Tonight's movie was a light comedy-with-a-message called "For Heaven's Sake" (1950), starring Clifton Webb (of "Laura" fame), Robert Cummings and Joan Bennett. I found it in a Library search for films by director George Seaton, who helmed the classic "Miracle On 34th Street", which we recently saw and reviewed. In "Miracle", Seaton proposed that not only was Santa Claus real, but that he was right down here among us, working in a department store in New York. This time, in "For Heaven's Sake", he is asking us to accept the reality of Angels. Clifton Webb stars as Charles, an Angel paired with Edmund Gwenn (who played Santa in "Miracle"). Both Angels are tasked with watching over and assisting two children who are waiting to be born.
I had never seen this concept portrayed before, and it was very sweet
The children-in-waiting are played by Tommy Rettig, who would go on to fame as "Lassie's" pal, and the child actress Gigi Perreau, who has the larger part of the two children and who basically steals the show throughout the movie. She is great, and on par with a major child star like Margaret O'Brien. I don't know why her star did not shine as brightly, career wise, but she deserves to be noted. Without her, Clifton Webb - who has 70% of the screentime - would not have had any inspiration to play off of.
Bob Cummings and his wife Joan Bennett are creative artists of The Thee-a-tah. That's "theatre" for all of us regular folks, but if you are actually in the profession, and a snob, you pronounce it "ThEE-a-tuhh".
He writes plays, she is his lead actress. He has an idea for a new hit, it will feature her greatest role yet. But she is bored. Surely there must be something more to life beyond the next starring role. He can't imagine what that could be. She seems to want a child; he easily talks her out of it.
Enter Clifton Webb, who as an Angel represents child-soul Gigi, who is waiting in the wings. She has already chosen Bennett and Cummings as her prospective parents (another concept I've heard discussed before but have never seen in a film, the idea of children "choosing" their parents), and she watches over them, hopeful but unseen, as they go about their lives, self absorbed in their theatrical plans.
She really wants to be born into this world. Her friend Tommy Rettig has chosen his parents, too, and seems to have a good chance to be born, with the reliable Edmund Gwenn at his side. Gigi has Clifton Webb, who has a good plan to become mortal for a short while, so that he can come to Earth, involve himself in the lives of Bennet and Cummings, and directly affect their marital priorities. He manifests as a wealthy Texas cowboy and ingratiates himself with the couple as a prospective financial backer of their new play. But before he will give them any money, he tries to plant a seed in their minds about what they are missing in their lives, namely a child.
The message is very wholesome and sweet, because the child is shown, "In Heaven" but also in the couple's living room watching them, only desiring to be born to them, the parents whom she has chosen. You couldn't find a child actress any more earnest than Gigi Perreau, and it is her chemistry with the whimsical, by turns serious, comically adept Webb that carries the film, gives it emotional weight. The various elements play off one another - the ambitious theatre couple, an entity unto themselves. The child-souls yet to be born but all knowing of the pitfalls. Will their chosen parents make the right moves? Who knows; free will is involved.
But Angels can influence free will. That is another message of the movie, that unborn souls have free will and desires too, and not only that but they have Angels right at their sides.
I, of course, believe in Angels, and not only believe in them but can feel them. You probably can, too.
Do you ever think about where you were before you were born, or have you ever gotten a feeling about it? Perhaps you have.
"For Heaven's Sake" is the only movie I have ever seen that proposes these concepts in such a direct way, using heartfelt child actors to play off of the lead of veterans like Webb and Gwenn, to create a fantasy/reality that, as we watch, we all know in our hearts to be true.
That is the audacity of this movie. It states, in a playful way, what we all know spiritually to be true but that we never talk about, because the idea of souls before birth is such a private and intuitive concept.
The film could never have been pulled off without the talented and inspired cast, which also includes the legendary Joan Blondell as a producer who tries to seduce the mortal Clifton Webb away from his Angelic mission.
Though just a slight touch slow in places, "For Heaven's Sake" nevertheless generates Two Big Thumbs Up, and almost Two Giant Thumbs, just because of it's message and the way that important message is presented in the writing and portrayed by the cast, most especially Perreau and Webb. I think we need more movies of this kind, though I don't think we could pull it off in the same way now......
I hope you had a good day and that your year is off to a good start.
I am working most of the time and reading in the afternoons. My first book of the year is Bearden's "Excalibur Briefing", written in the late 80s, about the physics behind paranormal phenomena. I will try to go on a hike and take some pics very soon.
Much Love and God Bless, make sure and watch the ridiculous Zakk Wylde solo I posted on Facebook today. You can laugh, cry, or turn it off midway through....
See you in the morn. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment