Chance at Heaven

Chance at Heaven
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	William A. Seiter James Anderson (assistant)
Screenplay by	Julien Josephson Sarah Y. Mason
Based on	A Chance at Heaven 1932 short story by Vina Delmar
Produced by	Merian C. Cooper
Starring	Ginger Rogers Joel McCrea Marian Nixon Andy Devine Lucien Littlefield
Cinematography	Nicholas Musuraca
Edited by	James B. Morley
Music by	Max Steiner Roy Webb
Production company	RKO Pictures
Distributed by	RKO Pictures
Release date	October 27, 1933 (1933-10-27)
Running time	71 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Chance at Heaven is a 1933 American Pre-Code drama film directed by William A. Seiter and written by Julien Josephson and Sarah Y. Mason. The film stars Ginger Rogers, Joel McCrea, Marian Nixon, Andy Devine and Lucien Littlefield. The film was released on October 27, 1933, by RKO Pictures.

Plot

Blackie owns a very successful service station in Silver Beach, Massachusetts, a town that is a summer resort for wealthy people. He plans to own a chain of stations someday and to marry his girlfriend, Marje, when the time is right. Glory, a flirtatious, accident-prone debutante whose snobbish mother has just purchased a big summer house, falls for him, and the feeling is mutual. An unlikely friendship develops between Glory and Marje, who sees that Blackie is truly in love with Glory and tells him to follow his heart and marry her.

Glory and Blackie elope and settle into Blackie's bungalow. Weeping, Glory's mother tells her she has ruined her life. The newlyweds are happy, in spite of Glory's attempts at housekeeping and her uncomfortable decorating ideas. (She replaces his big comfy wing chair with a tiny boudoir chair).

When Glory learns that she is pregnant, the news spreads through the town until at last it reaches Blackie, who rushes home to find Glory's mother there. Just before he comes in, Glory's mother tells her very seriously that she is only a child herself, that she has no idea what she will have to go through. She is only thinking of Glory's happiness: “You must go to New York with me.” (This scene and the one in Mrs. Franklyn's New York apartment are cited to support the idea that Glory's mother wants her to have an abortion and did in fact persuade her to terminate the pregnancy.)

Blackie is ecstatic at the news, but later Glory's mother persuades him to let Glory go to New York so that she can “have the best of everything”, although the local doctor is a highly qualified obstetrician. The visit lasts several months. When Blackie learns from Marje that Glory' mother wants her trunks sent to California, he rushes to the city.

Blackie arrives at the New York apartment, which is full of furniture draped in dust covers for a long absence. Glory and her mother are going out for the evening. Glory's mother tells Blackie that he will find her “quite grown up”. She has changed. She has learned a great deal in the past few months. She is not going back. They have made arrangements for a divorce.

When Glory enters the room, she pushes him away when he puts his arms around her. Her makeup, clothing and manner are indeed those of an older, more sophisticated—and slightly harder—woman. She apologizes for being a coward, and tells Blackie that the marriage was a mistake. He married the wrong kind of a girl. She doesn't blame him, but she has found herself. She wants a life with her friends—and her mother. When Blackie asks about the baby, Glory stands unmoving, with her head bowed, tapping a cigarette on the case in her hands. Her mother says, icily, “Blackie, your Doctor Jameson was wrong.” In the print streamed by Turner Classic Movies in July 2020, there is a break in the film, with a very brief, badly damaged reaction shot from Blackie, then a cut to a shot of him striding out of the apartment without a word.

After the divorce, Blackie returns home to his bungalow to find his old armchair in place and Marje making his favorite dinner. He keeps trying to speak, but she tells him she knows the story: “Once upon a time, a knight rode away on a cloud with a princess. But one day, the princess pulled the cloud out from under him and he fell right smack dab on his... “ “Funny how a good kick in the pants can make a guy's head work,” he muses. She goes on, “What the boy didn't know was that the local Cinderella loved him, and she wanted him to be happy. And boy, is she happy.” They beam at each other. “Gee, that's the best chicken pie I ever ate.”

Cast

• Ginger Rogers as Marjorie "Marje" Harris
• Joel McCrea as Blackstone 'Blacky' Gorman
• Marian Nixon as Glory Franklyn
• Virginia Hammond as Mrs. S. T. Franklyn
• Andy Devine as Al
• Lucien Littlefield as Mr. Fred Harris
• George Meeker as Sid Larrick
• Ann Shoemaker as Mrs. Harris

External links

• Chance at Heaven at IMDb
• Chance at Heaven at AllMovie
• Chance at Heaven at the TCM Movie Database
• Chance at Heaven at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films