Back Door to Heaven

Last updated
Back Door to Heaven
Back Door to Heaven FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by William K. Howard
Written by John Bright
Robert Tasker
Story byWilliam K. Howard (story "Picket Fence")
Produced byWilliam K. Howard
Starring Wallace Ford
Aline MacMahon
Stuart Erwin
Patricia Ellis
Bert Frohman
Jimmy Lydon
Cinematography Hal Mohr
Edited by Jack Murray
Music by Maurice Baron
Production
companies
Vernon Steele Productions
Odessco Productions
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • April 19, 1939 (1939-04-19)(New York City)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$350,000 [1]

Back Door to Heaven is a 1939 American crime drama film directed by William K. Howard and starring Wallace Ford, Aline MacMahon, Stuart Erwin and Patricia Ellis.

Contents

Plot

The story revolves around a delinquent boy later to become a convict, the relationship he has throughout his life with his school colleagues and teacher, and how his calm demeanour no matter what life throws at him, leaves a lasting impression upon them.

Frankie is an impoverished child of a kindly mother and an alcoholic father who spends what little income the family receives on drink. He is about to graduate from school and his family cannot afford to clothe him on this occasion. His teacher, Miss Williams, asks him to participate with the class in a performance in front of the school inspector. While others in the class have academic prowess, he plays the harmonica for him. Unfortunately the instrument is not his, as he noticed it in a shop window the previous night. He stole the harmonica along with some money, and the sheriff arrived just after the performance to interrogate him about the crime. Although his teacher and the sheriff are sympathetic to Frankie's situation, the severity of the crime means that he has to be sent to reform school.

He gains a tough reputation there and afterwards is sent to the state penitentiary for five years for punching a prison monitor. After this time he is released as an adult with two other inmates, and they spend their first evening of freedom together. Later they go with Frankie back to his home town. It happens to be Miss Williams' birthday, and she is opening cards and presents sent by her former pupils, including Frankie. Although she has fond thoughts of all her students, she said to her friends that she cared for Frankie as if he were her own.

Things have changed since Frankie left the town. He returns to his family shack, to find that a black woman and her children are now living there. She tells Frankie that his father had died and that his mother was taken away to an asylum a year previously. He meets Miss Williams and discovers that she has been pensioned off. He visits the chairman of the school board of governors, who happens to be both an old school colleague and the local bank manager. He asks him to find a position for Miss Williams in the new school, and agrees to consider it. The visiting trio then leave the town for Cleveland.

Frankie meets up with another classmate Carol and forms a relationship with her. Upon returning to his digs, he finds a note from his two friends saying that they intended to rob an ice cream parlour at a given time. He races to the scene in order to prevent the crime, but arrives just as they kill the proprietor. He is implicated in and arrested for the crime. During the trial, Frankie is defended by another classmate, John Shelley (Van Heflin). While inexperienced as a lawyer, he delivers a powerful oration to the jury.

Despite this, the jury finds him guilty, and he awaits execution. At the same time, the bank manager has organized a class reunion in the old schoolhouse. Frankie escapes from jail and manages to attend the reunion for a few moments. His parting message to his teacher and classmates is to never hate anyone, as he had abandoned any hatred for people while he was in jail. After he leaves the building, the sound of gunfire affirms that the police have caught up with him.

Cast

Soundtrack

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edna Krabappel</span> Fictional character

Edna Krabappel-Flanders is a fictional character from the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, voiced by Marcia Wallace. A 4th-grade teacher, she teaches Bart Simpson's class at Springfield Elementary School. In the twenty-third season, she marries Ned Flanders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Kay Letourneau</span> American sex offender (1962–2020)

Mary Katherine "Mary Kay" Fualaau, was an American sex offender and teacher who pleaded guilty in 1997 to two counts of felony second-degree rape of a child. Letourneau was 34, and the child, Vili Fualaau, was 12 years old when she initiated their sexual relationship. He was her sixth-grade student at an elementary school in Burien, Washington. While awaiting sentencing, she gave birth to Fualaau's daughter. With the state seeking a 7.5-year prison sentence, she reached a plea agreement calling for six months in jail with three months suspended and no contact with Fualaau for life, among other terms. The case received national attention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shelley Long</span> American actress and comedian (born 1949)

Shelley Long is an American actress, singer, and comedian. For her role as Diane Chambers on the hit sitcom Cheers, Long received five Emmy nominations, winning in 1983 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She also won two Golden Globe Awards for the role. Long reprised her role as Diane Chambers in three episodes of the spin-off Frasier, for which she received an additional guest star Emmy nomination. In 2009, she began playing the recurring role of DeDe Pritchett on the ABC comedy series Modern Family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Fletcher</span> Television detective

Jessica Beatrice "J. B." Fletcher is a fictional detective and writer and the main character and protagonist of the American television series Murder, She Wrote. Portrayed by award-winning actress Angela Lansbury, Fletcher is a best-selling author of mystery novels, an English teacher, amateur detective, criminology professor, and congresswoman. In 2004, Fletcher was listed in Bravo's "100 Greatest TV Characters". AOL named her one of the "100 Most Memorable Female TV Characters". The same website listed her among "TV's Smartest Detectives". She was ranked at number six on Sleuth Channel's poll of "America's Top Sleuths". Guinness World Records called her the "most prolific amateur sleuth".

<i>Jack</i> (1996 film) 1996 film by Francis Ford Coppola

Jack is a 1996 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film stars Robin Williams, Diane Lane, Jennifer Lopez, Fran Drescher, Bill Cosby, and Brian Kerwin. Williams plays the role of Jack Powell, a boy who ages four times faster than normal as a result of Werner syndrome, a form of progeria.

<i>The Cookout</i> 2004 film by Lance Rivera

The Cookout is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Lance Rivera, written by Queen Latifah, Shakim Compere and Mikey Martin. The film introduces Quran Pender as Todd Anderson and stars Ja Rule, Tim Meadows, Jenifer Lewis, Meagan Good, Jonathan Silverman, Farrah Fawcett, Frankie Faison, Eve, Danny Glover, and a special appearance by Latifah. It tells the story of a basketball player who has joined the New Jersey Nets, which his parents celebrate with a family cookout at his new home, while a former classmate comes up with a devious plot.

<i>The Mayor of Hell</i> 1933 film

The Mayor of Hell is a 1933 American pre-Code Warner Brothers film starring James Cagney. The film was remade in 1938 as Crime School with Humphrey Bogart taking over James Cagney's role and Hell's Kitchen with Ronald Reagan in 1939.

"Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner" is the seventh episode of the second season of the American mystery television series Veronica Mars, and the twenty-ninth episode overall. Written by Diane Ruggiero and directed by Nick Marck, the episode premiered on UPN on November 16, 2005.

<i>Please Sir!</i> British TV sitcom (1968–1972)

Please Sir! is a British television sitcom created by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey and featuring actors John Alderton, Deryck Guyler, Penny Spencer, Joan Sanderson, Noel Howlett, Erik Chitty and Richard Davies. Produced by London Weekend Television for ITV, the series ran for 55 episodes between 1968 and 1972.

<i>Heaven Help Us</i> 1985 film by Michael Dinner

Heaven Help Us is a 1985 American comedy-drama film directed by Michael Dinner. It stars Andrew McCarthy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Kevin Dillon, Malcolm Danare, Patrick Dempsey, in his film debut, and Stephen Geoffreys as a group of 1960s Brooklyn teenagers, with Jay Patterson, Wallace Shawn, John Heard, and Donald Sutherland as the teachers and administrators at the private Catholic school the boys attend.

<i>The Mouthpiece</i> 1932 film

The Mouthpiece is a 1932 American pre-Code crime drama film starring Warren William and directed by James Flood and Elliott Nugent. It was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The film is currently available on DVD in the Forbidden Hollywood series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankie Pierre</span> Fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders

Frankie Pierre is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She appears between 24 June 1996 and 25 March 1997, played by Syan Blake. Portrayed as a "super-bitch" and home wrecker, Frankie attempts to ruin the established relationships of several characters during her nine months on the soap, purposefully seducing attached men.

Roxy Hunter is a fictional character played by Aria Wallace in four television films for Nickelodeon in the United States: Roxy Hunter and the Mystery of the Moody Ghost (2007), Roxy Hunter and the Secret of the Shaman (2008), Roxy Hunter and the Myth of the Mermaid (2008), and Roxy Hunter and the Horrific Halloween (2008).

Jesse Hubbard is a fictional character on the long-running ABC and The Online Network soap opera All My Children and half of the Jesse and Angie supercouple. He has been portrayed by Darnell Williams since the character's inception in 1981 and continued until the character's "death" in 1988. He returned for special guest appearances in 1994, 2001, and 2002. Williams returned to the role in 2008 when it was revealed that Jesse was alive. He is the father of Frankie Hubbard, Natalia Fowler, Ellie Hubbard, and Lucy Hubbard.

<i>From Anna</i>

From Anna is a children's novel written by Canadian children's author Jean Little, first published in 1972. It is the story of Anna Solden, a visually impaired child who moves from Germany to Canada with her family, on the eve of Hitler's rise to power in Germany. The book is one of Jean Little's most popular works.

Rizzoli & Isles is an American crime drama television series starring Angie Harmon as Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander as Maura Isles. Based on the series of Rizzoli & Isles novels by Tess Gerritsen, the plot follows Boston Homicide police detective Jane Rizzoli and Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Maura Isles combining their experiences and strikingly different personalities to solve cases. It premiered on TNT on July 12, 2010 and aired 105 episodes in seven seasons, concluding on September 5, 2016.

<i>Bright Road</i> 1953 film

Bright Road is a 1953 low-budget film adapted from the Christopher Award-winning short story "See How They Run" by Mary Elizabeth Vroman. Directed by Gerald Mayer and featuring a nearly all-black cast, the film stars Dorothy Dandridge as an idealistic first-year elementary school teacher trying to communicate with a problem student. The film is also notable as the first appearance by Harry Belafonte, who costars as the principal of the school.

References

  1. "Orlob's Astoria-Made to Precede Howard's". Variety. 14 December 1938. p. 3. Retrieved 18 March 2023.