Horst_In_Translation Review of Heavenly Music

Heavenly Music (1943)

Some okay moments, but never deserving of an Oscar nomination, let alone the win

[4/10 · 20 February 2017]

"Heavenly Music" is a 22-minute black-and-white sound film from 1943, so this one will have its 75th anniversary next year. The director is Josef Berne and as short as it may be, there were several writers working on this one here. It is the story of a successful musician, a real star, who died (we don't find out how) at a pretty young age and he is now at the pearly gate. Offered the possibility to be entered in the music hall of fame there, he has to deal with the likes Of Tschajkowski, Beethoven and others who will decide about his fate. Luckily, an angel groupie is right by his side and supports him in whatever he tries to impress the grandmasters that he wants to join. It is a decent little film I guess and (classical) music lovers will certainly enjoy it. I also liked lead actor Frederick Brady's voice a lot, but honestly in terms of story-telling, even with the fantasy aspect in mind, this is not an awards-worthy film at all. The music is really the only factor very much working in its favor, but I guess the Academy wanted something that has for once nothing to do with war or the dark political climate in 1943 and that's why they picked this one over for example a film that deals with women soldiers. Back to this one here, the main reason why I reduced my rating from 6 to 4 out of 10 is probably because the ending is really nothing but music and they lost me there completely. The inclusion of a little rascal is also more random than that it makes sense for any reason. Don't watch.