Review of Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) by John T — 26 May 2013

Robert Montgomery plays fighter Joe Pendleton whose spirit is prematurely snatched from his body when it appears his plane is about to crash. Claude Rains plays Mr. Jordan, the angel whose job is to find a suitable replacement body so Pendleton can fight for the championship. Claude Rains plays a similar role in Angel on My Shoulder which starred Paul Muni.

This movie is superior to the 1979 remake, Heaven Can Wait, starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. Except for making the protagonist a football player instead of a boxer, the remake copied the original story line exactly in almost every respect, e.g., a businessman being murdered by his wife and his attorney, a crooked businessman falling in love when he meets the woman that he is swindling, the scenes when he convinces his friend who he really is, transferring his spirit to an athlete dying during competition, and the ending scene when he runs into the woman and they try to remember if they ever met before. In 2001, the film was remade is a miserable film on every level, with the dreadful decision to make our hero a comic rather than an athlete.

James Gleason plays Joe's trainer Max Corkle, who nearly steals ever scene he is in. The scene where Joe, in his new body, hires Gleason and then tries to convince him of his real identity, is just hysterical.