Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Alexander Hall

Writers:

Sidney Buchman (screenplay) &
Seton I. Miller (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

7 August 1941 (USA)

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 | Mistake | Millionaire | Stocks And Bonds | Supernatural

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 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)
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)
William Newell	...	Murdoch Handler (uncredited)
Gerald Pierce	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
Cyril Ring	...	Board Member (uncredited)
John Rogers	...	Escort (uncredited)
Abe Roth	...	Referee (uncredited)
Douglas Wood	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Bert Young	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)

Directed by
Alexander Hall

Writing credits
Sidney Buchman		(screenplay) &
Seton I. Miller		(screenplay)
Harry Segall		(play "Heaven Can Wait")

Produced by
Everett Riskin	....	producer

Original Music by
Friedrich Hollaender		(music by) (as Frederick Hollander)

Cinematography by
Joseph Walker		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Viola Lawrence

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)
• Criterion Collection, The (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (199?) (UK) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #7409)

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

James Gleason was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the role of Max Corkle. This is the first time in Academy Awards history for a person to be nominated for a supporting Oscar for a role for which a different person would later also be nominated for a supporting Oscar: Jack Warden was nominated for Best Supporting Actor as Max Corkle in Heaven Can Wait (1978).

Goofs:

Continuity: Pendleton (as Farnsworth) hands the $25,000 check to Max, who takes it with his left hand. There's an edit to a slightly different angle and suddenly the check is in Max's right hand.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Whistling in Dixie (1942)

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.