Heading for Heaven

Small town real estate agent Stuart Erwin (as Henry Elkins) has been holding on to a large piece of property, which has been in his family for generations. He wants to fulfill his forefathers' dream of developing a residential "Elkins Eastern Acres", but the upscale town has expanded west. Excited to finally receive an offer on the land, Mr. Erwin refuses when he learns the burgeoning city wants to make his land their dump. When outsiders consider the land for an airport, swindlers move in on Erwin's' assets. Complicating matters, Erwin confuses his doctor's clean bill of health with a patient who only has four months to live...

This is pure situation comedy, and well-suited for Stuart Erwin.

Based on a play, "For the Sake of the Family" (1929) by Charles Webb and Daniel Brown, the low budget "PRC" studio and director Lewis D. Collins stick keep it smooth and simple. There are only a couple of attempts to stretch the ordinary - the opening sequence and a "jet propelled" car driven by young Ralph Hodges (as Danny). Both work very well. The appealing cast could have returned for movie sequel fun, with long-suffering maid Irene Ryan (later Granny on "The Beverly Hillbillies") and free-loading brother-in-law George O'Hanlon (later George Jetson on "The Jetsons") being the most obvious stand-outs.

****** Heading for Heaven (12/6/47) Lewis D. Collins ~ Stuart Erwin, Glenda Farrell, Irene Ryan, George O'Hanlon

Some fun names in this one... Irene Ryan's best known role was GRANNY in Beverly Hillbillies. Dick Elliot was the Mayor in Andy Griffith. Glenda Farrell and Stuart Erwin had both entered showbiz right when talkies were just starting. Here, the Elkins family has owned this giant chunk of land, and great grandpaw Elkins made them promise never to sell it. Henry Elkins is now convinced that now is the right time to sell that property that no-one has dared to sell over the years. The sound and picture quality are pretty rough, but maybe this will be restored at some point. There are some bad edits and clearly there are some pieces missing here and there. Ryan plays the maid, who get way too involved with the family problems. Sometimes she interferes, and sometimes she helps. Apparently, this wants to be a comedy. Pretty silly, with the usual misunderstandings and over-heard conversations. It's okay. Pretty much a B movie. This is a Rank/Schwartz Film, distributed by Eagle Lion Films. Directed by Lew Collins. He had started directing shorts during the silents, and moved into talkies. This one is showing on "Moonlight Movies" channel.

Stuart Erwin is the third generation of his family to believe that a plot of 100 acres they own on the east side of town will be worth a lot of money. His wife, Glenda Farrell, is tired of poverty -- they live in a big house, well furnished, and have Irene Ryan as a live-in maid. Erwin's ship has come in, with an airline anxious to buy the property for an airport. Various swindlers, however, send him a fake telegram that the sale is off.

I'm not fond of Erwin's slow, dull-witted style of comedy, and this particularly lugubrious comedy wastes the talents of most of its cast -- George O'Hanlon offers some snap as Erwin's jittery, fast-talking brother-in-law whose efforts foul up everything.

Once again, Erwin's eventual triumph comes through no virtue or effort of his own, but simply because he is in the right place at the right time. I find such things to smack of pure contrivance and not amusing in the least.

What a concept! What a screenplay! A well thought out story full of untimely accidents and catastrophes, like life. And like life sometimes, the more you try to fix something, the more it goes awry. Sure, a movie from another time reflecting the values of that time. Sure, these portrayals of Americans would seem alien to people today. There were hustlers and grifters so the people of today should feel somewhat comfortable with the story. The honesty in this all American story may be off putting to the reality hustlers of today.

Since I am a big fan of Glenda Farrell's Torchy Blane series and often find Stu Erwin amusing, I recorded this off of TMC recently. I sometimes give a movie a bit of leeway if the print quality of the movie is poor or even just fair. Obviously, this print quality was excellent – it is the movie that is poor. Stu Erwin plays a small town Realtor (Elkins) who stubbornly hangs on to a parcel of hand handed down from his grandfather. In addition to his gullible and bland wife (Farrell), the household includes his lazy schmuck of a brother-in-law and a dippy housekeeper. Actually, the housekeeper played by Irene Ryan is the only even mildly amusing character. I'm okay with the movie making no sense but that it also is boring and a waste of Erwin's, Farrell's and Ryan's talent is most unfortunate. Don't waste your time with this one.