HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1943) C 112m dir: Ernst Lubitsch

w/Don Ameche, Gene Tierney, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Spring Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern

From The Movie Guide: "Astute salute to a charming rake, deceptive satire disguised as a bubble. This movie has Ameche as an innocent Casanova, shown from infancy to his death at age 70. The film opens with a deceased Ameche standing before the devil, Cregar, requesting his passport to Hell. Cregar srudies his newest applicant and then reviews Ameche's carefree and often careless life. Based on the Hungarian play Birthdays by Ladislaus Bus-Fekete, with additional bromides from Samson Raphaelson. But Ameche is short on charm and too hapless for the role; he can't get any chemistry cooking with Tierney. Still, it's compensated by a supporting cast of pros, and Lubitsch's deft direction. This was Lubitsch's first color film; the Basevi-Fuller [the art directors] Hell is a fabulous sight to see."