Sometimes you have to go through the darkness to see the light. That's the lesson that Harry Carey who makes the Dickens comment must learn playing one of three elderly friends who face their mortality and are stuck on Earth for a time to learn lessons that they need to process in order to move on. The other two are Charles Winninger and C. Aubrey Smith, living there later years alongside old friend Maria Ouspenskaya and playing guiding lights to the young Jean Parker and Richard Carlson who finds fame far too early as a professional singer. He is distracted by Helen Vinson, a woman of no scruples who steals Carlson from Parker yet has her own issues concerning old lover William Bakewell.
While this really is not a Christmas movie, the spiritual themes are quite appropriate for the holiday season. This has only a dollop of humor but is so beautifully sentimental in its expression of elderly friendships and their devotion to young friends that it grasps your heart and refuses to let go, as long as you are willing to open your heart to its message. Carey's character is probably the darkest of them all, but he does have a few opportunities to let loose.
One of the major humorous scenes has the five people volunteering in an orphan's home with Ouspenskaya telling stories and making funny faces while the three older men prance around with the young people as if they have found their second childhood. But all of a sudden, it becomes tragic as during a snowstorm, Parker and Carlson are having a romantic moment in the park, unaware that the newspaper that they turn down had the headline of the three friends reported as missing.
Each of the men, remaining on Earth as ghostly figures, must face their Destiny in different ways with Carrie being summoned to his own dark place by crashes of thunder and lightning, and Smith being taken to a heavenly place by his own deceased son. Winninger remains on his own, and a tragedy strikes that has him being called at the same time while trying to wrap up everything for his loved ones who he is leaving behind. The performances of All of the stars in this film are excellent, and if you can get past the extreme sentimentality and your own cynicism, you will find this a beautiful fantasy.
While this really is not a Christmas movie, the spiritual themes are quite appropriate for the holiday season. This has only a dollop of humor but is so beautifully sentimental in its expression of elderly friendships and their devotion to young friends that it grasps your heart and refuses to let go, as long as you are willing to open your heart to its message. Carey's character is probably the darkest of them all, but he does have a few opportunities to let loose.
One of the major humorous scenes has the five people volunteering in an orphan's home with Ouspenskaya telling stories and making funny faces while the three older men prance around with the young people as if they have found their second childhood. But all of a sudden, it becomes tragic as during a snowstorm, Parker and Carlson are having a romantic moment in the park, unaware that the newspaper that they turn down had the headline of the three friends reported as missing.
Each of the men, remaining on Earth as ghostly figures, must face their Destiny in different ways with Carrie being summoned to his own dark place by crashes of thunder and lightning, and Smith being taken to a heavenly place by his own deceased son. Winninger remains on his own, and a tragedy strikes that has him being called at the same time while trying to wrap up everything for his loved ones who he is leaving behind. The performances of All of the stars in this film are excellent, and if you can get past the extreme sentimentality and your own cynicism, you will find this a beautiful fantasy.