One Foot in Heaven

1941

1h 48m

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

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Drama

Episodic look at the life of a minister and his family as they move from one parish to another.

Directors

Irving Rapper

Writers

Casey Robinson(writer by)

Hartzell Spence(writer by)

Stars

Fredric March

Martha Scott

Beulah Bondi

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Top cast

William Spence

Hope Morris Spence

Lydia Sandow

Preston Thurston

Eileen Spence at Age 17

Harry Davenport

Elias Samson

Laura Hope Crews

Mrs. Preston Thurston

Clayton Potter

Dr. John Romer

Hartzell Spence

Dr. Horrigan

John E. Morris

Mrs. Morris

Eileen Spence

Hartzell Spence

Frazer Spence

Woman Behind Hope at Baptism (uncredited)

Joan Anderson

Child (uncredited)

Directors

Irving Rapper

Writers

Casey Robinson(writer by)

Hartzell Spence(writer by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

I was a little apprehensive when this started. I though we were in for one of those twee American bible-thumping exercises with soft choral music and rousing sermons. Actually, though, it’s quite a fun chronology of the life of pastor “Spence” (Fredric March) and his wife “Hope” (Martha Scott). To begin with they live in Canada, haven’t two cents to rub together and with barely half a loaf to live on are hoping that some would-be newly weds will stop by for a $2 or $5 wedding! With their first born arriving, they move south across the border for something a little more prosperous - and that’s when their snowball starts to roll through, quite literally, fire and some brimstone. March is on good form, as is the under-used Scott and the trio of Beulah Bondi, Gene Lockhart and Laura Hope Crews add a buy-your-way-into-heaven potency as wealthy citizens who are all for helping their minister succeed - just so long as he does it on their terms. When they discover the twentieth leak in their roof, they conclude that it would be easier to build a new church than a new parsonage, and those wealthy “patrons” become more important and downright obnoxious than ever. There is a Christian message here, but it’s not so much a religious one as one that ridicules the pompous and the gossips whilst encouraging humanity and decency - a quest all the more poignant as war soon rages in Europe. There is an headline on one of their newspapers that declares “Austria at war with Serbia” and I did wonder how many watching would ever have heard of either country at the time. They sure had by the end! It also illustrates just how poor as church mice church people actually were, and in the end it rather potently suggests that faith is much more than an edifice - even one with a $10,000 stained glass window.

Geronimo196720 Jul, 2025