*** This review may contain spoilers *** I truly love this movie and wish they would release it on DVD. It is very clever and funny. A millionaire dies, leaving his fortune to his German Shephard with his secretary in charge of the money and the dog. The dog is poisoned and the girl is blamed for his death. When the dog goes to heaven, he tells the higher authorities that it wasn't the girl who killed him and he is the only one who can put things right. He is given one month (one moon cycle) to prove her innocence and so he is sent down to earth as an 'humanimal' (an animal soul in human form) and he is given a secretary (a horse) to help him.The next scene opens with him in an office with a sign on the window "Rex Shephard - Private Detective". He is sitting at his desk and he is nibbling something out of a bag in one of his drawers which turns out to be doggy kibble. His secretary (the horse) has a feed/nose bag for a handbag and has horse shoes on the soles of her human shoes. And so it goes..... I won't spoil it, by listing the clever animal cross human jokes, for anyone who is lucky enough to see it. I have not seen it for over 20 years; and believe me, I have been looking.It is a wonderfully, lighthearted movie for all ages. Although, I'm sure the older you are the more you would get the subtleties of some of the jokes.It was also released as "You Never Know"

It doesn't matter whether you love animals or not, this is a fun movie. I loved it as a kid, and stumbled on it again as an adult. I didn't expect to enjoy it as an adult, but I thought it was even better than what I remembered. The cast was great. My husband agreed that it was great fun, and to my surprise,even my daughter (who doesn't like anything in B&W) loved it. She's tried to get a copy to show her children. I would love to see this released on DVD. Although I loved "Oh, Heavenly Dog" with Chevy Chase, "You Never Can Tell" was better. I doubt they could improve on it if they did film a remake. If you get a chance, this is definitely one movie worth watching.

Imaginative fantasies for-the-sake-of-an-idea are rare in Hollywood. It is much easier to impute massive powers to a watch or show a watch that can stop time, without regard for the meaning, ethics or development of such ideas. "You Never Can Tell" is beyond any doubt one of the most delightful and unexpected fantasy films ever. It begins with a visit to Beastatory, where good animals go, a heaven for non-humans courtesy of David S. Hursely and the optical department; the animals are shown on a negative image with glowing eyes, speaking English. The film was directed by Louis Breslow and written along with David Chandler. It tells the story of an Army canine who is murdered. He comes back to protect his mistress, daughter of a wealthy man played by Albert Sharpe, in the person of beautiful Peggy Dow. he is in human form, calling himself "Rex Shepherd", and his partner for the mission of mystery-detection and help to her is Golden Harvest, a palomino filly now in human form as Goldie, his assistant. The villain of the piece is ably played by Charles Drake, who is romancing Dow. While Rex munches kibble and Goldie outruns buses and visits her psychologically troubled horse friends at the track, they somehow manage to save Dow's life and expose the reason behind Rex's killing and the threat to her. Of course, Rex falls in love with Dow, she with him, and he remains on Earth and watches as Goldie gallops off toward Beastatory's alternate heaven, turning into a palomino again as she disappears into the skies. Please don't miss this delightful film; it is one of Powell's best, and a genuine comedy-fantasy rarity.

This is an especially enjoyable film for animal lovers, with lots of puns and sight gags involving a dog and horse who have been returned to earth from animal heaven, in human form, to track down the murderer of one of them. There is a fair amount of silliness, but ultimately this engaging comedy has a lot to say about human nature and the animal species that we are so attached to, particularly the canine and equine varieties. This is truly one for all ages, I would like to think that small (and older) children could sit still for this black & white gem, and enjoy it immensely.