Heaven Can Wait (DVD)
APPROX. 112 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1943 - MPA RATING: NR
" I admire the extraordinary craft involved in making such a film: it requires a lot of hard work to make comedy seem so easy.
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The film is always predictable, but this is part and parcel of the form: we know where everything is going to wind up, and the fun is simply watching the actors get there. Many reasonable viewers take great pleasure in such craft, and I can understand why. I sometimes find the experience more grating than pleasurable; the characters are just cogs in the intricate machinery of the plot and the rapid-fire dialogue is often too clever for its own good (then again, I can´t stand the Rosalind Russell character in "His Girl Friday" either).
"Heaven Can Wait" also possesses a nasty misogynistic streak. In the opening scene in Hell´s waiting room, Henry meets an older, slightly overweight woman he used to know; he remembers fondly how nice her legs were. She giggles and lifts her skirt to show her ankles; "His Excellency" grimaces and pulls the lever and she falls through a trap door into the burning fires of the underworld; he quips "Those things are best left to memory" – har har. Meant as a light-hearted joke, it comes across only as cruel, and throughout the film women who have the temerity to be anything but young, thin and pretty are treated with contempt. Is this "the Lubitsch touch" as well?
Still, "Heaven Can Wait" is a fine example of classical Hollywood popular entertainment. If the film feels formulaic in certain aspects, it is important to remember that Lubitsch and Raphaelson were helping to create the formula itself. In the end, Henry is unable to convince "His Excellency" that he really belongs down below, and he takes an elevator ride up to his ultimate reward. Hardly a surprise, of course, but that´s OK: it´s Don Ameche, after all, and if he can´t get into heaven then the rest of us are really screwed.
Video
The DVD is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1. There is some digital flicker, most noticeable in the very colorful scenes set in Hell´s waiting room. Aside from that, the restored digital transfer is excellent, the colors are vibrant, and the picture quality is clear with only a few artifacts visible from the source print.
Audio
The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. The dialogue and music are both clear and well-mixed. Optional English subtitles support the audio.
Extras
For a single disc, this DVD package has quite a few interesting special features.
Perhaps the most interesting is a 24-minute conversation between film critic super-couple Molly Haskell and Andrew Sarris. "Heaven Can Wait" is exactly the sort of film Sarris championed when he introduced the auteur theory to America as a means of redeeming Hollywood studio movies as art worthy of study, and he provides an enthusiastic defense of the film with Haskell prompting him along the way. Yes, they talk like a married couple.
"Creativity with Bill Moyers: A Portrait of Samson Raphaelson." (29 min.) A 1982 episode from the PBS show, recorded about a year before the legendary screenwriter passed away. In his post-Lubitsch years, Raphaelson became one of America´s leading screenwriting gurus and he is energetic and entertaining in this charming portrait.
"Raphaelson at MOMA." An audio recording of Raphaelson´s appearance at MOMA in 1977 with critic Richard Corliss as moderator.
"Ernst Lubitsch: A Musical Collage." Introduced by his daughter Nicola, this short feature (4 min.) offers recordings of Lubitsch playing the piano along with a montage of family photographs.
The disc also includes a Marketing section with a trailer, press book and publicity gallery.
Closing Thoughts
The only Lubitsch film I´ve enjoyed greatly is his lovely silent film "The Marriage Circle" (1924), which was later remade as the inferior talkie "One Hour With You" (1932). Perhaps I´m just not as appreciative as I should be of "the Lubitsch touch." I enjoyed "Heaven Can Wait", I just can´t view it as a comic masterpiece like Sarris and many other critics do. I am often told that I am prejudiced against comedies; my response is that I like the ones that make me laugh; there just aren´t very many of them around. "Heaven Can Wait" didn´t make me laugh, but it did make me smile and that puts it ahead of most comedies. Even if it´s not suited to my taste, it is clearly well-crafted and I wouldn´t be the least bit surprised if the majority of viewers like it far more than I do.
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