NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

maltvaterexpensivebeingpunk Thankfully, nothing to do with the awful 80's movie with the same name, starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. This is one of the finest comedies, criminally overlooked. A young Don Ameche and the beautiful Gene Tierney are both fabulous in the lead roles, in fact, they're one of the finest screen couples in film history. In an overall good cast, Charles Coburn and Eugene Palette, both great (comedy-)actors of their time (sadly, overlooked too), stand out particularly. Like many other Lubitsch-comedies, the clever plot and witty dialogue, are well ahead of its time. Trivia: The screenplay was based on the play 'Birthday' by Leslie Bush- Fekete.

vincentlynch-moonoi This is a beautiful film. Sentimental, but not maudlin. A lavish production with lush color photography.The story is of a man (Don Ameche) at the (rather tame) gates of Hell, explaining his life to the Devil, who will decide where he belongs. Of course, as lives go, his was not that devilish, but it's an entertaining story of life in a different era.But the real attraction here is the cast, led by the devilishly handsome Don Ameche, and he was just perfect for this role. Suave, sophisticated, and decidedly an actor whose prominence is now somewhat overlooked.The female lead is Gene Tierney, perhaps at her most beautiful, and well cast as Ameche's wife.Charles Coburn is along as the grandfather, and he's a hoot...as usual in those roles where he could be humorous. Marjorie Main and Eugene Palette play Tierney's parents, and are just classic. Spring Byington is along as Ameche's mother. Allyn Joslyn plays a rather obnoxious cousin to Ameche. Louis Calhern plays Ameche's father. The cast is about as perfect for the film as possible.What is there to criticize here? Not much. Perhaps Gene Tierney's hairdo toward the end of the picture. Perhaps the sentimentality level. Or is that simply charming? It's one of the most lovely films of that genre that I've ever seen.

Spondonman When I first saw this masterpiece on UK BBC2 on 2nd February 1972 being more literal-minded at age 12 I was left completely puzzled by the Devil's ability to spend so much time listening to Van Cleve's life story. Or I thought, if Time does not exist Down There how could they explain and we understand a story with a beginning middle and end? I mean, at that leisurely rate most of the queue waiting to enter in 1942 must still be waiting. However, the film has stood the test of Time, and though not perfect is still beautiful to watch.Dead man Van Cleve played by Don Ameche is ushered into the presence of the august Satan played by Laird Cregar, to recount the terrible details of his awful life and accept his punishment. Then begins a film-long sentimental even schmaltzy flashback, hinging on his happy marriage to Gene Tierney and the procession of the generations through the years. The soap is applied liberally, it's a tender nostalgic look at life and mores in New York from 1872 to 1942, similar to the equally magnificent Meet Me In St. Louis and Life With Father, except in this the lead character has already gone ahead. Cregar had another marvellous role as the grinning Excellency but proving the Devil-May-Care after all! Ameche and Tierney were pretty bland, perfect for the characters and the story though. Although sophisticated and witty throughout in the best Ernst Lubitsch tradition my favourite bit was ardent but patient Allen Joslyn's exquisite description of himself to Tierney on the stairs in the Strable house and her concurrence of it – I always imagined her laughing out loud at the end of the scene. What a shame Charles Coburn and Eugene Palette couldn't have had a couple of scenes together! The TCF production values were sky-high, the sumptuous sets shown in sumptuous Technicolor, but not too many as originally a stage play. It also occasionally displays a regrettably neutral chauvinist attitude to women, but wasn't that also realistic of the time?To make films as seemingly effortlessly charming and as lovely to look at as Heaven Can Wait is now a dead art; what cinema has become over the years might have them all turning over in their graves.

edwagreen Outstanding Ernst Lubitsch comedy showcasing a brilliant Don Ameche as a romantic rogue coming up to see his fate after he passes on. He reveals to the devil what his like was life on earth and what a life this rogue had.He had all the earmarks of a man destined to rove the earth for women until he found the love of his life, the lovely Jeanne Tierney. How they fall in love and how she disappoints her intended, Allyn Joslyn, cousin to Ameche is hilarious at best.What a knockout supporting cast. Spring Byington as his mother with that high-pitched voice, but showing the motherly eternal love. Louis Calhern as his doting father who has a background of his own. Charles Coburn steals the show as the grandfather in the know, and Tierney's parents are so capably played by Eugene Palette and a somewhat more subdued Marjorie Main.The film basically tells us what life can be all about, and with a roving eye, a man is to be forgiven.As the upstairs French maid, Signe Hasso showed she had a dimension for comedy. What a change from Elsa 4 years later in "The House on 92nd Street!"