Heaven Can Wait

Grandfather Van Cleve (Charles Coburn) takes the initiative as the prospective in-laws (Marjorie Main, Eugene Palette) and bride (Gene Tierney) of square nephew Albert (Allyn Joslyn) arrive at a birthday party for panicked Henry (Don Ameche), in Ernst Lubitsch's Heaven Can Wait, 1943.

Continuing his flashback recounting his life (for "His Excellency," Laird Cregar, in Hell), turn-of-the-century New Yorker Henry (Don Ameche) describes how he first met Martha (Gene Tierney), moments after learning she is engaged to his cousin, in Ernst Lubitsch's Heaven Can Wait, 1943.

Grandad Van Cleve (Charles Coburn) takes the moment to brief son Randolph (Louis Calhern) on what’s happened between his bedridden son and the French maid (Signe Hasso), mom Spring Byington aghast, young Albert (Allyn Joslyn) in support, in Ernst Lubitsch’s Heaven Can Wait, 1943.

Both director Ernst Lubitsch and Laird Cregar as the head guy in hell seem very comfortable, Don Ameche barely recognizable as the aged quasi-protagonist Van Cleve, opening the original Heaven Can Wait, 1943, also starring Gene Tierney.