Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)

Popularity:

Down 9% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Alexander Hall

Writers:

Sidney Buchman (screen play) &
Seton I. Miller (screen play) ...
(more)

Release Date:

18 October 1946 (Germany)

Genre:

Fantasy | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

A picture different from anything ever screened before!

Plot:

Boxer Joe Pendleton dies 50 years too soon due to a heavenly mistake, and is given a new life as a millionaire playboy.

Plot Keywords:

Boxer | Secretary | Millionaire | Mistake | Manager

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Robert Montgomery	...	Joe Pendleton
Evelyn Keyes	...	Bette Logan
Claude Rains	...	Mr.Jordan
Rita Johnson	...	Julia Farnsworth
Edward Everett Horton	...	Messenger 7013
James Gleason	...	Max Corkle
John Emery	...	Tony Abbott
Donald MacBride	...	Inspector Williams
Don Costello	...	Lefty
Halliwell Hobbes	...	Sisk
Benny Rubin	...	Bugs
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Warren Ashe	...	Charlie (uncredited)
Lloyd Bridges	...	Sloan - Co-pilot of Plane #22 (uncredited)
Eddie Bruce	...	Reporter (uncredited)
James Carlisle	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Ken Christy	...	Chuck - Plainclothesman (uncredited)
Chester Conklin	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
Heinie Conklin	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Joe Conti	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
Maurice Costello	...	Ringsider at Fight (uncredited)
Joseph Crehan	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Mary Currier	...	Secretary (uncredited)
Billy Dawson	...	Johnny - Young Fan (uncredited)
Edmund Elton	...	Elderly Man (uncredited)
William Forrest	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Tom Hanlon	...	Fight Announcer (uncredited)
Theresa Harris	...	Mother Listening to Hurdy-gurdy (uncredited)
Joe Hickey	...	Lou Gilbert - Fighter (uncredited)
John Ince	...	Bill Collector (uncredited)
Selmer Jackson	...	Board Member (uncredited)
John Kerns	...	Sparring Partner (uncredited)
Bobby Larson	...	Chips (uncredited)
Carl M. Leviness	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Max Linder	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Philo McCullough	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Hans Moebus	...	Boxing Match Spectator (uncredited)
Sol Murgi	...	Boxing Match Spectator (uncredited)
William Newell	...	Murdoch Handler (uncredited)
Jack Perry	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Gerald Pierce	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
Cyril Ring	...	Board Member (uncredited)
John Rogers	...	Escort (uncredited)
Abe Roth	...	Referee (uncredited)
Scott Seaton	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Charles Seel	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Larry Wheat	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Douglas Wood	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Bert Young	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)

Directed by
Alexander Hall

Writing credits
Sidney Buchman		(screen play) &
Seton I. Miller		(screen play)
Harry Segall		(from the play: "Heaven Can Wait")

Produced by
Everett Riskin	....	producer

Original Music by
Friedrich Hollaender		(as Frederick Hollander)

Cinematography by
Joseph Walker		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Viola Lawrence		(film editor)

Art Direction by
Lionel Banks

Costume Design by
Edith Head		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Robert J. Schiffer	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William Mull	....	assistant director

Sound Department
George Cooper	....	sound (uncredited)

Music Department
Morris Stoloff	....	musical director (as M.W. Stoloff)
Sidney Cutner	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Paul Schoop	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)

Other crew
Tommy Garland	....	stand-in: Robert Montgomery (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (presents)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1941) (USA) (theatrical) (as Columbia)
• Columbia Pictures Corporation (1941) (UK) (theatrical)
• Columbia (1942) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Adlon Filmi (1946) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1963) (Finland) (TV)
• Criterion Collection, The (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Nordic (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2009) (Germany) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2016) (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (199?) (UK) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Epoca (????) (Argentina) (VHS)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | Netherlands:AL | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (tv rating) | UK:U (video rating) (1992) (2007) | USA:TV-G | USA:Approved (PCA #7409)

Filming Locations:

Providencia Ranch, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Columbia chief Harry Cohn had serious misgivings about this adaptation of Harry Segall's minor stage play. He preferred to reserve his more lavish budgets for surefire successes (i.e., anything featuring the studio's biggest star, Rita Hayworth). However, Sidney Buchman was eventually able to talk Cohn into forking out for costly celestial sets and Farnsworth's elaborate mansion and also into hiring Robert Montgomery on loan-out from MGM. Buchman was also able to convince Cohn that he had a better appreciation of what the public would pay to see than the Wall Street bankers who Cohn answered to.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Just before Joe Pendleton and the messenger arrive at Joe's apartment, looking for his body, they pass a woman coming from the other direction. She moves her shoulder back and to the left to let Joe pass and also steals a quick glance at him. According to the messenger's comments just a moment later, neither he nor Joe can be seen or heard, so the woman should not have moved to let them pass or noticed them at all.

Quotes:

Joe Pendleton:I don't want anybody's body. I want my body!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Night at the Movies: George Lucas and the World of Fantasy Cinema (2014) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Last Rose of Summer

Fulfilling Your Destiny

For his second of two Oscar nominations Robert Montgomery was loaned to Columbia Pictures for Here Comes Mr. Jordan, a very charming fantasy about a man who fulfills his destiny in many different ways in many different bodies.

I'm not sure how theologically sound this is, but apparently they make mistakes in heaven. Of course when you've got a new heavenly retriever on the job like Edward Everett Horton anything is possible.

He snatches prize fighter Robert Montgomery from a private plane that's about to crash. Only problem is that Montgomery wasn't supposed to die in the crash. What to do, send for Claude Rains in the title role as the heavenly fixer, Mr. Jordan.

Montgomery goes through two different bodies after that in an effort to give him the life span that the heavenly records are supposed to have for him. In one of those guises he meets Evelyn Keyes for whom he falls big time and she him. Of course there's a problem because Montgomery is a millionaire, married to Rita Johnson who with his private secretary, John Emery is trying to kill him.

Through all of this lending his confused elfin charm is James Gleason as Montgomery's fight manager. Seems as though Gleason had a destiny also, to manage a heavyweight champion. Gleason got his career role in Here Comes Mr. Jordan as he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor, but lost to Donald Crisp for How Green Was My Valley. The film itself was Columbia's entry in the Best Picture category, but also lost to How Green Was My Valley.

This was Robert Montgomery's second Oscar nomination and the movie going public accepted him as good natured, saxophone playing pug Joe Pendleton a lot better than the homicidal maniac in Night Must Fall his first and other Oscar nomination. This time Montgomery lost to Gary Cooper in Sergeant York.

My favorite in this film however is the wise and patient Claude Rains as Mr. Jordan. One thing the film does do is that the end will have you wondering whether the whole thing really was Montgomery's destiny. Some of Rains's expressions will keep you guessing.