Here Comes Mr. Jordan

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Overview

Robert Montgomery plays saxophone-playing boxer Joe Pendleton, who insists upon piloting his own plane, much to the consternation of his manager Max Corkle James Gleason. Just before a championship bout, Joe's plane crashes. When he revives, he finds he has been whisked away to Heaven by the overanxious Messenger #7013. Checking with the man in charge, one Mr. Jordan Claude Rains, Pendleton discovers that he isn't scheduled to die for another 50 years. Joe heads back to earth, only to learn to his chagrin that ...
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Overview

Robert Montgomery plays saxophone-playing boxer Joe Pendleton, who insists upon piloting his own plane, much to the consternation of his manager Max Corkle James Gleason. Just before a championship bout, Joe's plane crashes. When he revives, he finds he has been whisked away to Heaven by the overanxious Messenger #7013. Checking with the man in charge, one Mr. Jordan Claude Rains, Pendleton discovers that he isn't scheduled to die for another 50 years. Joe heads back to earth, only to learn to his chagrin that his body has been cremated. Mr. Jordan is obliged to find Joe a new body; the "candidate" is a business mogul named Farnsworth, who is in the process of being murdered in his bath by his wife Rita Johnson and her lover John Emery. Joe takes over Farnsworth's body, astonishing the murderers by emerging from the bathroom, very much alive while Joe still looks like Joe to himself and the audience, he looks like Farnsworth to everyone else. Still desirous of winning the upcoming championship, Joe begins to whip Farnsworth's body into shape, even hiring Max Corkle to manage him. It takes some doing, but Joe convinces Max that he is indeed Joe and not Farnsworth their scenes together are priceless, far better seen than described. Meanwhile, Joe has fallen in love with Bette Logan Evelyn Keyes, a woman whose father had been ruined by the real Farnsworth. For her sake, he pays back millions of dollars that the crooked Farnsworth had finagled out of his investors. This prompts Mrs. Farnsworth and her lover to kill "Farnsworth" again, and once more Joe Pendleton is without a body. How Mr. Jordan arranges for Joe to win the championship, expose the murderers and walk off arm and arm with Bette is a bit too complex to detail here. Here Comes Mr. Jordan is one of the most consistently clever romantic comedies of the 1940s, and richly deserving of the Oscars won by screenwriters Sidney Buchman, Seton I. Miller and Harry Segall. A sequel, Down to Earth, was filmed in 1947, with Roland Culver as Mr. Jordan; and in 1978, the original Jordan was remade by Warren Beatty as Heaven Can Wait.
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello
The usually debonair Robert Montgomery stepped out of character in this classic comic fantasy to play a clean-cut boxer, Joe Pendleton, who's been sent to heaven before his time. Mr. Jordan, a kind of celestial executive, rectifies the error by loaning Pendleton the body of a millionaire named Bruce Farnsworth who's just been murdered by his wife. When she learns that he's alive again, the fun begins. The kind of beautifully executed film that turns the auteur theory on its head, it's driven by a script that always manages to keep its fiendishly complicated farcical maneuvers in perfect focus. Montgomery is wonderful as the simple boxer who just wants a shot at the title, as is Claude Rains as the dryly sardonic angel. But it's veteran James Gleason's Academy Award-winning performance as Joe's manager Max Corkle that steals the film. The scene in which Joe finally convinces Max that his spirit is inhabiting the body of Farnsworth is a masterpiece of comic acting. Although the film was remade twice, by Warren Beatty as Heaven Can Wait and Chris Rock as Down to Earth, this is the kind of film that they really don't make anymore.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 6/23/1994
  • UPC: 043396719231
  • Original Release: 1941

    • Rating:

  • Source: SONY PICTURES
  • Format: VHS

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Robert Montgomery Joe Pendleton/Bruce Farnsworth/ Ralph Murdoch
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 Inspector Williams
Don Costello Lefty
Halliwell Hobbes Sisk
Benny Rubin Bugs
Warren Ashe Charlie
Lloyd Bridges Co-Pilot
Eddie Bruce Reporter
Ken Christy Plainclothesman
Chester Conklin Newsboy
Joe Conti
Maurice Costello Ringsider at Fight
Joseph Crehan Doctor
Mary Currier Secretary
Billy Dawson Johnny
Edmund Elton Elderly Man
William Forrest
Tom Hanlon Announcer
John Ince Bill Collector
Selmar Jackson Board Member
Bobby Larson Chips
Billy Newell Handler
Gerald Pierce Newsboy
John Rogers Escort
Douglas Wood
Bert Young Taxi Driver
Technical Credits
Alexander Hall Director
Alexander Hall Director
Lionel Banks Art Director
Sidney Buchman Screenwriter
Edith Head Costumes/Costume Designer
Frederick Hollander Score Composer, Musical Direction/Supervision
Viola Lawrence Editor
Seton Miller Screenwriter
Everett J. Riskin Producer
Harry Segall Screenwriter
Morris W. Stoloff Score Composer, Musical Direction/Supervision
Joseph Walker Cinematographer
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