I just thought this movie was rather boring because I felt like the story was a little over the top and that I couldn't just keep up with it. It was like the main characters storyline was telling a good few stories to the devil rather than his own. It just was so silly like I don't know how anyone can follow this movie, its confusing! I have nothing more to say but this movie was a time waster, never would I recommend this as one of the greatest movies of the 40's.................

"Heaven Can Wait" is a 1943 Technicolor comedy from Ernst Lubitsch with a sterling cast of popular comedy actors from the 40s. Unfortunately, the film never goes beyond its origins as a play, and a New York centric film at that (e.g, Brentanos, Wanamakers, etc. Moreover it is shot entirely on the back lot.The film does have the virtue of featuring Laird Cregar (1913-44) often played villains in films like "I Wake up Screaming" (1941) and "The Lodger" (1944) but he could also play effectively in comedies like "Charley's Aunt" and "Rings on Her Fingers" (1942). Cregar was often over 300 pounds, but lost weight for some of his films, and he shows up much slimmer in this one. The dramatic changes in weight contributed to his early death at 31. Director John Brahm described him as "a quiet, sad, aloof sort of man who saved it all for the camera" and called his on screen work "amazing". Cregar plays a devil like character who sits in judgment of the philandering Don Ameche (1908-1933).One could miss this film and not consider it a major loss.

Based on a play by Leslie Bush-Fekete, Ernst Lubitsch's "Heaven Can Wait" tells the tale of Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche), a predatory playboy who has a series of adulterous affairs."Heaven" opens in hell, where a mustachioed Satan is confronted by a now deceased Henry. Henry, who states that he wishes to avoid his wife in heaven, begs the Master of Darkness to "keep him downstairs", trapped in hell and so away from his wife's judgemental gaze. To convince the devil, Henry proceeds to recount his own life-story (told to us via flashback), hoping that an account of his collective sins will convince all and sundry that he is in fact unsuitable for heaven. The film is typically read as a "touching" and "funny" portrait of marriage and its difficulties, but perhaps also has another aspect: the smooth-talking Henry is conning Satan, presenting a ridiculously biased tale in order to excuse his own chauvinism.Stiff and slow, and with an unnecessary framing device, "Heaven" can't compete with Lubitsch's better films ("The Shop Around The Corner", "Trouble in Paradise", "To Be Or Not To Be" etc). It was Lubitsch's most profitable picture. Some regard it as a masterpiece.5/10 - See "The Shop Around The Corner".

The 1978 film gave us a smug-face Warren Beatty, a dead sports star, hopping around like a rabbit and talking about eating his "curds and whey" but unlike Little Miss Muffet a spider does NOT come along and eat Beatty, thus saving the audience.The 1943 film is a very fine comedy, filmed in stunning 3 strip Technicolor, overloaded with clever lines and fine performances.Don Ameche is dead and having his life reviewed by the Devil, for possible admission to Hell; but that doesn't work out.Ameche is a rich playboy, but when he takes one look at Gene Tierney it's love at first sight and marriage ASAP. Similarly, when I first saw Miss Tierney (in "Return of Frank James") I was stunned by her undeniable beauty. Too bad I was 10 years old and she was then 30.Heaven Can Wait certainly sells the idea of taking maybe 10 minutes to decide on a lifetime commitment. Older and wiser now, I can see that marriage with Gene would not have worked out. After a while, I can't long stand her screen personality, and I like a slimmer build in the upper measurement. I'd try to end it, "Gene, dear, you're much older, but..." BUT... I'd look at her beautiful face and be sunk all over again!