Wednesday, August 01, 2007
HEAVENLY
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
This is a fantasy about a boxer who flies a plane and is killed while on his way to a championship fight.
His guardian angel, new on the job, snatches him out of his body a bit too early.
A series of coincidences and mishaps ensue as he tries to find a body to live the rest of his life.
Another film Heaven Can Wait was a remake of this original. It wasn't as good.
Robert Montgomery is the boxer. Edward Everett Horton is the angel. Claude Rains is Mr. Jordan (crossing the river—get it?), a heavenly fixer upper, James Gleason is the boxer's manager.
I have just named some of my favorite actors. Gleason gives a beyond character acting performance which got him an Oscar nomination.
Evelyn Keys is the love interest.
Why am I going on with all this casting detail?
Because the plot is so implausible that the actors have to carry it and they do!
It is lol funny in a lot of places and there are even some tears at the end as Mr. Jordan manages to fix up all the missing pieces which, by then, include three separate bodies to worry about. A hat trick.
I will give this a 4 out of Netflix5. It is a great movie if not great cinema, if you get my drift.
Labels: best films
