	Charlie Bayne
Adrienne Ames	...	Joan Burt
David Manners	...	Wesley Burt
Sidney Blackmer	...	Cliff Billings
Verna Hillie	...	Sonnie Lockwood
James Eagles	...	Tommy Tucker
Shirley Grey	...	Winnie Lloyd
Bradley Page	...	Jack Ruby
Walter Walker	...	Pop Lockwood
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Berton Churchill	...	Toledo Jones
Cecil Cunningham	...	Mrs. Chadman
Rita La Roy	...	Elsie
Clarence Muse	...	Sam
Nydia Westman	...	Sue Wells

Runtime:

67 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Paramount's response to MGM's highly successful Grand Hotel (1932)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 29th Telluride Film Festival Aug. 30 - Sept. 2, 2002: Terry Gilliam Interviewed by Salman Rushdie (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Please

Good effort to keep viewer's interest with multiple story-lines.

This film started out slowly and I was expecting a real stinker. However, each and every story-line as it developed caught my interest and sympathy. Carole Lombard's part here is very small and she is perhaps the least interesting character of them all. I must admit, there may be something I'm missing because the excellent print that I viewed was 51 minutes long and the documentation says it should be 70 minutes in length. Jack Oakie's part as the announcer at the track was very smooth and entertaining. He brings a little comic relief. It was nice to see Sidney Blackmer from the Cary Grant movie "People will Talk" and an episode of "The Outer Limits" as Lombard's love interest. Each couple bets on a different horse in the race and I really was on edge to see who of the many likable characters would win. The innovative scene at the track where the camera is placed on a long boom which swings in and out at different locations in the stands and focuses on one couple at a time is interesting if not dizzying.