Instant Favorite.

Great Film overall

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Angels Clifton Webb and Edmund Gwenn are tasked with bringing an unborn (not even conceived yet!) child into the world by getting a theatrical couple (Robert Cummings, Joan Bennett) with a rocky marriage to have a baby. Webb hatches a plan to take human form in order to better accomplish this task. But life as a human proves to be a distraction for him and Gwenn has to intervene.Webb is the star of the show, particularly as a Gary Cooper-inspired cowboy character. If you're a fan of Webb's you have to see this. Cummings and Bennett are fine, if a bit dull. Gwenn is likable as ever. Joan Blondell adds her usual brand of zing to things. Gigi Perreau is cute playing the would-be daughter and Tommy Rettig from Lassie is adorable in a small part. Jack La Rue is fun as an actor who's played one too many gangster parts. Loses momentum midway through but is still enjoyable. Old-fashioned ideas such as having a baby will save a troubled marriage will induce eye rolls for many viewers today, I'm sure. But it's all well-meaning and good-natured. Not for the cynics among us. Sweet, charming, and funny.

The acid tongued Clifton Webb who earned three Oscar nominations in the Forties, in the Fifties had his image considerably softened and for most of the rest of his career would be doing items like For Heaven's Sake. How much base was applied to this acid for Webb to team with Edmund Gwenn as a pair of angels trying to help some unborn kids make their earthy debuts.Webb has the tougher assignment. Gigi Perreau's prospective parents are theatrical couple Bob Cummings and Joan Bennett who've become rather jaded and are on the verge of splitting. Against a lot of celestial advice including Gwenn's, Webb decides to materialize and become human. And as his role model, Webb takes on the persona of Gary Cooper as a western millionaire. In fact Webb is shown going into a theater and seeing Coop in a revival of The Westerner. This is just to get some background information as to how to pull off the character.And he enters the lives of Cummings and Bennett as another kind of angel, a theatrical one. Of course without any money since they don't use any where he's from. But when he does acquire some money, Webb acquires a lot of earthly habits and problems to go along with the pleasures and perks of being corporeal.Webb and Gwenn who would team up again in Mr. Scoutmaster have a nice easy chemistry that really carries For Heaven's Sake to some really nice heights. I'd also make note of performances by Joan Blondell as an actress playing one a lot like Joan Blondell, Harry Von Zell in a nice caricature of a real Texas oil millionaire and most of all Jack LaRue as an actor who really starts believing he is one of those gangster tough guys he portrays on the screen. I think LaRue took as his model George Raft though God only knows LaRue played plenty of gangsters in his own career.For Heaven's Sake holds up very nicely after over 60 years and makes nice family viewing.

I remember this movie as a kid watching old movies on the independent station in Dallas. I would love to see it again but can't find it anywhere. Clifton Webb is hilarious as the angel. Bob Cummings was very popular at the time with his TV show "love that bob". I watched the movie because of him, but ended up not liking his character very much (i remember him being extremely selfish) But the harp-playing cowboy has stayed in my memory for 30 years. I don't remember anything about the kids other than they were growing older in heaven because their prospective parents kept putting off starting a family. If anyone knows where to find it please drop me a note

This film shows up occasionally on cable but has never, to the best of my knowledge, come out on video. It's a lot of fun and Webb, as usual, does a great job as a goofy angel who fancies himself a cowboy. The premise of this movie is that all children are designated, in heaven, a time to be born. If the parents aren't getting along, as in this film, the kids continue to develop mentally. If born years after their designated birthdates, they end up as "one of those horrible child prodigies." Webb and Edmund Gwenn (the original "Kris Kringle") are angels on a mission to ensure that their little wards are successfully delivered. I think Webb is one of the most under-appreciated comics and recommend, if you enjoy this film, checking out "Sitting Pretty" and the original "Cheaper by the Dozen" which are available on home video.