313 - Here Comes Mr. Jordan, United States, 1941. Dir. Alexander Hall.
Joe Pendleton is scheduled to die on Saturday, May 11, 1991.
But that is fifty years from now.
So why is he in the clouds already?
Mr. Jordan wants to know too. Mr. Jordan is responsible for receiving the newly deceased into the airplane that will transport them on to heaven.
Unfortunately, he has some less than competent help on his hands. The man, er, angel checking people in has failed to alphabetize the list.
And Messenger 7013 is new on the job today.
Messenger 7013 has already made a mistake. He saw Joe's plane plummeting to the earth and took him out of his body prematurely, causing him to die before the plane hit the ground. He presumed he would die in the crash anyway and wanted to spare him the anguish. See what happens when Messengers let their emotions get the best of them.
But Messenger 7013 was wrong. Joe would not have died in the crash. Or rather, Joe would not have crashed at all. He would have pulled out in time. He would have survived.
He is scheduled to die on Saturday, May 11, 1991, remember. Not today.
The good news for him is that he is scheduled to have his dreams come true, to become a boxing champion.
The bad news is that his body is gone.
Mr. Jordan presents several possibilities to Joe, but Joe declines them all.
Until they arrive at the home of Mr. Bruce Farnsworth.
His wife, Mrs. Julia Farnsworth, and secretary, Tony Abbott, are about to murder him. In the bathtub. Mr. Jordan and Joe wait in the grand foyer. We watch their faces in the foyer as the deed is done upstairs. And we can see in Claude Rains' radiant eyes that he is following the action knowingly, as it occurs, from the floor below, and he knows when it is accomplished.
He offers Mr. Farnsworth's body to Joe.
But Joe does not want this body either. Farnsworth is too rich. Too ridiculous. Too out of touch with reality. Joe wants to be a prizefighter. Not an investor.
Bette Logan enters the room. Mr. Farnsworth has committed an injustice against her father, and she appeals to Mrs. Farnsworth and Tony. They refuse to help. Joe wants to help her, to correct the situation. He can if he gets into Farnsworth's body, but he does not want to be in Farnsworth's body.
He makes a deal with Mr. Jordan. He will take over Farnsworth's body just long enough to help out Miss Logan. Then they will find another body for him. Mr. Jordan agrees.
They go upstairs. Immediately. And Joe gets out of the tub as Bruce Farnsworth. Inwardly, he is still Joe Pendleton, and that is what we will see. Outwardly, he is Bruce Farnsworth, and that is what they will see and hear.
He takes care of Miss Logan's situation and Mr. Jordan offers him the body of an Australian prizefighter.
There is just one problem.
Now he loves Bette Logan.
What will he do? What is he destined to do? What is he free to do? Sometimes he receives answers. Sometimes he does not.
Mr. Jordan explains, "If there were no mystery to explore, life would get rather dull, wouldn't it?"
Robert Montgomery plays Joe Pendleton. We will see him again as director and star of a fascinating Film Noir called Ride the Pink Horse (1947). It turns out he is the father of Elizabeth Montgomery, who played Samantha Stephens on the television series Bewitched (1964-1972).
Mr. Jordan. Claude Rains. The incomparable. Rains embodies Mr. Jordan with that quiet, centered confidence that has enamored him with audiences for decades. He makes the viewer feel comforted, safe, taken care of. His mere presence says that everything is going to be OK. And he even says so himself.
The viewer knows long before Joe Pendleton ever does that everything is going to be OK. And that no matter what choices Joe makes, or that others make, or whatever happens, Joe will ultimately receive his destiny. And it will be good.
Claude Rains makes Mr. Jordan seem like an altogether good and thoroughly loving father. He is not God. He is the head of a department that transports people from earth to heaven. But he presents the image of a heavenly employee as being altogether good and thoroughly loving. He takes the time to return with Joe to help him solve his problem. And he states that whenever Joe needs him, he will be there, a promise he fulfills during the course of the movie.
Joe Pendleton is in good hands.
And one suspects that, as his life takes its many twists and turns, everything indeed will be OK.
However it turns out.
* * * * *
"Alexander Hall is like the foundation of so many franchises." - Michael Schlesinger.
This is just one thread--
1947 - Down to Earth - Rita Hayworth
1960s - Joe Sweetwater/Sweet Joe - Francis Ford Coppola screenwriter, Bill Cosby star, never made
1978 - Heaven Can Wait - Warren Beatty
1980 - Xanadu - Gene Kelly
2001 - Down to Earth - Chris Rock
2007 - Xanadu on Broadway
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