Heaven Can Wait [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Ernst Lubitsch Ernst Lubitsch

Overview

On the day of his death in 1943, the spirit of Henry Van Cleave (Don Ameche) obligingly heads for the place where so many people had previously told him to go. The immaculately dressed septuagenarian arrives at the outer offices of Hades, where he is greeted by His Excellency (Laird Cregar), the most courteous and gentlemanly Satan in screen history. His Excellency doubts that Van Cleave has sinned enough to qualify for entrance into Hades, but Henry insists that he's led the most wicked of lives, and proceeds to tell his story. Each milestone of Henry's life, it seems, has occurred on one of his birthdays. Upon reaching 15, Henry (played as a teenager by Dickie Moore) naively permits himself to get drunk with and be seduced by his family's French maid (Signe Hasso). At 21, Henry elopes with lovely Martha Strabel (Gene Tierney) stealing her away from her stuffy fiance Albert Van Cleve (Allyn Joslyn), Henry's cousin. At 31, Henry nearly loses Martha when, weary of his harmless extracurricular flirtations, she goes home to her boorish parents (Eugene Pallette and Marjorie Main). Henry's grandpa (Charles Coburn) orders the errant husband not to let so wonderful a girl as Martha get away from him. Henry once more declares his love to Martha, and she can't help but be touched by his boyish sincerity. Twenty years later, Henry, now a faithful and proper husband and father, attempts to charm a beautiful musical-comedy entertainer (Helen Walker) so that she'll forsake his young and impressionable son. But Henry's gay-90s romantic approach is out of touch with the Roaring 20s, and he ends up paying the entertainer a tidy sum to rescue his son--a fact that amuses Henry's understanding wife Martha, who now knows that her husband is hers and hers alone. Ten more years pass: Henry dances a last waltz with Martha, whose loving smile hides the fact that she knows she hasn't much longer to live. Five years later, it is "foxy grandpa" Henry who must be kept in check by his conservative son Jack (Michael Ames). Finally, it is 1943: as he quietly drinks in the loveliness of his night nurse (Doris Merrick), the bedridden Henry contentedly breathes his last. His story told, Henry once again asks to be permitted to enter Hades. But His Excellency, realizing that the only "sin" Henry has truly committed is attempting to live life to the fullest, quietly replies "If you'll forgive me, Mr. Van Cleave, we just don't want your kind down here." While he allows that Henry may have some trouble getting past the Pearly Gates, the wait will be worth it, since his loving wife Martha will be waiting for him. His Excellency cordially escorts Henry to the elevator, giving the operator a one-word instruction: "Up." A charming delight from first frame to last, Heaven Can Wait is another winner from director Ernst Lubitsch, and his first in Technicolor. Samson Raphaelson's screenplay was based on Birthdays, a play by Laslo Bus-Fekete.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/21/2018
UPC:	0715515219914
Original Release:	1943
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Language:	English
Time:	1:52:00
Sales rank:	11,149

Special Features

New 4K digital restoration by Twentieth Century Fox and the Academy Film Archive in collaboration with The Film Foundation, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack; Conversation from 2005 between film critics Molly Haskell and Andrew Sarris; Episode from 1982 of Creativity with Bill Moyers exploring screenwriter Samson Raphaelson's life and career; Audio seminar with Raphaelson and film critic Richard Corliss recorded at the Museum of Modern Art in 1977; Home Recordings of Director Ernst Lubitsch playing the piano; Trailer; Plus: An essay by film scholar William Paul

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Don Ameche	Henry Van Cleve
Gene Tierney	Martha
Charles Coburn	Hugo Van Cleve
Marjorie Main	Mrs. Strabel
Laird Cregar	His Excellency
Spring Byington	Bertha Van Cleve
Allyn Joslyn	Albert Van Cleve
Eugene Pallette	Mr. Strabel
Louis Calhern	Randolph Van Cleve
Signe Hasso	Mademoiselle
Helene Reynolds	Peggy Nash
Aubrey Mather	James
Tod Andrews	Jack Van Cleve
Leonard Carey	Flogdell
Clarence Muse	Jaspe
Dickie Moore	Henry at Age 15
Dick Jones	Albert at Age 15
Trudy Marshall	Jane
Florence Bates	Mrs. Craig
Clara Blandick	Grandmother
Anita Bolster	Mrs. Cooper-Cooper
Anita Sharp Bolster	Mrs. Cooper-Cooper
Alfred Hall	Albert's Father
Nino Pipitone	Jack as a Child
Grayce Hampton	Grace's Mother
Nino Pipitone Jr.	Jack as a Child
Claire DuBrey	Miss Ralston
Charles Halton	Clerk in Britano's
James Flavin	Policeman
Michael McLean	Henry at Age 15 Months
Scotty Beckett	Henry at Age 9
Doris Merrick	Nurse
Marlene Mains	Mary
Edwin Maxwell	Doctor
Gerald Smith	Smith
Maureen Rodin-Ryan	Nurse

Technical Credits

Samson Raphaelson

Ernst Lubitsch	Director,Producer
Samson Raphaelson	Screenwriter
Roger Heman	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Very few filmmakers have ever matched the great Ernst Lubitsch when it comes to sophisticated screen comedy. A veteran of the movie industry’s earliest days, first in Germany and then in Hollywood, the director developed his unique “Lubitsch touch” based on an almost preternatural facility in handling actors and an ability to stage scenes that suggested more than they showed. Heaven Can Wait (1943), one of his later films, has the same Continental sensibility Lubitsch brought to his best efforts. It stars Don Ameche as a charming rogue who, at the time of his death, asks Satan for a passport to hell in the belief that he has lived a shockingly sinful life. To prove his case, the playboy recounts a series of misdeeds revolving around his dealings with the fairer sex, from his teenage dalliances with the family maid through his seduction of a cousin’s fiancée…and beyond. Of course, as Samson Raphaelson’s script reveals, Ameche’s character isn’t quite the rake he has assumed himself to be. It’s a great role for this underrated, all-but-forgotten actor -- who, like his contemporary Ralph Bellamy, was equally comfortable in leads and supporting parts. Also effective is costar Gene Tierney, positively radiant as photographed in the lush, old-fashioned Technicolor process. Venerable character actors Charles Coburn, Louis Calhern, and Laird Cregar are all seen to advantage, and everybody has a field day with Raphaelson’s witty, tart dialogue. A whimsical exercise in nostalgia, Heaven Can Wait reflects a style of filmmaking that, sadly, is no longer in commercial favor.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

Heaven Can Wait was Ernst Lubitsch's last great movie. The enduring classic came at the end of two decades of excellent work, which included such Hollywood masterpieces as Trouble in Paradise, Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner and To Be or Not to Be. In this era, the "Lubitsch Touch" became a marketable moniker which characterized his impact on the early sound days of Hollywood. Heaven is typical of the "Touch": it's a perfect blend of sophistication, romance, wit and bittersweet sentiment. The benevolent story reveals Don Ameche's life to be as average as any man's, but Lubitsch's genuine tenderness elevates the tale to the majestic. Ameche and Gene Tierney deliver mature, convincing performances, appropriate to the subject matter. Unfortunately, the film has a low-quality look, common to early Technicolor productions; it would be Lubitsch's first and last film shot entirely in color. Heaven was nominated for Oscars for Best Picture, Director, and Cinematography, and was a significant influence on director Frank Capra's beloved It's a Wonderful Life.

All Movie Guide

The film's impeccable Gay 90s palette of dusty rose and powder blue [are] lovingly intact. The contrast and detail are so good that you can admire the black satin piping on the black morning coat that is the elegant, passé uniform of Lubitsch's hero....

New York Times - Dave Kehr