Rage in Heaven *** (1941, Robert Montgomery, Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders) – Classic Movie Review 6632

Director W S Van Dyke II’s well-cast and intriguing British-set 1941 suspense thriller is based on a book by British novelist James Hilton, author of Goodbye, Mr Chips (1939), Knight without Armour (1937), Lost Horizon (1937), and Random Harvest (1942).

Rage in Heaven is a classy, though unbelieveable movie, with Robert Montgomery starring as psychotic husband Philip Monrell who is plotting against his new wife Stella Bergen (Ingrid Bergman) and his best buddy Ward Andrews (George Sanders), whom he perversely pushes together.

Stella was Phillip’s mother Mrs Monrell (Lucile Watson)’s attractive young secretary, whom both men fancy but it’s Philip who gets to marry her, only leading to his increasingly erratic and his jealous behaviour rather than the expected happiness. With its air of artificiality, it is definitely only a movie, Ingrid.

Montgomery does his convincingly creepy and crazed acting turn again from Night Must Fall, while Bergman and Sanders bring their differing styles of charisma to brighten things up. Christopher Isherwood co-authors the screenplay with Robert Thoeren, giving an injection of truth and motivation into what is a basically artificial and theatrical enterprise, and remains essentially just that, though there is nothing entirely wrong with that. The Rage in Heaven poster points out rather lamely that ‘it’s dramatic’. That is not a good sell line but it does describe the film rather well.

Also in the cast are Oscar Homolka, Philip Merivale, Matthew Boulton, Aubrey Mather, Frederic Warlock, Francis Compton, Gilbert Emory, Ludwig Hart, Lawrence Hart, Art Dupuis, Victor Kendall, Olaf Hytten, Frank Shannon, Harry Cording and Leyland Hdgson.

Rage in Heaven is shot in black and white by Oliver T Marsh, produced by Gottfried Reinhardt and scored by Bronislau Kaper.

To explain the title, the movie quotes ‘Heaven hath no rage like love to hatred turned’ from Milton’s Paradise Lost, though apparently it is from William Congreve’s play The Mourning Bride.

In 1939 Joy Davidman worked on an early version of the script before Isherwood. In her six months as an MGM scriptwriter none of her scripts was used.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6632

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com