Best Actor 1941: Robert Montgomery in Here Comes Mr. Jordan

Robert Montgomery received his second and last Oscar nomination for playing Joe Pendleton a boxer whose soul is taken up to heaven to early in Here Comes Mr. Jordan.

Here Comes Mr. Jordan is about that boxer as he tries on another body as a rich millionaire. Incidentally this film was remade into Heaven Can Wait which was also nominated for Best Actor and Supporting Actor for the same roles. The film follows his times in this body and his pursuit he still has of the heavy weight championship. The film is not great, and it takes much to long for him to get into the millionaires body, but it is pleasant enough, and I did not mind watching it. It has some nice performances particularly Claude Rains as Mr. Jordan but everything could have had a little more to it especially Evelyn Keyes's character. Also that ending does not work in my opinion still. But its a nice pleasant experience I suppose.

Robert Montgomery gives a nice enough performance as Joe Pendleton, but not an amazing one. He acts basically the same way throughout the picture, as a nice guy who just wants his old body back which was in the pink. This performance does not really have highs or lows he seems to be the same emotionally throughout the film. It is not if he is dull though or distant he just keeps it relaxed throughout the film. I like how he goes through the motions but he never does anything amazing with the motions either.

The only time he really does more than his natural way of doing things is the scene were he loses his old memory. I suppose he does a good job of becoming Murdoch in this scene but again not amazing. Montgomery performance is much like the film, it is nice and pleasant but not amazing. I never had a problem with anything he did but then again I was not wowed by what he did either. I do think Montgomery could have done a little more with his performance but it is not bad. For this he Gets: