Watch Here Comes Mr. Jordan For Free

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Harry Segall won an Academy Award on his only Oscar nomination for this original story, a fantasy romance comedy, that also earned screenwriters Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller their only Oscars. Director Alexander Hall received his only nomination as did Supporting Actor James Gleason. Lead actor Robert Montgomery, the film and it's B&W Cinematography were also nominated.Montgomery plays saxophone playing boxer Joe Pendleton who's accidentally taken to heaven by Edward Everett Horton's character. It seems Horton had 'saved' Joe from a plane crash prematurely, underestimating the athlete's ability to survive it. So, Joe finds himself in limbo years before his time.Never fear, the titled Mr. Jordan (Claude Rains) can 'fix' things, if only temporarily, by putting Joe (whose body had been cremated) in the body of a wealthy if wily businessman named Farnsworth, who's just been bumped off by his wife Julia (Rita Johnson) and secretary Tony Abbott (John Emery). Much to their surprise, and chagrin, Farnsworth is still alive and behaving strangely - Joe was/is a much different person.As Farnsworth, Joe decides he wants the title fight he was due before the accident and, despite his age, he hires his old trainer Max Corkle (Gleason) to get Farnsworth's old body in shape. By revealing some personal information known only between the two of them, Farnsworth convinces Max he is really Joe.Subsequently, the new Farnsworth falls in love with Bette Logan (Evelyn Keyes), whom he'd been helping to resolve a securities fraud issue involving her father, who the original Farnsworth had framed. Naturally, Julia still wants to kill him. Eventually, police Inspector Williams (Donald MacBride) is called in to investigate and Max has a hard time convincing him of the improbability of it all.Meanwhile, Mr. Jordan has found a more appropriate home for Joe's soul, a boxer who's about to be killed by gamblers, but Joe is worried that Bette won't recognize the new-new him. Halliwell Hobbes plays Farnsworth's butler Sisk.

Having Claude Rains in any film is a good enough recommendation for me to watch a picture. The title here might be considered an odd one because the Mr. Jordan of the title, portrayed by Rains, is not the principal character. But it's probably fair to say he commands the viewer's attention in any scene he's in, including those with the star of the picture, Robert Montgomery, who's put through his paces as three different people before it's all over.To maintain continuity, Montgomery's original appearance as boxer Joe Pendleton is maintained throughout the story as he assumes different bodies after 'dying' at the very outset. Well actually, he didn't really die in the plane crash; an overzealous angel on his first mission snatched Joe's spirit before the plane hit the ground. It kind of bothered me that Messenger 7013 (Edward Everett Horton) didn't have to serve some sort of penalty for his rather cosmic mistake. Mr. Jordan hit him with a verbal slap on the wrist as it were, but 7013 kept showing up time and again without too much in the way of contrition for his major blunder.However the prospective romance at the heart of the picture between Pendleton and Bette Logan (Evelyn Keyes) is played out rather creatively. In the guise of wealthy businessman Bruce Farnsworth, Montgomery sets things right regarding the five million dollar securities swindle her father was blamed for. Personally I would like to have seen him take a more aggressive response to his scheming wife and business manager after they found out their victim was still breathing. For a split second I lost concentration when Pendleton/ Farnsworth summoned the man with 'Hey Abbott', I thought Costello might show up too.As for the resolution to the story, I don't think I'm alone in feeling that good old boy Joe might have been dealt an unfortunate hand after all with the memory of his former life being erased. Earlier, Mr. Jordan remarked that "In the final reckoning everything will be accounted for". Sadly for Joe Pendleton, he didn't really get another fifty years on his own terms, making me wonder if Mr. Jordan might have considered some other heavenly option.

When I watched this film for the first time, I liked it a lot. But I only considered the film as an enjoyable comedy. When I watched the second time, I realized so many interesting things we don't notice throughout the movie. When we look into Sidney Buchman and Seton Miller's wonderful screenplay, then we see that there are several interesting dialogue and ideas in the film.Here is an example of an interesting dialogue. Mr. Jordan says to Joe "Finance is merely a matter of heart being in the right place." Mr. Jordan also says to Joe "But eventually, she will see the soul of Joe Pendleton, because that is never lost. That will always shine through Joe. No matter what overcoat you put on." I think this dialogue covers the main message of the movie. Many people becomes sad about the ending, because they think Joe no longer exists.I think this is because they are confused about the message of the film. When I watched the film for the first time, I got a little confused too. But after the second viewing, I understood the film much more. Although Mr. Jordan gave the body of Murdock and his memory, still the soul belongs to Joe. Only Joe exists. Murdock is dead. The body of Murdock and Murdock's memory is nothing but an overcoat for the soul of Joe to live for the rest of his life. In the end, we see that the soul of Joe Pendleton shining through the overcoat of Murdock. That's one of the reasons why Betty was attracted to him in the end. And this is also one of the reasons why Max Corkle becomes his coach in the end. Through the saxophone, we realize that it is Joe's soul inside Murdock's body. In the end, we see nothing but the beauty of the message left for us.We also have to appreciate what Screenwriter Sidney Buchman did to this project. Harry Cohn wanted to make this film as a low budget. But Sidney Buchman pushed Harry Cohn to give a high budget for this film. And Buchman also insisted Harry Cohn to get Robert Montgomery for the leading role. Just like Joe Pendleton's Soul, Sidney Buchman's love and true dedication makes this film shine. And I thought Alexander Hall's direction was great. His direction especially at the ending scenes and Frederick Hollander's score makes this film even more special. I thought everyone did a great job playing their roles. I rate this film 10 out of 10.

Terrific story of a pug who dies prematurely and comes back down to earth only to take the form of 2 other gentlemen. Seems that he had been cremated before it was realized in heaven that it wasn't his time to go yet.Robert Montgomery gave a memorable turn as the fighter, business man and other fighter again in this whimsical tale. James Gleason steals the movie as his over-wrought manager who knows what's going on but is unable to reveal the substantive details without being thought of as crazy.Then, there is Claude Rains as the leader in heaven.Evelyn Keyes is given the meatier role of his girlfriend during his 2nd existence and at the end. She really rids herself of the Sue-Ellen image 2 years earlier from "Gone With the Wind."