For Heaven's Sake (1950)

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Angels Clifton Webb and Edmund Gwenn are tasked with bringing an unborn (not even conceived yet!) child into the world by getting a theatrical couple (Robert Cummings, Joan Bennett) with a rocky marriage to have a baby. Webb hatches a plan to take human form in order to better accomplish this task. But life as a human proves to be a distraction for him and Gwenn has to intervene.Webb is the star of the show, particularly as a Gary Cooper-inspired cowboy character. If you're a fan of Webb's you have to see this. Cummings and Bennett are fine, if a bit dull. Gwenn is likable as ever. Joan Blondell adds her usual brand of zing to things. Gigi Perreau is cute playing the would-be daughter and Tommy Rettig from Lassie is adorable in a small part. Jack La Rue is fun as an actor who's played one too many gangster parts. Loses momentum midway through but is still enjoyable. Old-fashioned ideas such as having a baby will save a troubled marriage will induce eye rolls for many viewers today, I'm sure. But it's all well-meaning and good-natured. Not for the cynics among us. Sweet, charming, and funny.

Utterly charming comedy with Clifton Webb and Edmund Gwenn delightful as a pair of guardian angels tasked with getting a little girl born to a self absorbed but good hearted couple.Joan Bennett comes across well as the prospective mother, a warm presence this film came along just as she was segueing from her period as a film noir chippy to character and mother roles. Joan Blondell is great fun as a flashy screenwriter injecting her special brand of zip whenever she's on screen. Robert Cummings is bland as the father to be but he fades into the background and doesn't hurt the picture.As enjoyable as the two Joans are this is really Clifton's show and he makes the most of it especially after he temporarily returns to earth in human form and has many misadventures. A sweet, feel good film in the best sense of that phrase.

The acid tongued Clifton Webb who earned three Oscar nominations in the Forties, in the Fifties had his image considerably softened and for most of the rest of his career would be doing items like For Heaven's Sake. How much base was applied to this acid for Webb to team with Edmund Gwenn as a pair of angels trying to help some unborn kids make their earthy debuts.Webb has the tougher assignment. Gigi Perreau's prospective parents are theatrical couple Bob Cummings and Joan Bennett who've become rather jaded and are on the verge of splitting. Against a lot of celestial advice including Gwenn's, Webb decides to materialize and become human. And as his role model, Webb takes on the persona of Gary Cooper as a western millionaire. In fact Webb is shown going into a theater and seeing Coop in a revival of The Westerner. This is just to get some background information as to how to pull off the character.And he enters the lives of Cummings and Bennett as another kind of angel, a theatrical one. Of course without any money since they don't use any where he's from. But when he does acquire some money, Webb acquires a lot of earthly habits and problems to go along with the pleasures and perks of being corporeal.Webb and Gwenn who would team up again in Mr. Scoutmaster have a nice easy chemistry that really carries For Heaven's Sake to some really nice heights. I'd also make note of performances by Joan Blondell as an actress playing one a lot like Joan Blondell, Harry Von Zell in a nice caricature of a real Texas oil millionaire and most of all Jack LaRue as an actor who really starts believing he is one of those gangster tough guys he portrays on the screen. I think LaRue took as his model George Raft though God only knows LaRue played plenty of gangsters in his own career.For Heaven's Sake holds up very nicely after over 60 years and makes nice family viewing.

Great escapist fantasy, perfect 1950s era storyline and shooting. Clifton Webb couldn't be better as cowboy-playing angel trying to get this writer-couple to want a baby who's been waiting for parents.The acting, staging, storyline, acting all terrific, great fun, poignant, simple.