“Here Comes Mr. Jordan?” (1941)

What’s not to love in “Here Comes Mr. Jordan?” (1941) There’s Robert Montgomery’s goofy warm-hearted pug fighter, Joe Pendleton. Evelyn Keyes sweetly trusting Betty Logan. Claude Rains seraphic Mr. Jordan. There’s Edward Everett Horton’s bumbling angel messenger. Rita Johnson and John Emery as the confused murderers, Donald MacBride’s frustrated detective, Halliwell Hobbes unflappable butler, and then there’s James Gleason as Maxsie. Joe’s manager. Gleason’s career stretched from the late silent era to the late 1950’s. He appeared in dozens of films and televisions programs. His stock in trade was a street-wise, tough talking Runyonesque supporting character who had a sentimental soft side. Most folks know his work: Sylvester, the cab driver in “The Bishop’s Wife” (1947) or Barbara Stanwyck’s editor in “Meet John Doe” (1941) or the police lieutenant who recognizes Jonathon Brewster in “Arsenic and Old Lace” (1944). Here, he’s the glue that holds the screwball comedy together and, in one scene, late in the film, gives it its heart: Maxsie realizes that Joe, at least the Joe he knows, is gone. It’s a master class in acting and Gleason’s only Oscar nomination.

Some trivia: Lloyd Bridges has a small part. And it was remade as “Heaven Can Wait” (1978) with Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, James Mason, Buck Henry, Jack Warden, Charles Grodin, and Dyan Cannon.