Heaven Only Knows

Heaven Only Knows (1947)

For an angel... this buckaroo is some guy! He's on a rootin' tootin' mission from above... looking for a lost soul!

Also released as Montana Mike, Heaven Only Knows is an offbeat western with fantasy overtones. Hard-bitten gambling boss Brian Donlevy rules his frontier community with brawn and bullets. To his dismay, Donlevy discovers that he has a guardian angel (Robert Cummings), who shows up in the guise of an Eastern tenderfoot. The angel has been sent from Above to save Donlevy's soul, and to that end encourages the one-time villain to squire a minister's daughter (Jorja Curtwright) rather than his usual dance-hall girls. Donlevy is also given tips on winning against his enemies without resorting to gunplay. The gambler finally redeems himself with Heaven by rescuing the angel from a lynch mob (how can you lynch an angel?) Heaven Only Knows deserves an "E" for Effort for bringing a fresh twist to the venerable western genre.

Date of release
1947-09-12
TMDB
6.5 / 10 (6)
Runtime
1h 40m
Genres
Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Western
Director
Albert S. Rogell

Casting

Interesting facts

Heaven Only Knows is a 1947 American Western fantasy film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring Robert Cummings, Brian Donlevy and Marjorie Reynolds. Produced by German émigré Seymour Nebenzal's Nero Films, it was distributed by United Artists. In 1887, an angel is sent to Montana to help a man who was accidentally born without a soul to obtain his rightful spirit and fulfill his destiny as a powerful influence for good.

Production

The producer bought the rights to the story in July 1946 and Brian Donlevy was discussed as a star from the start.

On November 26, 1946 the producer announced he had signed Cummings and Donlevy (Cummings had just made The Chase for the producer

). Filming began December 2. Helen Walker was originally to have starred; because of her devastating December 1946 auto accident, she was replaced by Marjorie Reynolds.

Censors restricted Michael's behavior and insisted that the character not be identified with the Archangel. The Archangel Gabriel does appear among the angels in Heaven, where there is a brief mention of his blowing his trumpet at the end of the world.

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