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Heaven Can Wait

Heaven Can Wait

1943
Romance, Comedy
1h 52m
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Avg Percentile 62.42% from 437 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(437)
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Rated 29 Nov 2010
76
64th
Lubitsch's use of ellipsis is intelligent to the point of being profound: it really is like grasping at the wind of life to catch only the most important bits. Still, I get the distinct impression that Lubitsch is looking back on his own life - and his distinct gender politics, marrying love and polygamy - and hoping Satan is just a heck of a nice fella. There is a very peculiar melancholy there, creating a different level of dark comedy. And I truly hope that worked out for him, really.
Rated 14 Sep 2008
85
79th
Solid effort from Lubitsch. Gentle touches throughout. It takes a while to get going, but once Tierney shows up, it just gets better and better. The use of space is always imaginative, with a depth to many of the shots that visually adds layers to the film. The story is done in a way that highlights the comic elements, but that doesn't let you forget the darker threads running through it.
Rated 29 May 2010
50
29th
For a movie about a man at the gates of hell, this needed to be much darker and it should have dealt with some heftier themes. The premise did have potential, had Lubitch hit the right notes. His film is not really funny, nor very touching. Bittersweet might seem the way to go but if you don't deliver the sweetness, it all just ends up being slightly depressing - that is, if we cared.
Rated 23 Feb 2008
82
67th
A very enjoyable comedy. The interplay between Ameche and Tierney works pretty well and the story as a whole flows quite nicely. There's an underlying sarcastic tone to the film which works quite well and while it's never really a dark comedy it's not quite a lighthearted affair either.
Rated 30 Mar 2010
97
97th
My favorite of Lubitsch films, perhaps because instead of merely "touches," he here gives us his whole philosophy: a tolerance of all human follies (particularly the sexual) provided the people who are responsible for them are gentle, and loving and kind. The cast is wonderful: Gene Tierney is even more beautiful than usual (if that's possible), Don Ameche is ten times better than he has any right to be, Pallette and Main make an hilarious couple, and Laird Cregar is the best Lucifer ever!
Rated 07 Feb 2007
51
8th
Strictly dullsville. It's a limp premise, and the comedy has no spark to it. A few good lines come from the grandfather character, but otherwise all the jokes fall flat. Ameche is astoundingly bland, and Tierney doesn't radiate enough charisma to make up for him.
Rated 02 Aug 2015
55
19th
Wish fulfillment for misbehaving men. The banter is witty and it is beautifully shot for an early technicolor film. Watchable, but a few steps below the great Lubitsch films.
Rated 24 Feb 2016
13
69th
Star Rating: ★★★1/2
Rated 16 Jan 2012
15
84th
I always hate to dismiss a film as "dated" since what is a movie supposed to be about other than the time in which it's from. But here Lubitch doesn't feel so much like he's pushing up against the code as much as sitting comfortably within it's box and winking occasionally. A character who is supposed to be philandering in 1943 comes off as a strictly harmless (even admirable) family man in 2011.
Rated 08 Sep 2010
4
55th
Unbelievably daft for this late period of Lubtisch. It's a good thing everything's so darn pleasing to the eye.
Rated 16 Dec 2010
75
84th
You can really feel the friction here between Lubitsch's suggestive, relatively liberal kind of comedy, and the restrictive Hays Code conventions of the day. It's a late nineteenth century period piece to boot, so the strict family values are a given, but they don't necessarily prevail, and the skirt-chasing protagonist is "forgiven" for defying them. Bush-Fekete and Raphaelson's script qualifies as one of the better ones directed by Lubitsch.
Rated 25 Dec 2015
45
46th
A philanderer reflects on his life and how he cheated on the one woman he loved.
Rated 26 Feb 2016
5
81st
Damn
Rated 02 Dec 2011
52
4th
#967
Rated 19 Dec 2008
53
6th
944
Rated 12 Jan 2011
90
92nd
Got to admit that the whole heaven and hell thing was sort of silly and unnecessary, but I loved the rest of the movie immensively. Similar in storytelling and feel to It's a Wonderful Life (perhaps my favorite movie of all time). Charles Coburn is highly entertaining as the grandfather.
Rated 07 Oct 2011
100
96th
watched: 2011, 2014, 2018
Rated 14 Aug 2007
60
62nd
Good film.
Rated 15 Jan 2010
54
8th
930
Rated 08 Nov 2007
90
86th
Very funny and charming motion picture. Also, it's in the public domain and you can download it off www.archive.org, so you have no excuse for not seeing it :-)
Rated 21 Jun 2010
69
34th
The parts at the gates at hell were the most interesting, so it's a shame that they only book-ended the film.
Rated 20 Jul 2010
36
13th
Zzzzzzz.
Rated 02 Apr 2017
74
32nd
The jokes were mostly unfunny and while I understand the intentional nature of the overacting, it still felt stupid. There's a bit of Lubitsch's wit all round the film, but unfortunately not enough.
Rated 03 Dec 2013
80
37th
This became unexpectedly touching towards the end, as Henry grows older and begins to reflect on his life. The scenes that bookend the film are definitely the most interesting. Don Ameche is charming and Tierney is good (but the best part of her performance is probably her incredible hairstyle in her later years). It's a solid comedy, but it lacks the hilarity and the beauty of Lubitsch's masterpieces.
Rated 10 Oct 2011
3
38th
Is it a bit too stiff upper-lip? Well, yeah. But a knockout premise and some pretty fair romance carry it through, and I was genuinely invested in Cleve's dalliances. It doesn't hurt that Gene Tierney looks stunningly gorgeous, granted. The humor is often dated, but just as often charming, and makes this very enjoyable.
Rated 06 Aug 2013
67
18th
An enjoyable yet ultimately somewhat disappointing comedy. It introduces a nice premise/framing device but the story itself fails to live up to it. The supporting cast is game as always for Lubitsch (whose direction is breezy enough) but I think Ameche lacks the charisma that would have pushed this film to another level.
Rated 19 Jun 2015
4
74th
Perhaps less hilarious than other Lubitsch films, but nevertheless a sly and mannered comedy, framed in an amusing and fantastical exposition. An urbane family chronicle, filled with charm and delight, but also with surprising and more complex notes of melancholy. It is a wistful film, gorgeously rendered in Technicolor, longing for time past and love lost. It's fun to watch the years, fashions, and industrial advancements roll by in a manner so brief and fleeting, but no less profound.
Rated 22 Feb 2019
84
23rd
83.50
Rated 28 Feb 2019
70
96th
Elegant Ernst Lubitsch movie, as always. The scene where Eugene Pallette & Marjorie Main argue over the comic strips did it for me! I've never seen the big man so emotional! It had be bursting and rewinding the scene over and over! But this was mostly a lovely sweet story of a ladies man. Don Ameche plays it like a player, old school. Him and Gene Tierney were so adorable together. A true match! I must admit that a tear or two was lurking at the corner of my eye during this.
Rated 20 Aug 2021
60
35th
Hard to say if this is old-fashioned or somewhat daring for attempting to excuse a man's wandering eyes during his lifetime, especially since so much is just hinted at. It has an odd sort of melancholy humor throughout. I wasn't particularly captivated by the two leads; I found the supporting cast much more enjoyable.
Rated 21 Mar 2022
50
25th
He doesn't deserve to go to hell, that's for us the gays and he's gonna ruin our party >:( I thought it was gonna be a somewhat interesting story but jesus christ it drags.I had a few laughs but the dude is too pushy and an asshole, most of the characters (except the granpa) are boring and don't know how to deliver jokes, special Martha's parents, who I would love to murder
Rated 07 Sep 2022
70
52nd
I feel bad for what they did to Gene Tierney's hair to make her look older. I just feel like I could never get the tone of this film. Was it wistful? Melodramatic? Comical? Maybe it's all three and I am just not very good at understanding film.
Rated 14 May 2023
72
48th
A romantic comedy with dramatic and fantasy elements and interesting cameras, Heaven Can Wait is a good but not great effort from Lubitsch. It's never quite as funny as the funniest Lubitsch or as romantic as the most romantic Lubitsch or as touching as the most touching Lubitsch. In the end, it's fairly enjoyable but feels a bit underwhelming. Tierney is good as always and it's always fun to see Charles Coburn.
Rated 10 Feb 2024
43
51st
#24#, rw2, ratings, story, Gene.T!, "Project 100-80-60-40-20"-1943#1

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