Don Ameche meets “His Excellency” in “Heaven Can Wait” (1943)

Heaven Can Wait (1943) is an American comedy produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. It stars Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, and Charles Coburn. The film is shot in beautiful 20th Century-Fox Technicolor.

The plot begins with Henry Van Cleve (Ameche) at the end of his life speaking to “His Excellency” (Laird Cregar) the gatekeeper in Hell. Henry thinks that due to all his life’s failings, he deserves to spend eternity there away from all the people he loved on earth especially his beloved wife Martha (Tierney). 

Born in 1972 to an upper-class family in New York City, Henry has been indulged by all his family members including his mother (Spring Byington), his father (Louis Calhern), his grandmother (Clara Blandick), and his grandfather (Coburn). Will all this fawning and making excuses for Henry during his lifetime doom him to an eternity with His Excellency?

Don Ameche and Gene Tierney

Ernst Lubitsch (1892 – 1947) was a German-born American film director and producer. He is best known for his sophisticated comedies, especially those produced before the Production Code went into effect in 1934. Lubitsch was a successful director in his native Germany but was brought to Hollywood in 1922 to direct Mary Pickford in Rosita (1923). The film was a success but Pickford and Lubitsch didn’t get along very well. He signed a contract with Warner Bros. and his career in American was set. Lubitsch made the transition to sound directing hits like The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), Trouble in Paradise (1932), Design for Living (1933), and The Merry Widow (1934). For a time he was head of production at Paramount where he became close friends with Carole Lombard. Other classic Lubitsch films include Ninotchka (1939) with Greta Garbo and The Shop Around the Corner (1940) with Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart. In the mid-1940s, he moved to Fox, but his health kept him from directing some of the films he had on his slate. Lubitsch was awarded a Special Academy Award for his “25-year contribution to motion pictures” in March of 1947. On November 30, 1947, Lubitsch died of a heart attack at the age of 55.

Gene Tierney (1920 – 1991) was an American actress. Tierney got her start on the stage where she played the ingenue lead in The Male Animal. Tierney made her movie debut in 1940 in The Return of Frank James starring Henry Fonda. She worked steadily in the early 1940s but established herself as a top box office star with Laura (1944). She starred in Leave Her to Heaven the next year which was the biggest hit of the year and Fox’s biggest moneymaking success until The Robe (1953). Other successes for Tierney include Dragonwyck (1946), The Razor’s Edge (1946), and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947).

Don Ameche (1908 – 1993) was an American actor on stage and in film. He was also a star on the radio during the early 1930s. He signed a contract with 20th Century-Fox in 1935 and quickly became one of the studio’s top leading men and top box office stars. He was often teamed with fellow Fox stars Alice Faye and Tyrone Power including In Old Chicago (1938) and Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938). Ameche was so popular that in two years (1938 and 1939) he had ten films in release. In the 1950s, Ameche starred on Broadway in Silk Stockings (1955-56) and Holiday For Lovers (1957). His career in film in television continued into the 1960s and 1970s. When he was cast in Trading Places (1983) along with fellow movie veteran Ralph Bellamy, Ameche was introduced to a new generation of fans. In 1985 he starred in Cocoon (1985) which won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Ameche continued acting until his death in 1993 at 85.

Charles Coburn (1877 – 1961) was an American character actor who had a long career on stage and in film. He won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his performance in The More the Merrier (1943) co-starring Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea. Coburn’s other classic films include The Lady Eve (1941), Kings Row (1942), The Paradine Case (1947), Monkey Business (1952), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

The film has a dream supporting cast that includes Marjorie Main, Spring Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern, and Clara Blandick.

Heaven Can Wait trivia:

• Lubitsch was originally disappointed with the casting of Don Ameche but changed his mind and was won over by the actor’s dedication to the role and his professionalism.
• Gene Tierney recalled that during production, “Lubitsch was a tyrant on the set, the most demanding of directors. After one scene, which took from noon until five to get, I was almost in tears from listening to Lubitsch shout at me. The next day I sought him out, looked him in the eye, and said, ‘Mr. Lubitsch, I'm willing to do my best but I just can't go on working on this picture if you're going to keep shouting at me.’ ‘I’m paid to shout at you’, he bellowed. ‘Yes’, I said, ‘and I’m paid to take it - but not enough.’ After a tense pause, Lubitsch broke out laughing. From then on we got along famously.” (From Gene Tierney’s autobiography Self-Portrait.)
• This was Lubitsch’s only film in Technicolor,
• Tod Andrews who played Don Ameche and Gene Tierney’s son was only six years younger than Ameche and six years older than Tierney.
• Gene Tierney realized she was pregnant during the film’s production.
• The film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Cinematography, Color.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join us on Zoom for a discussion on December 8, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click the link for details and invitation. When you RSVP you will receive an email and link to the discussion.

Questions for discussion:

1. Do you think Henry was actually unfaithful to Martha?
2. The picture rests on Ameche’s shoulders; what did you think of his performance as Henry?
3. Would the film have worked in black and white? What did the Technicolor add to the film?
4. The film is filled with great character actors; did you have a favorite?
5. Were there any memorable lines from the film that stuck with you?

Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain learn that “People Will Talk”

People Will Talk (1951) is a romantic comedy written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain. The cinematography is by Milton Krasner who won an Academy Award for Three Coins in the Fountain (1954). He also did the cinematography for A Double Life (1947), House of Strangers (1949), and All About Eve (1950).

Jeanne Crain and Cary Grant

The plot centers around Dr. Noah Praetorious (Cary Grant), an unconventional doctor who teaches at a medical school, but also runs a clinic that treats patients in a holistic manner. Dr.Praetorious’s medical practices are at odds with Professor Elwell (Hume Cronyn) who is determined to remove Praetorius from the university faculty.

In the middle of all this enters Deborah Higgins (Jeanne Crain), a single young woman who discovers she is pregnant. Deborah is determined not to let her father (Sidney Blackmer) know of her situation. She takes some desperate action that brings her to the attention of Dr. Praetorious. And then there’s Dr. Praetorious’s mysterious constant companion, Mr. Shunderson.

Will Dr. Praetorious’s career and future be ruined and sullied by those who are jealous of his accomplishments and popularity with the student body?

Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1929 – 1972) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz won Academy Awards for directing and writing A Letter to Three Wives (1949), and All About Eve (1950). He is the only director to win back-to-back Academy Awards for writing and directing. Other films directed by Mankiewicz include Dragonwyck (1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Julius Caesar (1953), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), and Guys and Dolls (1955). He directed the 1963 crisis-plagued production of Cleopatra which negatively affected his career as a director.

Cary Grant (1904 – 1986) was an English-born American actor who became one of the most popular leading men in film history. Grant started his career in vaudeville before heading to Hollywood. He became a superstar in the late 1930s in a series of screwball comedies including The Awful Truth (1937) with Irene Dunne. He was a memorable C. K. Dexter Haven in The Philadelphia Story (1940) opposite Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart. He received two Best Actor nominations for Penny Serenade (1941) and None but the Lonely Hearts (1944). Other classic Grant films include Gunga Din (1939), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). He made four popular films with Alfred Hitchcock: Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955), and North by Northwest (1959). He was presented with an Honorary Oscar at the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970.

Jeanne Crain (1925 – 2003) was an American actress whose career spanned more than three decades. While still a teenager, she was asked to take a screen test with Orson Welles. He was testing for the part of Lucy Morgan in his production of The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). She didn’t get the part (Anne Baxter did), but she was on her way. She had a bit part in The Gang’s All Here (1943), but had a leading role in Home in Indiana (1944). The film was a box office hit and Crain became a favorite of film fans everywhere. She had another hit with Winged Victory (1944) and co-starred with Dana Andrews in the musical State Fair (1945). That same year, she was the “good girl” opposite Gene Tierney’s “bad girl” in Leave Her to Heaven. More good roles came her way including leads in A Letter to Three Wives (1949), The Fan (1949), and Pinky (1949). The latter won her a Best Actress Oscar nomination. She lost that year to Olivia de Havilland. Crain’s popularity continued into the 1950s but suffered when she was released from her exclusive contract with 20th Century-Fox. She continued to work in films and on television until 1975.

People Will Talk has an excellent supporting cast that includes Finlay Currie, Hume Cronyn, Walter Slezak, and Margaret Hamilton.

People Will Talk Trivia:

• Jeanne Crain campaigned for the female lead, but the role went to Anne Baxter. When Baxter became pregnant, Crain played Deborah. The opposite happened with All About Eve. Crain was originally cast as Eve Harrington. When Crain became pregnant (Crain had seven children), Baxter got the role and screen immortality.
• Margaret Hamilton was uncredited in spite of the fact that she had a sizeable supporting role.
• Dr. Pretorius’s car is a 1951 Lincoln Cosmopolitan 2-door convertible. Only 857 convertibles were built that year. It cost $3891 (about $40,000 in 2020).
• Grant had his hand and footprints immortalized a Grauman’s Chinese Theatre at the premiere of People Will Talk.

Below it the YouTube link to watch the film. Please us this link as there are several on the channel of inferior quality.



Join us August 25, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. for a discussion on Zoom. The invitation and link are below.

Stephen Reginald is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Discussion of "People Will Talk"

Time: Aug 25, 2020 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/74191376726?pwd=WVdHK2JVc25HWTNsbEx3REROWTVwQT09

Meeting ID: 741 9137 6726
Passcode: jAUD7h


Questions for discussion:
1. What did you think of Dr. Praetorius and his medical philosophy?
2. What do you think drove Professor Elwell’s jealousy?
3. Do you think Dr. Praetorius was in love with Deborah when they married?
4. Would you like a “Mr. Shunderson” as a friend/companion?
5. Does Deborah’s plight hold up in the 21st century?

Carole Lombard and Fredric March star in “Nothing Sacred”

Nothing Sacred (1937) is a screwball comedy film directed by William A. Wellman, produced by David O. Selznick, with a screenplay by Ben Hecht. Oscar Levant wrote the original music score.

New York newspaper reporter Wally Cook (March) was demoted to writing obituaries due to a scandal involving a phony African nobleman and a charity event in the nobleman’s honor. Wally begs his boss Oliver Stone (Walter Connolly) for a second chance.

Wally points out a story about Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard), a young woman dying of radium poisoning. Wally convinces his boss that a story on the dying girl could boost the circulation of his paper the Morning Star. Wally is off to the fictional town of Warsaw, Vermont in pursuit of Hazel Flagg and her story. Wally meets Hazel and he invites her and her doctor to New York as guests of the paper. Unknown to Wally is the fact that Hazel isn’t dying of radium poisoning and that her original diagnosis was a mistake. Hazel anxious to leave the sleepy town of Warsaw for a trip to New York doesn’t let on that she’s not dying.

Will Hazel’s secret be found out and will Wally be sent back to writing obituaries once again?

William A. Wellman (1896 – 1975) got his start in the movies as an actor but decided he’d rather work behind the camera as a director. He directed his first picture in 1920. Seven years later, Wellman directed the World War I epic Wings. His other notable films in the sound era include The Public Enemy (1931), A Star Is Born (1937), Beau Geste (1939), and The Ox-Box Incident (1943).

Carole Lombard (1908 – 1942) was an American film actress best know for starring in a string of screwball comedies. So popular was she in the genre that Life magazine dubbed her “the screwball girl.” Lombard began her career in silent films, but her career was stalled when she was in a car accident that scarred her face. After the accident, she was dropped from her Fox Film Corporation contract. She underwent plastic surgery, which was relatively new at the time, hoping it would help jumpstart her career. The surgery was a success resulting in a minor scar that was hardly noticeable on screen. She made almost 40 films before her breakout role as Lily Garland opposite John Barrymore in Twentieth Century. Now a bona fide star, Lombard would be the highest-paid actor in Hollywood by the late 1930s. Lombard was Oscar-nominated for My Man Godfrey (1936) and starred in Alfred Hitchock’s only screwball comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith. In 1939, Lombard married Clark Gable and the two were the most famous couple in Hollywood. Lombard died tragically in a plane crash on January 16, 1942. She was 33 years old. Her final film was the Ernst Lubitsch comedy To Be or Not to Be (1942) which was released after her death.

Frederic March (1897 – 1975) was an American actor of both stage and film. He started his career as an extra in silent movies and by 1926 he appeared on Broadway and by the end of the decade, he was in Hollywood. March was one of the most successful actors working in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s. He starred in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) a role for which he won a Best Actor Oscar, Design for Living (1933), Les Miserbles (1935), Anna Karenina (1935) with Greta Garbo, and A Star is Born (1937) with Janet Gaynor. In the 1940s, March starred in I Married a Witch (1942) and The Best Years of Our Lives, which brought him his second Best Actor Oscar. March was also a major star on Broadway. He won Tony Awards for Best Actor for his performances in Years Ago (1947) and Long Day’s Journey into Night (1956).

Nothing Sacred is a who’s who of 1930s character actors including Charles Winninger, Walter Connolly, Sig Ruman, John Qualen, Hattie McDaniel, and Margaret Hamilton.

Nothing Sacred has a creative title sequence.

Nothing Sacred trivia:

• This was the first screwball comedy filmed in Technicolor and Lombard’s only color film. 
• Frank Fay who plays the master of ceremonies in the film was Barbara Stanwyck’s first husband. His film career was basically over at the time of the film’s release, but he went on to Broadway fame as Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey (1944).
• The film was not a hit upon its release and recorded a loss of $400,000 at the box office.
• Lombard starred in True Confession (1937) with Fred MacMurray, the same year as Nothing Sacred. True Confession, almost forgotten today, was a huge box office success.

For more information on True Confession, which also starred John Barrymore, click here.

Fred MacMurray, Carole Lombard, and John Barrymore in True Confession

To watch the film, click on the YouTube link below. Please use this link because there are other versions that are on the channel that isn’t as good.



After you’ve watched the film, join us for a discussion on Zoom at 6:30 p.m. on August 11, 2020. The links for the Zoom meeting are below.

Stephen Reginald is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Discussion of "Nothing Sacred"
Time: Aug 11, 2020 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/74847286053?pwd=aFdsaElXcEdqcmZHVGthMTE0aUJyUT09

Meeting ID: 748 4728 6053
Passcode: ck2W1Q


Questions for discussion:
1. Were you surprised to see such an old film in color? Did color add anything to the narrative?
2. What did you think of Carole Lombard’s performance?
3. What did you make of the town of Warsaw? Did you understand why Hazel wanted to leave it?
4. Was Frederic March convincing as a newspaperman?
5. Was there a message or meaning behind the comedy? If yes, what was the message?

“Nightmare Alley”—a pet project becomes a film noir classic

Nightmare Alley (1947) is a film noir directed by Edmund Goulding, produced by George Jessel and starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray, and Helen Walker.

The plot surrounds Stanton “Stan” Carlisle, a low-level carny who aspires to greater things. He manages to get by with his good looks, charm, and quick wit. On the surface, it appears that he cares about people, but he’s just using them on his way to the top. The film narrative is a dark one, one that 20th Century-Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck didn’t want to make.

Power was to 20th Century-Fox what Clark Gable was to M-G-M; he was the studio’s top box office draw. Power enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1942. He was released from active duty in 1946. Zanuck was anxious to get Power back on the screen. Power wanted to make Nightmare Alley, but Zanuck thought it was inappropriate for the handsome leading man. Power struck a deal: he would star in the more commercial The Razor’s Edge if he could also star in Nightmare Alley.

Zanuck relented, but his heart wasn’t in it and when the film was released and wasn’t an instant hit, he discontinued promotion and pulled the film from distribution.

Edmund Goulding (1891 – 1955) was a screenwriter and director. His directing career started during the silent era, but he moved easily to talkies directing some of the best-remembered films from Hollywood’s Golden Age including Grand Hotel (1932), Dark Victory (1939), The Old Maid (1939), and The Razor’s Edge (1946).

George “Georgie” Jessell (1898 – 1981) was an actor, singer, songwriter, vaudeville star, and film producer. If you’re a Baby Boomer, you may know him as the “Toastmaster General of the United States,” due to his numerous gigs as master of ceremonies at political and entertainment events. Jessel originated the role of The Jazz Singer on the stage.

Tyrone Power (1914 – 1958) was a major movie star as well as a star on stage and radio. He was one of the biggest box office draws of the 1930s and 1940s. Power was under exclusive contract to 20th Century-Fox where his image and film choices were carefully selected by studio head Zanuck. After the war, Power wanted to stretch his acting past romantic comedies and swashbuckler roles. Nightmare Alley was Power’s personal favorite of all his films.

Joan Blondell (1906 – 1979) was an American actress who was a top movie star during the 1930s and early 1940s. Later in her career, she became a popular character actress. Some of Blondell’s early films include The Public Enemy (1931), Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames (1934), and Stand-In (1937).

Colleen Gray (1922 – 2015) was an American actress who was under contract to 20th Century-Fox in the 1940s. She was in another famous film noir, Kiss of Death (1947) with Victor Mature and Richard Widmark. She also had a role in Red River (1948) with John Wayne. In the 1950s she started working in television, guest-starring in many popular shows of that period.

Helen Walker (1920 – 1968) was a film actress during the 1940s and 1950s. After a quick start in Hollywood, working with stars like Alan Ladd and Fred MacMurray, a car accident resulting in the death of hitchhiker, stunted her career.

Below is a link to the film on YouTube. Be sure to follow this link because it’s the best print out there. There are many versions of Nightmare Alley on YouTube that are inferior and of poor quality. You want to view the best possible version of this film.



Join us for a discussion on May 26 at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Zoom meeting links below.

Stephen Reginald is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Discussion of "Nightmare Alley"
Time: May 26, 2020, 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/77499958394?pwd=MWo0ODc5YXM2L2ozYmQ3M05TY0NFZz09

Meeting ID: 774 9995 8394
Password: 4R5L4v

Questions for discussion:
1. What did you think of Tyrone Power’s relationships with women in the film?
2. Did you have any sympathy for “Stan,” Power’s character?
3. What did you think of the women in Stan’s life?
4. Were all the women victims of Stan’s schemes?
5. What did you think of the ending? Was it realistic? Did it surprise you?