Here comes Mr. Jordan 1941 - A charming classic fantasy

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IMDB rating: 7,8

Director: Alexander Hall
Main Cast: Robert Montgomery, Evelyn Keyes, Claude Rains, Rita Johnson, Edward Everett Horton, James Gleason

"The usually debonair Robert Montgomery stepped out of character in this classic comic fantasy to play a clean-cut boxer, Joe Pendleton, who's been sent to heaven before his time. Mr. Jordan, a kind of celestial executive, rectifies the error by loaning Pendleton the body of a millionaire named Bruce Farnsworth who's just been murdered by his wife. When she learns that he's alive again, the fun begins. The kind of beautifully executed film that turns the auteur theory on its head, it's driven by a script that always manages to keep its fiendishly complicated farcical maneuvers in perfect focus. Montgomery is wonderful as the simple boxer who just wants a shot at the title, as is Claude Rains as the dryly sardonic angel. But it's veteran James Gleason's Academy Award-winning performance as Joe's manager Max Corkle that steals the film. The scene in which Joe finally convinces Max that his spirit is inhabiting the body of Farnsworth is a masterpiece of comic acting.  Here Comes Mr. Jordan is one of the most consistently clever romantic comedies of the 1940s, and richly deserving of the Oscars won by screenwriters Sidney Buchman, Seton I. Miller and Harry Segall. A sequel, Down to Earth, was filmed in 1947, with Roland Culver as Mr. Jordan; and in 1978, the original Jordan was remade by Warren Beatty as Heaven Can Wait." - www.allmovie.com

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The penguin pool murder 1932 - Entertaining mystery boosted by Oliver and Gleason chemistry

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IMDB rating: 7,1

Director: George Archainbaud
Main Cast: Edna May Oliver, Robert Armstrong, James Gleason, Mae Clarke, Donald Cook

"Edna May Oliver makes the first of three appearances as Hildegarde Withers, the schoolteacher/sleuth created by mystery writer Stuart Palmer.
The Penguin Pool Murder is a delightful piece of murder mystery fluff. It's no classic of the genre, mind you, but it's a fun little movie, and one in which the comedy works equally as well as the mystery. The plot is, of course, concerned with 'who done it', and it lays the pieces out in an entertaining manner. It's not especially hard to solve the identity of the murderer and some of the clues are put together a bit too handily, but Penguin is so much fun that few will care. Nor will they care too much about the climactic court room scene which, even by cinematic standards, veers off course from reality by a wide margin, nor about the willingness of the chief detective to misstate a valuable piece of evidence (which somehow keeps being withheld even during the trial). How can one care when the droll Edna May Oliver and the crusty James Gleason are having so much fun sparring with each other? Oliver and Gleason carry the picture, something two character actors don't get the chance to do very often, and boy do they make the most of the opportunity." - www.allmovie.com

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Suicide fleet 1931 - Fighting sailing ships

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IMDB rating: 5,8

Director: Albert S. Rogell
Main Cast: William Boyd, Robert Armstrong, James Gleason, Ginger Rogers

"Coney island vendors Baltimore Clark (Bill Boyd), Dutch Herman (Robert Armstrong) and Skeets O'Reilly (James Gleason) spend their off-hours (and some of their on-hours) carrying on a friendly rivalry for the affections of the pert Sally (Ginger Rogers). But when America enters WW1, our three heroes leave Sally behind and join the Navy. Before long, Baltimore, Dutch and Skeets find themselves smack in the middle of an ongoing conflict between the German U-boat fleet and a shadowy 'mystery' ship. Naturally, the boys are crewmen on the aforementioned mystery vessel, which is used as a decoy to bring the enemy out into the open. Despite this tense situation, the film spends a goodly amount of time showing the three protagonists cheerfully cheating on Sally with fetching foreign damsels in other ports of call." - www.allmovie.com

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