Urlaub vom Himmel

INHALT

This clever, charming and ingeniously plotted fantasy was a popular hit for Columbia in its day. The excellent Robert Montgomery (on loan from MGM) stars as boxer Joe Pendleton, who following an air crash is accidentally rushed to heaven before his allotted date and has to be found a new body until his official time is up. Sounds preposterous? Well, it's actually totally involving, with the plot brilliantly constructed and charmingly performed: particularly fine is character actor James Gleason in a career-best role as the fighter's manager, touching and comic by turns, and Claude Rains (as the eponymous Mr Jordan) and Edward Everett Horton keep the whimsical whole effortlessly down-to-earth. Mr Jordan returned in a sequel, but the arch Warren Beatty remake called Heaven Can Wait missed the warmth, not to mention the wartime resonance, of this production, a unique movie that is both life-affirming and death-demystifying.