Le corps céleste

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!)

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.

This delightful film works well because of the perfect combination of William Powell and Hedy Lamarr. It's a classic screwball romantic comedy -- silly, fluffy, hilarious. Stunningly beautiful Hedy Lamarr (who was actually a serious intellect offscreen) is surprisingly convincing as a ditz who is blithely unaware of the effect her obsession with astrology is having on her long-suffering professor/astronomer husband (Powell). If this were real life, you'd want to throttle her -- but that's a lot of the humor here. Powell puts across just the right amount of loving good humor mixed with near-homicidal frustration. There are some cute surprises along the way, and lots of recognizable character actors rounding out the cast. While the script falls short of the witty dialogue you'll find in comedies like The Palm Beach Story and Bringing Up Baby, it's still a fun trip down memory lane.

"The Heavenly Body" is a fine play on words as the title for this film. William Powell is astronomer William Whitley who has discovered a comet. While he is so occupied with his work, another heavenly body sits at home all alone. Hedy Lamarr plays his wife, Vicky. She's so bored because of lack of attention, that she gets rooked into and then hooked on astrology. The story takes place around one of the observatories in Arizona. The time is the early 1940s, while World War II is taking place.

The two leads and the rest of the cast are fine in this film, and the idea for the plot is quite good. Some reviewers found it too silly that an astronomer's spouse would be into astrology. Of course it's silly, but silliness often makes for very good comedy.

The problem with this film is that the script just isn't very funny. In William Powell comedies, one is used to some very clever and witty dialog, usually along with some funny antics. There's little of either in this movie. Still, Powell's efforts with this lackluster role in an almost ho-hum story, earns this seven stars with a little stretch.

Helping that stretch are a couple of things one seldom sees in movies with stories in the U.S. during World War II. The first is Civil Defense wardens. James Craig plays one here as Lloyd Hunter. So, here was an American community during WW II that had people serving as air raid wardens.

The second unique thing for movies of that period also is related to the war. Rationing was enforced across the U.S. during the war. Different things were controlled at different periods during the war. Apparently, during the time of this film, food rationing was widespread. William Whitley discovers that the astrology guru, Margaret Sibyll has been hiding something. She finally comes clean and reveals that she has been stockpiling canned food supplies obtained with extra ration cards.

It was strange though, that William Whitley was used to a breakfast every morning of bacon and eggs. Apparently those things weren't rationed, or he got the full amount for their family. So, those two little extras about the history of the time add something to this film and boost its interest level some.

"Heavenly Body", which was shown on cable recently, is one of those forgotten MGM comedies of the forties that had a lot style and showed a great promise based on the people involved. As directed by Alexander Hall, the movie capitalizes on the talented William Powell and the beautiful Hedy Lamarr, perhaps one of the most beautiful women in the movies of that era.

The comedy seems to be a struggle between sciences that even though sound similar, are completely opposite. William Whitley is an astrologer married to the gorgeous Vicky. They appear happy together, that is, until Nancy Potter, a neighbor, interests her in astronomy. The good natured Vicky falls prey to horoscopes and charts that take her interest away from her husband, who has made an important discovery in a comet that will be crashing on the moon.

Things get complicated when journalist LLoyd Hunter enters the picture and falls for Vicky. William feels neglected and wants to get Vicky to realize what's important and what's not, so he takes matters into his own hands and has a confrontation with the astrologer Ms. Sybill. Right after that, Vicky realizes how much William loves her and leaves all the predictions aside.

William Powell was an actor with a lot of charm. He was wonderful playing comedies, as he shows here. It's easy to see how he would be good next to Ms. Lamarr, who shows good chemistry with her co-star. In supporting roles we see a lot of the best character actors of the time, James Craig, Spring Byington, Fay Banter, Henry O'Neill, among others.

See the film as curiosity piece.