From Hell to Heaven

A year after MGM released Grand Hotel and got a Best Picture Oscar for it Paramount decided to do a cut down version of the classic. From Hell To Heaven doesn't any marquee names with the exception of Carole Lombard and Jack Oakie. But the structure is the same, a group disparate stories about people gathered at a resort hotel spa that sounds like Saratoga.

The big Capitol Handicap is being run and all there intend to bet and they have a lot of hopes and dreams. Lombard runs into her ex-husband Sidney Blackmer. The current husband left her high and dry and Blackmer who is a bookie offers her a proposition bet that she takes. Won't reveal what it is.

Jack Oakie is his usual obnoxious self as the track announcer who wants to break into show business the way Lucy Ricardo wants to. He's the comic relief in this film.

From Hell To Heaven will never be a Carole Lombard top ten. But it's a competently made drama with a cast perfect in their parts.

This film started out slowly and I was expecting a real stinker. However, each and every story-line as it developed caught my interest and sympathy. Carole Lombard's part here is very small and she is perhaps the least interesting character of them all. I must admit, there may be something I'm missing because the excellent print that I viewed was 51 minutes long and the documentation says it should be 70 minutes in length. Jack Oakie's part as the announcer at the track was very smooth and entertaining. He brings a little comic relief. It was nice to see Sidney Blackmer from the Cary Grant movie "People will Talk" and an episode of "The Outer Limits" as Lombard's love interest. Each couple bets on a different horse in the race and I really was on edge to see who of the many likable characters would win. The innovative scene at the track where the camera is placed on a long boom which swings in and out at different locations in the stands and focuses on one couple at a time is interesting if not dizzying.

At the Lurie Spring Hotel, people come and go, but nothing ever happens. Sounds familiar? This movie came out four months after MGM's GRAND HOTEL and was Paramount's response to it. Originally it clocked in at an less-than-grand 67 minutes. I saw a 52-minute version and, while the names may sparkle in recollection, they were not quite so distinguished then. Carole Lombard and Jack Oakie were the two top-billed stars, and further down were ... well, it doesn't matter too much. Because the multi-plotted movie is too brief for more than vignettes. Everyone is waiting for the big race, the broke ex-wife and the embezzler who need the money; the horse owner who has everything riding on this race, and the jockey whom he fired for redemption.

And so forth. It's directed by Erle C. Kenton, one of many directors to emerge from Mack Sennett's studio. It's a pleasant enough effort, but it definitely was not an A picture by the time it hit the screen. Even so, it's a fine example of the professional polish that even the cheapest of Paramount's programmers could achieve.

Paramount's answer to "Grand Hotel" depicts a group of guests attending a horse race, all betting on different horses. Erle C. Kenton's "From Hell to Heaven" is nothing special but the acting and the complex characterizations buoy the movie. The depiction of a hotel and the intense goings-on involving the guests might also call to mind "The White Lotus" (although they're obviously not allowed to be as shocking here).

Carole Lombard is given top billing as an abandoned wife who runs into her ex. Also starring are Jack Oakie (Napoloni in "The Great Dictator"), David Manners (Jonathan in "Dracula") and Sidney Blackmer (the neighbor in "Rosemary's Baby").

I don't know if the movie is available on any streaming service, so you might have to look for a physical copy.

If a lot of people, from vastly different backgrounds, bet on different horses in the same race, most will be disappointed. All seem to have worthwhile motives and causes, and this makes it tough for the moviegoer watching "From Hell To Heaven" to pick a rooting interest throughout the film. They all come to the same hotel awaiting for the big race, hence the "Grand Hotel" type milieu.

Paramount assembled an impressive cast for this horse racing drama, most of whom are forgotten nowadays. Carole Lombard may be the most recognizable name, but she was still playing straight dramatic parts and not doing 'screwball' comedies yet. Jack Oakie is along for comic relief and brings his considerable energy as the track announcer. Also in the cast - and worthy of mention - are some long-ago stars, like Cecil Cunningham, who played parts later taken by Helen Broderick and Alice Brady, and Sidney Blackmer, who later played heavies. This is an old-fashioned track flick and fashionistas will get a kick out of the 30's outfits, while history buffs will take note of a time when bookmakers were legal and jockeys apparently could be switched overnight, before a big race.

"From Hell To Heaven" is an interesting and absorbing story which holds the viewers interest and keeps moving for its 70 minute length. There is some genuine suspense regarding the outcome of the big race, and the viewer can build up sympathy for several of the principals. This played at Capitolfest, Rome, NY, 8/13, and was shown in 35mm.