Chance at Heaven

In this charming little film, Joel McCrea plays Blacky Gorman, owner of a service station with big plans for owning more stations. Ginger Rogers plays his girlfriend, Marge Harris, a wonderful young woman without a selfish bone in her body. Blacky does not appreciate what he has and his attention is diverted to a flirtatious girl with social connections and family wealth---Glory Franklyn, played by Marian Nixon.

The acting is worthy of notice, but the story is fairly uncomplicated. As a result, the film is not substantial enough to warrant a higher score than "6".

This precode production offers only a couple concessions to impropriety, but it provides a nostalgic look at life in the thirties, including kitchen operations.

The film wraps up too neatly and too quickly, but it is, nonetheless, endearing. It might have served as a cautionary tale in its day, but it remains a comforting tale of ceaseless fidelity and virtue.

Small-town mechanic Joel McCrea keeps putting off marrying his sweetheart Ginger Rogers. Then flighty rich girl Marian Nixon shows up at Joel's gas station and he drops Ginger for her. Disappointing drama about how the grass looks greener on the other side or some such. The characters are poorly written, especially McCrea's. Ginger isn't the right fit for her role. Yes she could play wholesome girl next door types but here she's a doormat. Also, it's hard for me to buy any guy who has Ginger Rogers looking for someone else. On the plus side, one of the little things I love about watching older movies is soaking up all the pieces of history on display. The clothes, the cars, the architecture -- it's all pretty fascinating to me. In this movie, for example, I really enjoyed seeing the old gas station with the pumps and stuff. This isn't a very good movie but it's watchable due to the actors' personalities transcending their crappy parts.

Blacky Gorman (Joel McCrea) owns a gas station in Silver Beach, Massachusetts which is a resort town for the rich. He plans to marry his girlfriend Marge Harris (Ginger Rogers) and buy more gas stations. Rich careless driver Glory Franklyn (Marian Nixon) is new in town. She befriends Marge. She flirts with Blacky and comes between the couple.

I'm not enamored with the couple but I don't want them to split up either. I don't ship anybody in particular in the movie and that's a problem. I'm not actually rooting for any actual outcome. I just become a passenger. There is a home makeover and sister wives situation. Non of it is that compelling. Also somebody needs to stop that guy's annoyingly fake laughing. I don't care that much about the ending going one way or the other.

A small-town mechanic (Joel McCrea) leaves his girlfriend (Ginger Rogers) for an heiress (Marian Nixon).

An early role for Ginger, Chance at Heaven is an enjoyable little bauble, coming in at just over 70 minutes. Ginger doesn't get much to do, but is very good as always, while Joel McCrea is a competent leading man. Marian Nixon is good as the heiress; however, her character is so scatterbrained it makes Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey look like Einstein!

The film itself is a little depressing, and it's hard to sympathize with McCrea because his character is such a sap. There's also a thinly veiled reference to abortion, one of the worst screen mothers in history and Andy Devine as McCrea's friend. Overall, it's nothing very memorable, but it's enjoyable.

Caught this on TCM this morning - a bit disturbing, really, considering the light-hearted tone in the early going. A poor sap mechanic (McCrea) is stolen from his girlfriend (Ginger Rogers) by a wealthy heiress. Can a marriage involving such a gap in class succeed?

Although McCrea and Rogers are charming enough to watch, there are some upsetting elements in this yarn that would be readily discernible by modern audiences: hence, I assume that the screenplay slightly pre-dates the crackdown of the Production Code. However, you might find the movie interesting if you like to delve into the evolution of 'mature subject material' during this era. TCM has championed this pastime. 6/10