News

Going as far back as 1935, the heavenly angel has remained a fascinating character portrayed on the big screen. One of the first examples of an angel taking center stage in a Hollywood motion picture was The Passing of the Third Floor Back (1935), followed by the acclaimed Here Comes Mr. Jordan, I Married an Angel, and A Guy Named Joe in the 1940s.

Related: 14 Best Biblical Epics Of All Time

In the intervening seven decades, angels of all stripes have appeared on the big and small screen alike. Some have honorable intent, others have evil streaks that they use to gain unparalleled power.

Helping you stay sane while staying safe… featuring Leonard Maltin, Dave Anthony, Miguel Arteta, John Landis, and Blaire Bercy from the Hollywood Food Coalition.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Plague (1979)

Target Earth (1954)

The Left Hand of God (1955)

A Lost Lady (1934)

Enough Said (2013)

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Down to Earth (2001)

Down To Earth (1947)

The Commitments (1991)

Once (2007)

Election (1999)

About Schmidt (2002)

Sideways (2004)

Nebraska (2013)

The Man in the Moon (1991)

The 39 Steps (1935)

Casablanca (1942)

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

The Night Walker (1964)

Chuck and Buck (2000)

Cedar Rapids (2011)

Beatriz at Dinner (2017)

Duck Butter (2018)

The Good Girl (2002)

The Big Heat (1953)

Human Desire (1954)

Slightly French (1949)

Week-End with Father (1951)

Experiment In Terror (1962)

They Shoot Horses Don’t They? (1969)

Ray’s Male Heterosexual Dance Hall (1987)

Airport (1970)

Earthquake (1974)

Drive a Crooked Road (1954)

Pushover (1954)

Waves (2019)

Krisha (2015)

The Oblong Box (1969)

80,000 Suspects (1963)

Panic In The Streets (1950)

It Comes At Night (2017)

Children of Men (2006)

The Road (2009)

You Were Never Really Here

The director of Arlington Road, The Mothman Prophecies, Pearl Jam’s Jeremy and many more reflects on his career and some of the movies that made him.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Arlington Road (1999)

The Mothman Prophecies (2002)

Firewall (2006)

The Orphanage (2007)

Nostalgia (2018)

Avatar (2009)

Titanic (1997)

Chef (2014)

The Laundromat (2019)

Honeymoon In Vegas (1992)

Demonlover (2003)

Under The Sand (2000)

Mulholland Dr. (2001)

Under The Skin (2013)

The Great Beauty (2013)

Slap Shot (1977)

Network (1976)

Straw Dogs (1971)

The Pawnbroker (1964)

Star Wars (1977)

The Exorcist (1973)

Jaws (1975)

The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973)

All The President’s Men (1976)

Liquid Sky (1982)

The Brother From Another Planet (1984)

City Of Hope (1991)

Stop Making Sense (1984)

Snowpiercer (2013)

The Flintstones (1994)

Matinee (1993)

Batman (1989)

Transformers (2007)

A History Of Violence (2005)

Heaven Can Wait (1978)

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)

Psycho (1960)

Psycho (1998)

Mandy (2018)

Phantom Thread (2017)

Magnolia (1999)

Boogie Nights (1997)

The Master (2012)

There Will Be Blood (2007)

The Mustang (2019)

Inherent Vice (2014)

The New World (2005)

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

The Last Word (2017)

Cocaine Cowboys (2006)

The Burglar (1957)

What Lies Beneath

Charles Laughton’s sole directorial effort, the 1955 suspense classic The Night of the Hunter is getting a modern remake from Universal Pictures, according to Variety. Amy Pascal’s (Spider-Man: Far From Home) Universal Pictures-based banner Pascal Pictures will produce along with Peter Gethers. The screenplay will be written by Matt Orton, best known for the Nazi-hunter film Operation Finale, based on Davis Grubb’s 1953 novel.

The original film is iconic, and Robert Mitchum’s portrayal of newly released prison convict Harry Powell is one of the greatest villains of the silver screen. This is the film which introduced the hand tattoos Love and Hate and the biblical battle fought just below the knuckles. It is the story of good and evil that goes back to when “Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low.” The inked-fingers had “veins that run straight to the soul of man.”

The book and

Stuart Whitman, best known for his role in the TV western series Cimarron Strip and his Oscar-nominated turn in the drama The Mark, died in his home in Montecito, California. He was 92.

According to TMZ, Whitman had been in and out of the hospital as a result of skin cancer seeping into his bloodstream. He was surrounded by family at the time of his death.

More from DeadlineR.D. Call Dies: 'Into The Wild', 'Born On The Fourth Of July' Actor Was 70Earl Pomerantz Dies: 'Mary Tyler Moore Show' & 'Cheers' Writer, 'Major Dad' Producer Was 75Mart Crowley Dies: The Trailblazing 'Boys In The Band' Playwright Was 84

Whitman was born on February 1, 1928 in San Francisco before his family would move to Brooklyn. He went on to graduate from Hollywood High School and served in the United States Army in the Corps of Engineers.

Jo March and Vito Corleone have nothing in common besides being iconic literary and film figures, but they may soon have some shared Oscar history. If Greta Gerwig wins Best Adapted Screenplay, as our odds are forecasting, “Little Women” would join “The Godfather” as two-time Oscar-winning source material.

Mario Puzo‘s seminal 1969 crime novel “The Godfather” is the only work thus far that has yielded multiple Best Adapted Screenplay victories. Along with Francis Ford Coppola, the author adapted his signature book into screenplays for “The Godfather” (1972) and “The Godfather Part II” (1974), and they became two of seven people to win the category a record two times. “The Godfather” is the only franchise to have multiple wins as well.

Harry Seagall‘s play “Heaven Can Wait” came close to producing two wins: Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller prevailed for their 1941 adaptation, “Here Comes Mr. Jordan,” but Warren Beatty and Elaine May lost for their 1978 version,

This may be the year for new cinephile converts to the cult of appreciation for the great Ernst Lubitsch. One of his last pictures but his first in color is this Production Code-defying tale of a serial philanderer and his relationship with the woman of his dreams, his wife. It’s stylized as a series of birthdays, and our hero is judged not by St. Peter but at the gates of Hades, by the fallen angel himself.

Heaven Can Wait

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 291

1943 / Color / 1:37 flat full frame / 112 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 21, 2018 / 39.95

Starring Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Spring Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern

Cinematography Edward Cronjager

Art Direction James Basevi, Leland Fuller

Film Editor Dorothy Spencer

Original Music Alfred Newman

Written by Samson Raphaelson from a play by Leslie Bush-Fekete

Produced and Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

Wait one second,

David O. Selznick’s marvelous romantic fantasy ode to Jennifer Jones was almost wholly unappreciated back in 1948. It’s one of those peculiar pictures that either melts one’s heart or doesn’t. Backed by a music score adapted from Debussy, just one breathy “Oh Eben . . . “ will turn average romantics into mush.

Portrait of Jennie

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1948 / B&W w/ Color Insert / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date October 24, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Cecil Kellaway, David Wayne, Albert Sharpe.

Cinematography: Joseph H. August

Production Designers: J. MacMillan Johnson, Joseph B. Platt

Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin, also adapting themes from Claude Debussy; Bernard Herrmann

Written by Leonardo Bercovici, Peter Berneis, Paul Osborn, from the novella by Robert Nathan

Produced by David O. Selznick

Directed by William Dieterle

Once upon a time David O. Selznick’s Portrait of Jennie was an

This episode takes a look at Criterion from the artistic lens, as we talk film with illustrators Caitlin Kuhwald and Michele Rosenthal. Caitlin has designed covers for Amarcord, The Organizer, To Be or Not to Be, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, and many more. Michele has designed images inspired by her “Affection” of Criterion. We talk about the July announcements, Twin Peaks, Buena Vista Social Club, Trips to Italy, and all sorts of other topics.

Episode Notes

8:00 – July Announcements

32:00 – Newsletter Clue – Fire Walk With Me

38:30 – Buena Vista Social Club

42:30 – Jonathan Demme Rip

46:00 – Short Takes (Diabolique, A Taste of Honey, Woman of the Year)

54:00 – FilmStruck

Episode Links Criterion Now Facebook Group Criterion Close-Up 24 – With Caitlin Kuhwald Criterion Close-Up 34 – With Michele Rosenthal The Mean Magenta Will Eisner Sam Spratt (artist of The Lure poster) Episode Credits Aaron West: Twitter | Website | Letterboxd Caitlin Kuhwald: Website | Twitter | Instagram Michele

According to the movies, death looks a whole lot like the Dmv.Beetlejuice (1988)

Applying to grad school can feel a lot like limbo. Like being stuck in a waiting room, clutching a call number with wingdings on it, praying you dotted all your i’s correctly. You’d be forgiven for thinking your curriculum vitae was being weighed on a scale against the feather of Ma’at, Egyptian deity of minimum Gpa requirements. It feels just about as esoteric.

Divine judgement, like academia, has a bureaucratic bent to it; an adherence to policy and procedure at odds with any human tendency towards sense-making. That’s a particularly humorous metaphor: that complex administrative systems are as inscrutable and baffling as divine ones, that something so nefariously human could be otherworldly. It’s a relatable, “so taxes are like, literally hell, huh?” The joke’s longevity extends at least as far back as Virgil’s Aeneid, where

Just because a movie or a celebrity wins an Oscar, that doesn't mean the win was deserved. While the Academy Awards are seen as the capstone to awards season -- and one of the highest honors in the business -- we all know that stars and movies get snubbed or overlooked all the time.

What's worse is when we look back at what did win, and shake our heads in confusion and disbelief. So, with the 89th Academy Awards just around the corner, let's take a look back over the show's illustrious history at a few times the Academy voters clearly made a mistake.

Watch: 2017 Oscar Awards Nominees: 'La La Land' Leads With 14 Nominations

1. How Green Was My Valley wins Best Picture at the 14th Academy Awards in 1942

20th Century Fox

Beat Out: Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, Blossoms in the Dust, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Hold Back the Dawn, The Little Foxes, [link

Political terror scenarios were a bit simpler in the 1950s, and movies about them fairly rare. Frank Sinatra gives a strong performance as the villain John Baron, in a tense tale of presidential assassination by high-powered rifle. Suddenly Blu-ray The Film Detective 1954 / B&W / 1.75 widescreen / 75 min. / Street Date October 25, 2016 / 14.99 Starring Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleason, Nancy Gates, Willis Bouchey, Cinematography Charles G. Clarke Art Direction Frank Sylos Film Editor John F. Schreyer Original Music David Raksin Written by Richard Sale Produced by Robert Bassler Directed by Lewis Allen

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Some disc companies do well by refurbishing movies in the Public Domain, using various methods to bring what were once bargain-bin eyesores nearer the level of releases made from prime source material in studio vaults. As I've reported with efforts by HD Cinema Classics and Vci, the results vary dramatically -- did the company do a professional job,

In this episode of CriterionCast Chronicles, Ryan is joined by David Blakeslee, Arik Devens, Aaron West and Scott Nye to discuss the Criterion Collection releases for June 2016.

Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.

Episode Links Le amiche (1955) Amazon.com: Le amiche Le amiche: Friends—Italian Style Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) Amazon.com: Here Comes Mr. Jordan Here Comes the Angel of Death La chienne (1931) Amazon.com: La chienne La chienne: He, She, and the Other Guy Fantastic Planet (1973) Amazon.com: Fantastic Planet Fantastic Planet: Gambous Amalga Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Amazon.com: Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Criterion Designs: Dr. Strangelove Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) Amazon.com: Clouds of Sils Maria iClouds of Sils Maria Episode Credits Ryan Gallagher (Twitter / Website) David Blakeslee (Twitter / Website) Aaron West (Twitter / Website) Arik Devens (Twitter / Website

Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.NEWSAnton Yelchin in Green RoomUnexpected and tragic news at the end of the weekend was that actor Anton Yelchin (Star Trek, Only Lovers Left Alive, Joe Dante's Burying the Ex, Green Room) was accidentally killed at his home.French New Wave director Éric Rohmer was intensely private, so details of his long, productive life have generally been slim. But now, as Richard Brody writes at the New Yorker, a 2014 biography by Antoine de Baecque and Noël Herpe has been translated into English, and makes for essential reading about one of cinema's greats.We won't get properly excited until, first, the cameras are rolling, and second, there's a hope of some kind of release date, but The Film Stage has gathered enough evidence to point towards what Terrence Malick's next film will be: Radegund,

★★★☆☆ Adapted from the stage play, Heaven Can Wait, Alexander Hall's 1941 Here Comes Mr. Jordan is notable mainly for its numerous remakes and its position as arguably the first supernatural comedy. Following his untimely demise, boxer Joe Pendleton (Robert Montgomery) is taken to heaven only to meet the eponymous angel Mr. Jordan (Claude Rains), who agrees to find Joe a recently-deceased body in which to live out his life. Things are complicated, however, when Joe occupies the murdered body of Bruce Farnsworth, a roundly despised corporate tycoon whose possession by Pendleton diverts his tarnished legacy on to a better path.

In this episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for Tuesday, June 14th, 2016.

Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.

Follow-Up Brian’s tweet about The Thing News Twilight Time – September/October Titles Arrow Video – September titles The Deadly Trackers Blue Sunshine Kino Lorber – Moving Violations, The Park Is Mine The Transformers: The Movie Scream Factory Sale Raising Cain The Thing Invasion Of The Body Snatchers Links to Amazon Airport: The Complete Collection Black Dog La Chienne Edvard Munch (1974) (Masters of Cinema) Gold Here Comes Mr. Jordan (The Criterion Collection) Jaws 2 Jaws 3 Jaws: The Revenge Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Vol. 2 Star Trek XI Star Trek Into Darkness Too Late for Tears Woman on the Run X-Files: The Event Series The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) on Blu-ray Inserts (1975) on Blu-ray The Member of The Wedding (1952) on Blu-ray The Panic in Needle Park

Part screwball comedy, part supernatural mystery, and part fable, Alexander Hall's Here Comes Mr. Jordan is one of the most enduring films of Hollywood's golden age between the Great Depression and the emergence of the new Hollywood in the '50s. This story of an up-and-comer who finds himself down-and-out at the hands of a mischievous agent of the hereafter is universally relatable, as it teaches the viewer about his own desires and expectations and just how silly it can be to try to plan away misery. As the old saying goes, life is what happens while we're busy making plans, and no one learns that lesson quite like Joe Pendleton. Pendleton is a boxer on the rise, the Flying Pug they call him (short for...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]

Part screwball comedy, part supernatural mystery, and part fable, Alexander Hall's Here Comes Mr. Jordan is one of the most enduring films of Hollywood's golden age between the Great Depression and the emergence of the new Hollywood in the '50s. This story of an up-and-comer who finds himself down-and-out at the hands of a mischievous agent of the hereafter is universally relatable, as it teaches the viewer about his own desires and expectations and just how silly it can be to try to plan away misery. As the old saying goes, life is what happens while we're busy making plans, and no one learns that lesson quite like Joe Pendleton. Pendleton is a boxer on the rise, the Flying Pug they call him (short for...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]

Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.

10 Cloverfield Lane (Dan Trachtenberg)

Forget the Cloverfield connection. The actors who were in this film didn’t even know what the title was until moments before the first trailer dropped. Producer J.J. Abrams used that branding as part of the wrapping for its promotional mystery box, but the movie stands perfectly alone from 2008’s found-footage monster picture. Hell, 10 Cloverfield Lane perhaps doesn’t even take place within the same fictional universe as that film — although a friend asked if it’s secretly a Super 8 sequel, and, honestly, you could think of it as one without contradicting anything in either movie. Whether the Cloverfield name fills you with wariness or enthusiasm, it would be unwise to burden Dan Trachtenberg‘s film with such prejudices. – Dan S. (full review)

45 Years (Andrew Haigh)

Andrew Haigh’s third feature as a director, 45 Years, is an excellent companion piece to its 2011 predecessor, Weekend. The latter examined the inception of a potential relationship between two men over the course of a weekend, whereas its successor considers the opposite extreme. Again sticking to a tight timeframe, the film chronicles the six days leading up to a couple’s 45th wedding anniversary. Though highly accomplished, Weekend nevertheless suffered from a tendency towards commenting on itself as a gay issues film, which at times overrode the otherwise compelling realism. Despite treating material arguably even more underrepresented in cinema – senior relationships – Haigh avoids this same self-reflexive pitfall in 45 Years, pulling off an incisive and emotionally ensnaring tour de force. – Giovanni M.C. (full review)

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (Alexander Hall)

A sophisticated supernatural Hollywood comedy whose influence continues to be felt, Here Comes Mr. Jordan stars the eminently versatile Robert Montgomery as a working-class boxer and amateur aviator whose plane crashes in a freak accident. He finds himself in heaven but is told, by a wry angel named Mr. Jordan (Claude Rains), that his death was a clerical error, and that he can return to Earth by entering the body of a corrupt (and about-to-be-murdered) financier—whose soul could use a transplant. Nominated for seven Oscars (it won two) and the inspiration for a sequel with Rita Hayworth and two remakes, Alexander Hall’s effervescent Here Comes Mr. Jordan is comic perfection. – Criterion.com

La Chienne (Jean Renoir)

Jean Renoir’s ruthless love triangle tale, his second sound film, is a true precursor to his brilliantly bitter The Rules of the Game, displaying all of the filmmaker’s visual genius and fully imbued with his profound humanity. Michel Simon cuts a tragic figure as an unhappily married cashier and amateur painter who becomes so smitten with a prostitute that he refuses to see the obvious: that she and her pimp boyfriend are taking advantage of him. Renoir’s elegant compositions and camera movements carry this twisting narrative—a stinging commentary on class and sexual divisions—to an unforgettably ironic conclusion. – Criterion.com

Also Arriving This Week

Eddie the Eagle (review)

Hello, My Name is Doris (review)

Get a Job (review)

Gold

Recommended Deals of the Week

Top Deal: A selection of Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg Blu-rays are under $10 this week.

All the President’s Men (Blu-ray) – $7.79

The American (Blu-ray) – $6.68

Amelie (Blu-ray) – $8.99

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Blu-ray) – $7.88

Beginners (Blu-ray) – $6.11

Bone Tomahawk (Blu-ray) – $9.99

The Brothers Bloom (Blu-ray) – $9.99

The Cabin in the Woods (Blu-ray) – $9.99

Casino (Blu-ray) – $9.49

The Conformist (Blu-ray) – $14.49

Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray) – $7.99

Crimson Peak (Blu-ray) – $8.99

Dear White People (Blu-ray) – $9.99

The Deer Hunter (Blu-ray) – $10.61

Eastern Promises (Blu-ray) – $8.57

Ex Machina (Blu-ray) – $8.00

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Blu-ray) – $5.99

The Guest (Blu-ray) – $9.49

Hail, Caesar! (Blu-ray) – $12.99

Heat (Blu-ray) – $7.88

Holy Motors (Blu-ray) – $10.59

The Informant! (Blu-ray) – $8.07

Inglorious Basterds (Blu-ray) – $4.99

Interstellar (Blu-ray) – $5.00

The Iron Giant (Blu-ray pre-order) – $9.99

Jaws (Blu-ray) – $7.88

John Wick (Blu-ray) – $8.00

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Blu-ray) – $9.69

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (Blu-ray) – $9.89

The Lady From Shanghai (Blu-ray) – $8.99

Looper (Blu-ray) – $7.88

Lost In Translation (Blu-ray) – $9.49

Macbeth (Blu-ray) – $11.99

Mad Max: Fury Road (Blu-ray) – $10.00

Magic Mike Xxl (Blu-ray) – $11.99

Magnolia (Blu-ray) – $9.19

The Man Who Wasn’t There (Blu-ray) – $9.49

Margaret (Blu-ray) – $9.49

Martha Marcy May Marlene (Blu-ray) – $6.99

The Master (Blu-ray) – $12.69

Michael Clayton (Blu-ray) – $7.98

Nebraska (Blu-ray) – $9.35

Never Let Me Go (Blu-ray) – $7.99

No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray) – $5.99

Non-Stop (Blu-ray) – $8.99

Obvious Child (Blu-ray) – $9.99

Pan’s Labyrinth (Blu-ray) – $7.99

ParaNorman (Blu-ray) – $7.98

Pariah (Blu-ray) – $9.98

Persepolis (Blu-ray) – $5.79

Prisoners (Blu-ray) – $10.49

Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray) – $8.48

Raging Bull: 30th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray) – $10.19

Re-Animator (Blu-ray) – $9.99

Rio Bravo (Blu-ray) – $5.99

Road to Perdition (Blu-ray) – $8.99

The Searchers / Wild Bunch / How the West Was Won (Blu-ray) – $10.36

Sex, Lies, and Videotape (Blu-ray) – $5.88

Short Term 12 (Blu-ray) – $9.89

Shutter Island (Blu-ray) – $6.79

A Separation (Blu-ray) – $6.80

A Serious Man (Blu-ray) – $7.22

A Single Man (Blu-ray) – $6.00

The Social Network (Blu-ray) – $9.96

Spotlight (Blu-ray) – $9.99

Steve Jobs (Blu-ray) – $9.99

Straight Outta Compton (Blu-ray) – $10.00

Synecdoche, NY (Blu-ray) – $6.89

There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) – $8.20

They Came Together (Blu-ray) – $9.99

The Tree of Life (Blu-ray) – $6.99

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Blu-ray) – $5.52

Volver (Blu-ray) – $5.95

Where the Wild Things Are (Blu-ray) – $7.99

Whiplash (Blu-ray) – $9.99

The Witch (Blu-ray) – $14.96

The Wrestler (Blu-ray) – $7.00

See all Blu-ray deals.

What are you picking up this week?

“A Heavenly Beginning”

By Raymond Benson

They must have done something right. Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) has proven to be a timeless and universal movie that keeps on giving, and the welcome new release from the Criterion Collection attests to it.

The premise of the film has been around for a while. Most of our generation know the remake better—Heaven Can Wait (1978, starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie)—which is a superb Oscar-nominated romantic comedy in its own right. Another remake in 2001, Down to Earth, starred Chris Rock.

But that’s not all. It wasn’t until I’d viewed the supplements on the new disk that I appreciated the fact that Mr. Jordan was indeed the first of several Hollywood pictures dealing with “heavenly” concepts—angels, the afterlife, and second chances. In a video discussion, critic Michael Sragow and filmmaker/distributor Michael Schlesinger reveal how the picture’s popularity actually began a trend of similar movies throughout the 1940s—A Guy Named Joe, Angel on My Shoulder, A Matter of Life and Death, It’s a Wonderful Life, and even Mr. Jordan’s direct sequel, Down to Earth (1947, not to be confused with the Chris Rock remake), which features both James Gleason and Edward Everett Horton again playing their roles from the first movie.

Here Comes Mr. Jordan was a major release and surprise hit from Columbia Pictures, a studio that always struggled to be one of the majors despite having director Frank Capra on their team in the ‘30s. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the picture successfully blends fantasy, romance, comedy, and intrigue, creating a delightful, and sometimes thought-provoking, piece of entertainment. It was nominated for Best Picture of 1941, Best Director (Alexander Hall), Best Actor (Robert Montgomery), Best Supporting Actor (James Gleason, and he steals the movie!), and Best B&W Cinematography. The film deservedly won the Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story, for Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller.

The story concerns Joe Pendleton (enthusiastically played by Montgomery in a stretch from his usual sophisticated tuxedo-clad characters) as a prizefighter with a heavy New Jersey accent who crashes in his private plane. His soul is saved by the Messenger (Horton), an angel whose job is to escort to Heaven the departing souls from his “territory.” In the mist-filled outskirts of Heaven, Mr. Jordan (benevolently portrayed by Claude Rains), a sort of St. Peter in a three-piece suit, checks in the new souls as they board another plane to take them to their afterlife homes. But Joe’s soul was accidentally taken before his body actually died—and therefore Mr. Jordan grants Joe a second chance. However, his consciousness must be placed into a recently deceased person—so Joe winds up inside a rich, corrupt banker’s body. Joe, in his new persona, sets about turning the banker’s life around for good, and he also attempts to continue his prizefighting. For the latter, he calls in his former manager, Corkle (Gleason) to train him. First, though, he’s got to convince Corkle that he’s really Joe inside the new man’s form. To complicate things, Joe falls in love with the daughter (Evelyn Keyes) of a man the banker destroyed financially and sent to prison. Joe also doesn’t know it yet, but he will have to jump bodies one more time before the story plays out.

The comedy and romance work like a charm, and the fantasy elements of Mr. Jordan are surprisingly effective. The movie is intelligently written and treats its subject matter with respect; and yet it has fun with the mechanics of death and the philosophical discourse of what we think the afterlife really is. The audience is tricked, in a way, into pleasantly enjoying a movie about death. What happens to Joe Pendleton at the end isn’t the norm for a romantic comedy. Technically it’s not a happy ending—and yet, it is. It’s a feel-good movie with a bittersweet center. This is a testament to the quality of writing in Here Comes Mr. Jordan.

The new 2K digital restoration looks fabulous. It has an uncompressed, monaural soundtrack. Along with the aforementioned video conversation about the film, the supplements include a long audio interview with Elizabeth Montgomery (daughter of Robert Montgomery, and, yes, the star of Bewitched) about her father and the movie; the Lux Radio Theatre radio adaptation starring Cary Grant (who was originally approached to star in the film—one can only imagine what it would have been like with Grant), Rains, Keyes, and Gleason; and a trailer. An essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme adorns the booklet.

A little gem from Hollywood released just prior to America’s entrance into World War II, Here Comes Mr. Jordan is a genuine classic, arguably superior to its many remakes and imitations. You will believe...

Click Here To Order From Amazon