Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)

„Here Comes Mr. Jordan“ is a 1941 comedy film directed by Alexander Hall. The screenplay by Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller ist based on the play „Heaven Can Wait“ by Harry Segall.

Boxer and amateur pilot Joe Pendleton crashes his small aircraft. His soul is retrieved by an angel, Messenger 7013. Joe’s manager, Max „Pop“ Corkle, has his body cremated. In the afterlife, the records show his death was a mistake. The angel’s superior, Mr. Jordan, confirms this, but since there is no more body, Joe will have to take over a newly dead corpse.

After Joe turns down several „candidates“, Joe is reluctant to take over the body of a crooked, wealthy banker, Bruce Farnsworth, who has just been drugged and drowned in a bathtub by his wife, Julia, and his secretary, Tony Abbott. But when he sees the murderous pair mockingly berating Bette Logan, he changes his mind.

As Farnsworth, Joe sends for Corkle and convinces him that he is Joe. With Farnsworth’s money to smooth the way, Corkle trains him and arranges a bout to decide who will next fight the current heavyweight champion. Joe has just enough time to tell Bette, with whom he has fallen in love, that if a stranger (especially if he is a boxer) approaches her, to give him a chance. Then he is shot by Tony. While Joe returns to a ghostly existence, Farnsworth’s body is hidden. Corkle hires a private investigator to find him.

Accompanied by Jordan, Joe goes to retrieve his lucky saxophone and finds the police conducting a group interrogation. Corkle, talking to himself, wanders the room looking for Joe or Jordan. Joe manages to mentally nudge Corkle into turning on the radio to hear the championship fight and hears that Murdock has collapsed from a slight grazing punch. Jordan reveals that the boxer was shot by gamblers because he refused to throw the fight. Joe takes over Murdock’s body and wins the title. Back at the mansion, Corkle realizes Joe has assumed Murdock’s body.

Joe passes along information that Farnsworth’s body is in a refrigerator in the basement. The detective has Julia and Tony arrested. As Murdock, Joe fires his old, crooked manager and hires Corkle. Jordan reveals to Joe that this is his destiny. He can be Murdock and live his life.

Healing the gunshot wound and at the same time removing Joe’s memory of his past life, Jordan hangs around for a bit longer until Bette arrives. She wanted to see Corkle, but runs into Murdock instead. The pair feel they have met before. The two go off together, while Jordan smiles and says „So long, champ.“

Cast:

• Robert Montgomery – Joe Pendleton
• Evelyn Keyes – Bette Logan
• Claude Rains – Mr. Jordan
• Rita Johnson – Julia Farnsworth
• Edward Everett Horton – Messenger 7013
• James Gleason – Max Corkle
• John Emery – Tony Abbott
• Donald MacBride – Police Inspector Williams
• Don Costello – Lefty
• Halliwell Hobbes – Sisk
• Benny Rubin – Bugs

„Urlaub vom Himmel“ ist eine Filmkomödie aus dem Jahr 1941 unter der Regie von Alexander Hall. Das Drehbuch von Sidney Buchman und Seton I. Miller basiert auf dem Theaterstück „Heaven Can Wait“ von Harry Segall.

Als ein Boxer fünfzig Jahre vor seiner Zeit in den Himmel gerufen wird, muss der himmlische Manager Mr. Jordan die Sache in Ordnung bringen.