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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.

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.

For those of you who haven't been able to find FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE and want to, look no further than the Fox Movie Channel -- the movie's on FMC as I type this! The movie itself is an odd but amiable comedy starring Clifton Webb as an angel going incognito as a rancher (Clifton Webb as an urbane, persnickety angel going rustic -- there's a mindbender for you! :-) to help theater folk Robert Cummings and Joan Bennett get over their self-absorption and start a family (feeling dizzy yet? :-). Although its tone is uneven, veering between hilarity and mawkishness, it's still watchable thanks to the great cast, particularly Webb, Edmund Gwenn as a fellow angel, and Gigi Perreau and Tommy Rettig as two kid angels who are growing up in Heaven because their parents-to-be keep putting off starting a family. I found the kid angels' part of the story to be the most touching and intriguing, with its concept of children who are already "old souls" when they're born, so they turn out to be "child prodigies" because they already know so much (Webb has a delightful grouchfest about that). Anyway, if you're a sucker for Clifton Webb and heartwarming dramedies where angels solve people's problems, keep your eye on your cable listings, or if your cable company doesn't carry the Fox Movie Channel, now might be a good time to bug them to pick it up! :-)

When Clifton Webb says this, he is referring to cowboy boots. In this exceptionally peculiar movie, he is an angel. So is Edmund Gwenn. Gigi Perreau and Tommy Rettig are also, though they are angels of a different, rather mawkish, sort.

When Webb utters this comment, he is pretending to be a Texan and an angel of a different sort: a theatrical angel. You see, little Gigi wants to be born as a human child (as does little Tommy.) Gigi has chosen her prospective parents: Robert Cummings and Joan Bennett. (Does this seem to anyone else like an unlikely match?) They are a theatrical couple -- he a director, she a star. They live in a chic Manhattan duplex. Cummings is urbane and Bennett looks luscious.

There are in-jokes about pets named Alfred and Lynn and tossed-off comments about Arlene and Martin. It has a swanky style.

Webb is saddled (no pun intended) with a highly unflattering hair style when he plays the Texas millionaire. He gets top billing but for the most part his considerable talents are wasted. OH! And he falls for the as always delightful, here tanned and rather plump Joan Blondell. She is playing a famous playwright.

The combination of the cynical story of the selfish theatrical people with the icky concept of angels waiting to be born as children makes for a fascinatingly strange concoction.

This film shows up occasionally on cable but has never, to the best of my knowledge, come out on video. It's a lot of fun and Webb, as usual, does a great job as a goofy angel who fancies himself a cowboy. The premise of this movie is that all children are designated, in heaven, a time to be born. If the parents aren't getting along, as in this film, the kids continue to develop mentally. If born years after their designated birthdates, they end up as "one of those horrible child prodigies." Webb and Edmund Gwenn (the original "Kris Kringle") are angels on a mission to ensure that their little wards are successfully delivered. I think Webb is one of the most under-appreciated comics and recommend, if you enjoy this film, checking out "Sitting Pretty" and the original "Cheaper by the Dozen" which are available on home video.