Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Ploydsge just watch it!

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

JohnHowardReid It's possible just to sit back and just enjoy the comedy. Actually more than a few shudders of drama are included as well, though the producer has tried to break this down by the casting of that ripe-old ham Donald MacBride as a particularly squally police inspector. Nonetheless Rita Johnson and John Emery are as cool and nasty a pair of schemers as ever deserved the hangman's noose. Don Costello's shifty manager is far from comic too. Aside from MacBride, it is largely left to Montgomery himself - with the admirable assistance of Edward Everett Horton and the less skillful but determinedly plugging-away James Gleason - to make with all the funny faces and can-this-really-be-me double takes. Midway between these two camps of farce and drama, Claude Rains plays Mr Jordan with such a suave, ironically smiling detachment that he succeeds in bringing yet a third acting force to bear on the script. Ironic detachment is a style of acting rarely used in the movies as it requires an actor with pres¬ence to bring it off - a gifted player like Claude Rains whose skilful performance is a double pleasure to see and hear. Another equally rare treat is provided by Lloyd Bridges who makes his two-line bit part memorable by mouthing his dia¬logue tongue-in-cheek. But whether played for laughs or thrills or fatal¬ism, the blending is almost always perfectly entertaining - thanks both to the collective skills of the actors and the stylish artistry of director Alexander Hall. (Two other troupers that deserve to be singled out for praise are Halliwell Hobbes as a delightfully stuffy old butler, and Evelyn Keyes who makes her heroine seem appropriately lovely and, vulnerable). Thirty years ago, Alexander Hall was a highly regarded director. He died in 1968 - too early for today's cult critics to get him down on tape - and his popularity has waned. Not all of Hall's movies are as enter¬taining or as well-served as Here Comes Mr Jordan, but there can be little doubt that Hall's was a superior talent in the fantasy field. Unlike most of the current crop of directors, Hall knew how to ration his special effects so that the movie wasn't swamped in a welter of dazzling but superfi¬cial visuals. Hall makes the effects reinforce the story - not today's way in which the story is merely an excuse for an endlessly juvenile display of cinema trickery. Hall has a real sense of timing and contrast. Admittedly, his touch is occasionally a little heavy-handed (especially in the Gleason-MacBride scenes) - but compared to the Steven Spielbergs of this world it's the excesses of a gavel to a jackhammer. He knows how to move the camera too and keep the plot moving along sharply. Of course he has a clever script to work from, ingenious not only in its princi¬pal idea but in the way it twists and turns until all the loose ends are neatly tied up at the conclusion. Perhaps it all comes out just a little too pat - but after all isn't that just what we'd expect from a Mr Jordan?Hall is also helped out by a fine array of a talent behind the camera. The sets are just right, neither calling a distracting attention to themselves by a tasteless if expensive gaudiness nor seeming on the other hand disappointingly cheap or sterile. The pho¬tography too has the perfect combination of atmosphere, realism and unobtrusive artistry. The music also contributes deftly but not egotistically to the entertainment whole.That old adage, "Many cooks spoil the broth," is usually untrue so far as films are concerned. Here is the proof. Here Comes Mr Jordan is a delectable feast. The Warren Beatty re-make is a burnt breakfast.

Xjayhawker I have loved this film for the last forty or so years.If it's on or I know it's going to be on,I'll make time to watch. One of the few movies where you will be sucked in from the very opening shots.It's a shame James Gleason didn't win as Best Supporting Actor. He played the mostly compassionate, caring and befuddled Max Corkle to perfection, and the last looks on his face when he realizes that "Joe" doesn't remember is classic. Donald MacBride should have some kind of mention as the detective searching for a body ("Where's the body?") or playing the suspicious hotel manager in Cary Grant-Irene Dunne's masterpiece His Favorite Wife.The man had facial expressions unequaled in today's Hollywood. Gleason was under-appreciated as an actor. Catch him as taxi driver in The Bishop's Wife. As far as a film full of treasures, this is the one to hold on to and treasure. Every single performance is a joy and done to perfection and not the least of which is Robert Montgomery's quick change between characters. Not only do I suggest watching but buying and sharing it with another generation of movie lovers.

Spikeopath Here Comes Mr. Jordan is directed by Alexander Hall and adapted from Harry Segall's play by Sidney Buchman & Seton Miller. It stars Robert Montgomery, Evelyn Keyes, Claude Rains, Rita Johnson, Edward Everett Horton and James Gleason. Photography is by Joseph Walker and Friedrich Hollaender scores the music. Plot sees Montgomery as boxer Joe Pendleton, who during a journey in a small plane finds himself crashing towards the earth but then suddenly finds that he is in heaven. Turns out that his soul was saved before the crash impact by angel 7013 (Horton) who assumed that he wouldn't have survived the crash. Bad call, tho, because it wasn't Pendleton's time, he's not due to die for another 50 years! So superior angel Mr. Jordan (Rains) escorts him back to Earth, but the trouble is is that Joe's body has been cremated by his boxing manager Max (Gleason), so the search is on for a new body for Joe to exist in. First stop; a murder victim!Fun and appealing comedy that offers up dry observations on the afterlife and keeps its romantic plot strand on the warm side of the bed. It's that the makers can marry up the comedy to the romance so well that makes the film so utterly beguiling. The characters are easily to warm too, so as the plot delightfully twists and turns, we are happy to run with them into each well written corner. The film is also very well casted, with Montgomery bullish without over doing it, and Rains elegant and enjoying his role. But the joys come in the support cast with Horton all prissy as the over zealous 7013 and Gleason playing it spot on as the bemused and incredulous manager. Bonus, too, is that the ending offers up a two fold resolution that shows a better hand than many other comedies of the era.Uncynical if a touch routine, Here Comes Mr. Jordan is heartily recommended fare to the classic comedy seeker. 7.5/10

bob the moo Boxer Joe Pendleton is days away from his championship bout when his private plane goes down and the agents of death take him away to heaven. Unfortunately for Joe, the agent acted too fast and, had he waited he would have seen Joe recover the crashing aircraft and make it away safely. Problem is in the time taken to sort this out (which has involved top agent Mr Jordan), Joe's earthly remains have been cremated with no chance of him just being returned to his body. So begins a search for another body for Joe, a search that ultimately leads to millionaire Farnsworth – who has just been murdered by his wife and her lover.Looking at the basic plot (and even the detail of the ending) it does strike me as rather amazing that this did get made as a studio picture because it does have a dark streak to it that could easily have undercut any comedy, whimsy or romance and alienated the audience. Watching it again recently it does still surprise me that it pulls it off but somehow it is light, funny and with plenty of charm and somehow even the rather ambiguous ending comes off as lifting and happy. A big part of this for me is the cast because they get the delivery just right – in particular Robert Montgomery. Some have said that Rains dominates his scenes but I totally disagree, Montgomery owns the film because the tough but kind nature of his character is the engine that drives it to success. He is note perfect and his performance kept me with the tone of the film. Rains is nearly as good but is more of a cool presence in each scene.Hall's direction holds it together and makes the tone so that we never lose the slight hint of darkness but prevents it ever getting in the way of the comedy and fantasy of the piece. Here Comes Mr Jordan has been remade several times recently and you can see why because this original is charming and fresh with solid comedy and whimsy held together by a couple of great performances.