Best movie of this year hands down!

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

When you think about it, "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" almost seems sacrilegious. How could God and all his Angels make a mistake and summon somebody before their time? Mind you, organized religion doesn't enter into director Alexander Hall's comedy and God is never taken to task for this mistake. Still, makes you wonder if the real title could have been: "Heaven Made A Mistake." No way, not under the Production Code Administration. Interestingly enough, the play on which the film was based was entitled "Heaven Can Wait." Later, Warren Beatty would remake the Montgomery version but as a gridiron star instead of a boxer. Nevertheless, this body-swapping comedy boasts a nice-guy performance by Robert Montgomery as a prizefighter who likes to fly but crashes in an accident.An overzealous angel, Messenger 7013 (Edward Everett Horton of "Arsenic and Old Lace"), claims Joe Pendleton by mistake, whisking him out of a plane before it crashed, and our hero winds up in the clouds about to board another plane. Mr. Jordan (Claude Rains of "Casablanca") intervenes when he discovers that Joe wasn't schedule to die for another 50 years. Charitably, Mr. Jordan gives Joe a second chance. However, he is particularly upset after he learns that he won't be receiving his original body. As it turns out, Joe's fight manager Max Corkle (James Gleason of "Meet Joe Doe"), had him cremated! So Joe has no options. The unhappy Joe takes a lot of talking to before he agrees to accept another body. Hall and scenarists Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller indulge in quite a bit of exposition not only to explain Joe's predicament to him but also to us. Joe winds up in a body that is above his social class. They thrust Joe into 'the overcoat' of Wall Street tycoon Bruce Farnsworth and a business intrigue subplot kicks into gear. It seems that Farnsworth's duplicitous wife Julia (Rita Johnson of "Honolulu") has been cheating on him with his secretary, Mr. Abbott (John Emery of "Spellbound"), and these two initially drowned her sleepy husband in his own private bath. At the same time, our hero feels sympathetic toward the plight of the daughter of a man that Farnsworth swindled in the Stock Market. Much to the chagrin of his board of trustees and his wife, Joe admits in the guise of Farnsworth that he swindled Bette Logan's father. When Joe isn't straightening everything out for Bette, he struggles to convince Max that he is really Joe in Farnsworth's body. Joe still wants to compete in the boxing championship that he was training for in the first scenes. The black & white comic fantasy is ideal for a rainy day.

"Here Comes Mr. Jordan" is a near-perfect romantic-fantasy-comedy about boxer Joe Pendleton (Robert Montgomery) taken to heaven by mistake fifty years before his time and must return to earth in a different body to continue his boxing pursuits. When he returns in the body of a rich man, he falls in love with a troubled woman and desires to help her. The film was remade later as "Heaven Can Wait," which was definitely enjoyable but lacked the same emotion and brilliance of this film. Honestly, I was nearly in tears during parts of this film, because I found some beautiful pictures of my own Christian faith in the story, particularly Mr. Jordan's (Claude Rains) statement that all good things had been ordained for Joe, that no matter what, everything would turn out as had been perfectly planned for him (God is not mentioned, but I couldn't help seeing His hand in this story). The romance was much better in this film than the remake, and I actually cared whether or not the main characters ended up together. It's also entertaining and very funny, and I laughed more here than I did at the other film. Already on my list of favorite films, I cannot recommend this enough for it's humorous, romantic, and inspirational value. Great film! **** out of ****

Robert Montgomery & Claude Rains carry this film. There are several other good people in the cast but the main stars are the glue. The story here has been redone twice now, Chris Rock the latest & Heaven Can Wait earlier. Neither remake has the charm of this one.The story here is one of the strengths. It relies on light comedy & romance plus situations to carry the film. They do so quite well as the actresses in this are not as well known now as the actors, & they are clearly in support. This film has had a recent restoration which pretty much has made it as originally released.Claude Rains is an angel here, but he could play almost any role. It isn't too long after this that he is memorable in Casablanca. While it is obvious Rains worked hard in perfecting all the roles he played, he often brings them off making it look easy. In this case, he makes the angel role believable enough that you wonder if he might be there now, waiting for all of us when we go.

Boxer Joe Pendleton is days away from his championship bout when his private plane goes down and the agents of death take him away to heaven. Unfortunately for Joe, the agent acted too fast and, had he waited he would have seen Joe recover the crashing aircraft and make it away safely. Problem is in the time taken to sort this out (which has involved top agent Mr Jordan), Joe's earthly remains have been cremated with no chance of him just being returned to his body. So begins a search for another body for Joe, a search that ultimately leads to millionaire Farnsworth – who has just been murdered by his wife and her lover.Looking at the basic plot (and even the detail of the ending) it does strike me as rather amazing that this did get made as a studio picture because it does have a dark streak to it that could easily have undercut any comedy, whimsy or romance and alienated the audience. Watching it again recently it does still surprise me that it pulls it off but somehow it is light, funny and with plenty of charm and somehow even the rather ambiguous ending comes off as lifting and happy. A big part of this for me is the cast because they get the delivery just right – in particular Robert Montgomery. Some have said that Rains dominates his scenes but I totally disagree, Montgomery owns the film because the tough but kind nature of his character is the engine that drives it to success. He is note perfect and his performance kept me with the tone of the film. Rains is nearly as good but is more of a cool presence in each scene.Hall's direction holds it together and makes the tone so that we never lose the slight hint of darkness but prevents it ever getting in the way of the comedy and fantasy of the piece. Here Comes Mr Jordan has been remade several times recently and you can see why because this original is charming and fresh with solid comedy and whimsy held together by a couple of great performances.