Bruce Kimmel has clarified confusion regarding the film's source stage play and the various cinema movies associated with it in some way: "Once upon a time there was a play by
Harry Segall called 'Heaven Can Wait', written in 1938 and not produced on Broadway. Nevertheless, the film rights were bought and the resulting 1941 film, retitled
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), was a hit. This was followed by a 1943
Ernst Lubitsch film called
Heaven Can Wait (1943) that had nothing to do with Mr. Segall, his play or
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941). Then came
Down to Earth (1947), starring
Rita Hayworth, which was a sort of sequel to
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), bringing back the characters played by
Edward Everett Horton and
James Gleason, but not the central characters. That same year [actually late 1946], the Segall play finally made it to Broadway but under a different title, 'Wonderful Journey' - a production that ran only nine performances. Flash forward to 1978 - Paramount Pictures and
Warren Beatty remake
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) but change the title back to Segall's original title, 'Heaven Can Wait'. Two years later comes
Xanadu (1980), starring
Olivia Newton-John, which was a sort of remake of
Down to Earth (1947), the sequel to
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941). Now jump to 2001 when Segall's 'Heaven Can Wait' is remade again, this time as
Down to Earth (2001) starring
Chris Rock - and having nothing to do with
Down to Earth (1947), the sort of sequel to
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)".
