Forget the theological arguments for just a minute and let’s examine exactly what 1943’s Heaven Can Wait is really about. In this film, which has nothing to do with the stage play of the same name that was made into the film Here Comes Mr. Jordan, then later into the 1978 film Heaven Can Wait and the 2001 film Down to Earth. This film, instead, is based on a different play, Birthday, by Ladislaus Bus-Fekete. In this film, Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche) is trying to convince the gatekeeper (Laird Cregar) to the afterlife that he deserves to take the elevator down to hell, whereas his story tells this man that he deserves to ride that elevator heavenward instead. This film, and the play behind it, are a means to appease those in the audience who feel they are not living up to the standards of heaven by saying they are good enough, even if they aren’t exactly saints.
Of course, people can fall back on the theological opinions and try to make a case that Henry is doing nothing the various churches say are needed to make it into heaven, but this film is not really about that. This film is not going to bring up any Christian doctrine, nor is it aimed at any specific creed or belief. In fact, outside of the title, this film will not make direct reference to heaven and hell, only hinting at them in a roundabout way. We are instead to look at this as an examination of a man’s life, which could be anyone’s life, and decide whether he was a good man or not. And just like any life, there are good and bad elements about it. We get an omniscient view of it, impartial, and can make up our mind whether this is a good man. For many, this would be the ideal waypoint between this life and the next because it is far more lenient than what is so often preached across the pulpit.
What is unfolded to us, and to the gatekeeper, credited as His Excellency, is a tale of no one of particular importance to the grand scheme of things. This is no great world leader or spiritual giant. Instead, it is a young man, born an only child into affluence in Manhattan in the 1870s. While his parents are stuffy and naive, and his paternal grandmother is doting, his grandfather, a self-made millionaire, understands the boy quite well, seeing more than a little of himself in the young lad.
As Henry grows, he develops a taste for attractive showgirls. However, one day he overhears a beautiful woman, Martha (Gene Tierney), lying to her mother on a public telephone. Intrigued, he follows her into a bookstore, then poses as a clerk to get to know her better. He learns that she is engaged but doesn’t let that dissuade him from pursuing her. When she discovers that he doesn’t work there, she hastily departs, leaving him to wander the city trying to figure out where she lives.
Later, his annoying cousin Albert (Allyn Joslyn) introduces the family to his fiancée, Martha, and her feuding parents, the Stables (Marjorie Main and Eugene Pallette). Henry approaches her and learns that Albert was the first suitor of whom both of her parents approved. Fearing becoming an old maid living the rest of her life with her parents in Kansas City, she accepted his proposal despite not loving him. Henry wins her over, convincing her to elope with him. This scandalizes the whole family, except for his grandfather, but eventually they are received back into the family.
Their marriage is a typical one, producing just a single son, Jack. But as the years go by, Martha suspects him of seeing other women behind her back. He convinces her this is not the case, but not before she flees the home and returns to her parents. Eventually, Jack begins to show the same taste in women, pursuing showgirls. Henry tries to intervene but is stymied by Jack’s restless nature and willingness to move on quickly to other women. Eventually, Henry is widowed and, now alone, finds himself overwhelmed with loneliness. His son, now grown, has taken over the family business and tries to understand his father, but the two have grown somewhat distant, emotionally. Finally, Henry dies and, looking back on his life, feels that it is unworthy of heaven. But His Excellency feels otherwise and hints that there are a couple of people up there that may be waiting for him to arrive.
The brilliance of this script is in the simplicity of the main character. He is shown as a bit of an everyman, though he is from a wealthy family. We don’t really see him excelling at business or showing great leadership skills; he’s kind of an underachiever in life, getting by on his family’s money and his charm. He’s someone like most of us are. He doesn’t think too highly of himself, nor does he act overly dour, either. He just is, and that comes across as a reassurance for most of us that if someone such as this can merit heaven, then there is hope for the rest of us.
Casting Don Ameche in this part was a bit of genius, too. Don has a bit of a playboy aura to him, yet never quite crosses over the line into being lecherous. This works for him as a young man and just as well when he is playing the elderly widow. It’s a performance that was still working for him even when he really did get old. This is pivotal to our continuing to like him even when we think he may actually be stepping out on Martha, and it is integral for us to have empathy when he is old and widowed, lonely and wanting a younger woman just to read to him now that his eyesight is failing. We need to understand his point of view on himself but also to understand why it is wrong. It’s a tricky line to get right, but Don Ameche walks it effortlessly.
Whether you are religious or atheist, the message in this film is crystal clear: you don’t have to be a saint to be a good person. Some people get so hung up on their various failings that they cannot see the good person behind those weaknesses. A film like this won’t change their minds about themselves; only they can do that. But it can give them food for thought and add a little laughter into their lives, too. It’s perfectly innocuous while also being a trifle uplifting. There is nothing earth-shattering in it, but it can appeal to just about anyone, which is a feat many films just cannot make.
Academy Award Nominations:
Outstanding Motion Picture: Ernst Lubitsch
Best Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Best Cinematography - Color: Edward Cronjager
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Release Date: August 5, 1943
Running Time: 112 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, and Charles Coburn
Directed by: Ernst Lubitsch
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