Claude Rains returns this Wednesday, Sept. 9, in more films featuring Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month.
Every single one of the titles listed below is worth watching if only because of Rains' presence. That said, a couple of them actually have considerably more to offer: Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) and Deception (1946).
Here Comes Mr. Jordan is a witty, romantic comedy about love, death, reincarnation, greed, bad timing, and prizefighting. I know, this all (minus the prizefighting) sounds like some heavy-duty drama straight out of the Bible or some other holy book, but director Alexander Hall and screenwriters Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller, adapting Harry Segall's play Heaven Can Wait, handle those serious themes with a lightness that would have done Ernst Lubitsch proud.
Rains (flawlessly) plays the classy Mr. Jordan, the guy who comes visit you right at that moment when — ready or not — you're just about to Meet your Maker. Mr. Jordan is abetted by Edward Everett Horton, a well-intentioned but clumsy angel who messes things up when he takes a man whose time hasn't arrived, yet. The man in question, Robert Montgomery, must be sent back to Earth — in another man's body — only to uncover a plot to kill him off. Also in the top-notch cast: Evelyn Keyes, Rita Johnson, and John Emery. In fact, even James Gleason is quite tolerable as Montgomery's manager.
All in all, Here Comes Mr. Jordan is one of the few Hollywood movies then or now whose magic feels neither trite nor contrived. Warren Beatty (with Buck Henry) remade it as Heaven Can Wait in 1978, but despite a strong supporting cast — Julie Christie, Dyan Cannon, Charles Grodin — the magic was all but completely lost.
Deception, a remake of the 1929 Jeanne Eagels melo Jealousy, stars Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains as three points of a love triangle that ends in heartbreak, murder, and classical music. Deception is a great-looking, thoroughly professional production featuring all the talent and craftsmanship that Warner Bros. could buy in the mid-1940s. Even so, the film lacks the layers of complexity found in Davis' more mature vehicles such as The Letter and The Little Foxes.
Perhaps that's the chief problem with Deception: it was directed by Irving Rapper, not William Wyler. Yet, Claude Rains' performance as Alexander Hollenius, Davis' mentor and tormentor, is nothing short of masterful. In other words, Deception is a must-see.
Rapper also guides Davis and Rains, plus Henreid and Gladys Cooper, in the unabashedly melodramatic Now, Voyager (1942), which lots of women and some gay guys seem to like a whole lot. I'm not sure what they see in this one — if it's the moon, the stars, or some passing comet — but I've never been able to get into Now, Voyager despite Sol Polito's nuanced cinematography and Max Steiner's melodious score.
Bette Davis is Bette Davis here, actressy all the way, while Rains deserved better than to play a secondary role as a psychiatrist who helps Davis' ugly duckling come out of her egg shell. In fact, I'd have liked Now, Voyager much more had it been about a murderous romance involving Rains and Gladys Cooper's domineering Mom. I really don't care who would kill or who would get killed, as long as most of the characters in this film ended up dead somewhere along the way. (I've always been a sucker for happy endings.)
Kings Row (1942) could have been much better had it had more Ann Sheridan and Betty Field and less Ronald Reagan and Robert Cummings. Ah, it would also have helped if Casey Robinson's screenplay had actually delved deeper into the issues found in this story set in small-town America at the turn of the 20th century — e.g., sex, hypocrisy, madness, bigotry — instead of tiptoeing around them. Perhaps the problem lay in Henry Bellamann's novel, but whether that's true or not (I haven't read it), it surely was exacerbated by the puritanical freaks at the Hays Office (or Breen's Office by then).
Angel on My Shoulder (1946) stars hammy Paul Muni, always an excellent reason to skip a movie — but it does have Rains (as the Devil) and Anne Baxter, both of whom do try, even if in vain. Harry Segall wrote the original story and co-wrote the screenplay with Roland Kibbee, but Here Comes Mr. Jordan this ain't. Perhaps part of the problem with Angel on My Shoulder is that when you have human beings around — this film was released the year after World War II ended — who the hell needs the Devil to either commit or justify horrific deeds?
Pacific Time
5:00 PM Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
A prizefighter who died before his time is reincarnated as a tycoon with a murderous wife. Cast: Robert Montgomery, Evelyn Keyes, Claude Rains. Dir: Alexander Hall. BW-94 mins
6:45 PM Angel On My Shoulder (1946)
The Devil sends a murdered gangster to Earth as a respected judge. Cast: Paul Muni, Anne Baxter, Claude Rains. Dir: Archie Mayo. BW-101 mins
8:30 PM Now, Voyager (1942)
A repressed spinster is transformed by psychiatry and her love for a married man. Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains. Dir: Irving Rapper. BW-118 mins
10:30 PM Deception (1946)
A woman tries to protect her refugee husband from her rich and powerful ex-lover. Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains. Dir: Irving Rapper. BW-112 mins
12:30 AM Kings Row (1942)
Small town scandals inspire an idealistic young man to take up psychiatry. Cast: Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan. Dir: Sam Wood. BW-127 mins
Hey Jerry,
I believe you mean that *Deception* was a reunion of the three "Now, Voyager" principals — not the other way around.
I did quite a bit of research on the Hays Code while I was working on my Ramon Novarro bio.
They helped to ruin at least one Novarro vehicle — "Laughing Boy" — and I'm sure that the 1935 musical "The Night Is Young" would have been much better had it been made two years earlier.
Now I'm curious to check out Bellamann's novel…
Okay, reading more closely, I do see that you included Henreid in the Deception paragraph.
The making of King's Row, however, merits its own Wikipedia entry subsection.
But, but, but!
Actually, Now, Voyager was a reunion for its three principals (you seem to have forgotten that Henrein played Davis's husband in Deception four years earlier).
As far as King's Row not going far enough, you should probably research the history of the Hays Code; considering the self-censorship guiding the hand of the film industry, it's a wonder that the film version ever got made at all, considering the themes that the screenwriters had to deal with — or, more inportantly, not deal with because of the Code.
(Literally) shooting stars??
"Where's the rest of me!", that's another good reason to see King's Row. Would it be better if Ronni Reagan lots his head instead of his legas?
As for Now, Voayger, there are plenty other reasons to see it! First, the charming way to light two cigarrettes in the mouth, and second, the wonderful studio back projection and backlot views of dazzling Rio de Janeiro at the 40's. What else could you guys want?