PARADISE FOUND!

They don't make movies like this anymore, well hardly ever. Drama, suspense, betrayal, murder, love and finding one's destiny. So glad I can replace my grainey VHS copy. Hope DVDs last forever, as advertised. TRY IT, YOU'LL LOVE IT!!!

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Intensely romantic fantasy, outstanding performances.

Here Come's Mr. Jordan is an intensely romantic fantasy displaying the most extreme example of enduring love that spans human identities, and one of the first and best films of it's kind. It's kind includes Angel on My Shoulder, The Bishop's Wife, That's The Spirit, A Guy Named Joe, and so forth. They don't make movies like these anymore; the closest I've seen recently is The Dust Factory.
Robert Montgomery (They Were Expendable, Lady In The Lake) plays prize fighter Joe Pendleton, who's hobbies include playing the saxaphone and flying. James Gleason (The Bishop's Wife, Suddenly) plays Joe's manager Max Corkle, the only human who knows what really happened. Joe apparently died when his plane dived into the earth. But the angel of death responsible for New Jersey - that is, the one who collects souls from the state, played here by Edward Everett Horton (Top Hat, Pocketful of Miracles) - separated Joe's soul and body before the plane crashed, and Joe maintains he would have pulled it out of the dive.
Mr. Jordan is one of the roles Claudes Rains (The Invisible Man, King's Row) was born to play, the head angel in charge of the death department. When he takes up the case Jordan discovers Joe was meant to win the championship. But Joe's body has been cremated by now. It seems the only solution is to insert Joe's soul into another suitable body - any one about to be vacated that could conceivably become the boxing champion. It turns out not so easy to find an appropriate candidate, but when they're considering millionaire Farnsworth, Joe's immediately enamored with a young lady (Evelyn Keyes) attempting to see Farnsworth and appeal to him on her father's behalf. She claims Farnsworth framed her father, now in prison. But Farnsworth is upstairs being murdered by his wife and secretary as Joe and Jordan discuss the matter. Joe agrees to occupy Farnsworh's body to help the girl, and does, and they fall in love, genuine spiritual eternal love. But he can't use Farnsworth's body to fight - it's destined to die, he's destined to win. If forced to leave and use yet a third body, will she still love him, even know him? He tries to prepare her with one of the most well-delivered romantic monologues in the movies, and a neat plot twist makes things come out right.
Montgomery proves his acting talents here, the spirit showing through the flesh, and the final scene is not to be described in words; see it. The rest of the cast, especially Horton, Gleason, and Donald MacBride, make the movie work as a comedy as well as romantic drama. The film was remade a few decades later as Heaven Can Wait with Warren Beatty, James Mason, Jack Warden, Buck Henry, and Charles Grodin, with some additional humor - especially Grodin's role - but otherwise no better than the original. Both are fine casts, but Montgomery and Rains just can't be beat.

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What took so long?

Heaven Can Wait was/is a good picure (I own it), but it IS a remake of this one, and pales in comparison.

The original Here Comes Mr. Jordan is superior and more believable as a fantasy, probably because it was far less pretentious and therefore more "down to earth." It wasn't made as a star vehicle, like Heaven Can Wait was for Beatty, and the boxer main character was far more accessible to the average joe than the celebrity football star that Beatty plays. I fell in love with Mr Jordan the first time I saw it many years ago, and Mr Beatty's remake, while enjoyable, fell short.

I was lucky enough to be able to tape Here Comes Mr Jordan off the TV years ago, but I can't wait to own the DVD. Those of you who aren't scared off by an original black and white classic are in for a treat if Beatty's version is the only one you've ever seen.

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