Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

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.

SimonJack Every decade has had a film or two made about the afterlife or some aspect of it. The 1940s spurred a rash of such films. "It's a Wonderful Life" of 1946 is perhaps the best known. "Heaven Can Wait" and "A Guy Named Joe" were two such films released in 1943. "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" came out in 1947. Another 1946 film was "A Matter of Life and Death." "Between Two Worlds" was released in 1944. "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" of 1941 may have started the surge. The idea for the plot is a catchy one, and the movie won two Oscars for the original story and screenplay. While billed as a comedy/romance and fantasy, this film also has crime and corruption, including murder. The plot is focused on Robert Montgomery who plays Joe Pendleton, with his metaphysical changes into other bodies and characters. The story keeps a light and humorous air, even with a sub-plot within the main story of a woman and boyfriend killing her wealthy husband. It includes some crime and corruption in the fight game. Then, it toys with adultery in the form of Joe's newest incarnation in the body of a married man. So, the plot is a little shaky in places, with the humor seeming out of place. The writing may be good, but the comedic atmosphere with these scenes just doesn't feel right. The acting is so-so for most of the players. Claude Rains is Mr. Jordan and Edward Everett Horton is Messenger 7013. They are Joe's contacts in the afterlife. The only other notable role is by James Gleason as Max Corkle. He was Joe's trainer when Joe was a clean cut boxer on his way to the top. The best humor involves scenes with Max talking to Joe, who no one could see or hear. Max finally learns that Joe has come back in other bodies when Joe, in those bodies, tells him the story and gives him details that no one else could possibly know. The romance is quite a stretch, and some of the cast are wooden in their roles. It's an OK story and lightly entertaining for adults. Most of the afterlife movies noted above from the 1940s are better films than this one. But none of them are comedies. Then again, how really funny is this one? A fight is fixed, a married couple step out on each other, a guy is drowned and then shot when he reappears alive. Great humor, huh? Maybe some other reviewers and I watched different films.

A_Different_Drummer Even today, 70+ years after this film was made, with this reviewer (having seen it maybe a dozen time) now in his dotage, I will still occasionally bump into another cinephile, no matter male or female, who will recall this film for that one unforgettable scene where Montgomery's character, Joe Pendelton, finally gets a replacement body that suits him, and his angel (played by Claude Rains) gives him a merry sendoff by removing the memory of everything that happened in the film before that. To balance the cosmos, so to speak. Unfortunately, this also removed his memory of a girl he'd met in an earlier body (one that did not work out) so it seems that now, the course of true love is thwarted. But is it? In a long corridor inside the stadium where Montgomery's character, in his last (and final) body, has just finished a prize fight, as Montgomery passes by the girl he once was in love with (ie, in another body before his memory was diddled with); and the girl, convinced the man she'd loved (ie, Montgomery in an earlier body) was dead, passes him going the other way. Of course she does not recognize him (new body, new name); and he does not recognize her (aforesaid angelic diddling). But as they pass as strangers, the lights in the corridor momentarily go out. And when the lights come back on, each stops, aware that just for a moment, in the dark, they recognized something about the other that was not obvious to the eye. And then the girl suggests that maybe they should go have a coffee and talk about the experience. And I swear I get misty-eyed just writing about this scene, that's how powerful it is, and I promise you that none of the 700 remakes has captured it properly. In fact, the tears are welling up so fast I am going to have to go out and shoot a deer just to remind myself what a manly man I am. Oh, in case I forgot, superb film, superb performances, based on a brilliant stage play, Claude Rains riding shotgun, mesmerizing and unforgettable. There, I think I covered all the bases. Actually deserves a 20 and I mean to talk to the IMDb about making a special rating system for this film. They listen to me, they really do...

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.