The Heavenly Body

Want to turn your brain off for an hour and a half? This flick is the ideal movie for that, if you're too classy (and smart) to want to watch things being blown up. The Heavenly Body isn't a //super// funny movie, but it's fun, and it'll leave you with a smile on your face. If you can ignore the stupidity of some parts.

Hedy Lamarr has less charisma than a dead tree, and she's certainly no Myrna Loy, but she and Bill have an odd chemistry together.

However, her character is so damn stupid that you may just be tearing out your hair by the end. I'm not knocking people who believe in astrology and star signs, but Hedy's character is very gullible and not the sharpest tool in the shed.

She often played dumb characters, I've noticed. Oh, the irony. Maybe it's because she was so wooden that she was not physically capable of any emotion other than mild shock. Seriously, Hedy Lamarr made Lana Turner look like Bette Davis sometimes.

Bill Powell is pretty good, but he also has a thankless role. He's an astronomer who works at a place with a giant telescope. One scene in the movie (of course) involves him getting drunk and behaving like an idiot. It seems that when he wasn't playing Nick Charles, every time he touched alcohol, he was made into a fool.

You wonder how a guy like Bill Powell's character could have ever snagged a woman like Hedy Lamarr's character, but the movie makes it apparent- He's very, very boring. And so is she. Thankless parts.

The plot's kind of stupid, but it's trying to be screwball. However, because it's not //good// screwball, you never are quite able to forgive the ludicrous plot/actions of the characters (like you would be if it were up to the level of, say, The Awful Truth), and they just seem stupid. I'm using that word a lot-sorry- but it's the best way to describe this film. Perhaps I am being generous in giving it six stars, but it isn't as bad as the reviews here make it sound. It's just that nothing makes any sense.

The happy ending, oddly, didn't seem out of place, thanks to how well the two stars mashed together.

6/10 is my rating, but I probably wouldn't watch it again unless someone forced me. Far from the worst film I've ever seen Hedy Lamarr (or Bill Powell) in.

Enjoyed this silly 1944 Comedy starring William Powell, (William S. Whitley) and his wife, Vicky Whitley, ( Hedy Lamarr). Vicky is being badly neglected by her husband and seeks the aid of a woman Astrologist who predicts she will meet another man and fall in love. Vicky's husband Bill is a very famous Astromist who has recently discovered a new planet in the solar system and has no idea that his wife Vicky is not happy with him. Vicky does meet a handsome young man in her life who is a neighbor and is also an Air Raid Warden, which was needed during World War II. Hedy Lamarr looked fantastic in this film and her natural beauty is clearly shown along with her great acting abilities. Great actor William Powell gave and excellent supporting role and it looked like they both enjoyed making this film. This is a worth while film to view from 1944.

Obviously, the title of this movie described this actress perfectly. She had perfect chemistry with that thin man Powell. It was a different time and the country at war, but it brings back many memories of what went on during that period. ..the air raid wardens, the blackouts and Hedy waving at the window while Powell was telescoping her magnificence in that nightgown. A harmless and pleasant comedy.

I usually avoid watching movies that get less than a 3-star rating on the Turner Classic Movies channel but maybe I should reevaluate that policy because - being a big William Powell fan and an admirer of Hedy Lamarr - I decided to watch this movie, having never seen it. Glad I did. Yes, it's got its silly side - but so do many comedies. What's really significant is that it features William Powell at his comedic best, with many brilliant creative and hilarious scenes you just have to see and enjoy. Though this is a flawed movie, it is nonetheless engaging and highly entertaining due to Powell's ability to conjure up some of the most ingenious funny scenes ever. Though Hedy Lamarr is a ditz here and not necessarily the kind of character most men would want as a wife (being quixotic and ruled by astrologers), there are in fact women like this (I was married to one) and so even her part rings true to those of us who've "been there." So...silly but not so silly. Yet...really really funny! And you don't have to be a William Powell fan to like this one. Enjoy! (You will!)

Bill Whitley (William Powell) is an astronomer who must work nights because of his discovery of a new comet. His wife, VIcky (Hedy Lamarr) is feeling neglected and accompanies her neighbor Mrs. Potter (Spring Byington) to visit an astrologist, Mrs. Sibyll (Fay Bainter). Vicky is instantly hooked on astrology because it gives order and purpose to her life. As a scientist her husband cannot take it seriously. When Vicky's horoscope says that she will meet a man who will become her next husband and she thinks that man is the local air raid warden (James Craig), Bill has his work cut out for him to try and keep her.

This is a pretty good WWII era time capsule. You have the air raid wardens walking the neighborhood making sure the lights are out, you have a hilarious scene with a bunch of Russians that emphasizes that they are America's friends, and the rationing that was going on even gets comically inserted into all of this. I'm surprised that the scene with the Russians didn't get everybody involved in trouble with HUAC seven years later since the idea of the friendly Russians was very short lived.

I realize that this is an attempt at a screwball comedy, but I just don't believe the performers. Hedy Lamarr is playing it way too ditzy, and William Powell, at no point, seems like he is as upset as he says that he is that his wife is planning to leave him for another man. It's the minor players that make this -Henry O'Neill as a colleague of Powell's at the observatory, all of the maids entering and exiting the Whitley household, and most of all Faye Bainter as the astrologist with a deep dark secret.

I mainly stuck with it to the end as a William Powell completist, and Powell does have lots of funny bits that made it worth it.