One Foot in Heaven

"Folks, meet a grand FATHER! He's the affable, laffable head of the most delightful family that ever stepped out of America's screens...into America's hearts!"

1941 1h 48m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 23

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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

“Folks, meet a grand FATHER! He's the affable, laffable head of the most delightful family that ever stepped out of America's screens...into America's hearts!”

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Cast

Fredric March
William Spence
Martha Scott
Hope Morris Spence
Beulah Bondi
Lydia Sandow
Gene Lockhart
Preston Thurston
Elisabeth Fraser
Eileen Spence at Age 17
Harry Davenport
Elias Samson
Laura Hope Crews
Mrs. Preston Thurston
Grant Mitchell
Clayton Potter

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Irving Rapper
Writers: Casey Robinson, Hartzell Spence
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

85 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Irving Rapper, shot by Charles Rosher. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Warren Low shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Fredric March and Martha Scott and Beulah Bondi carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Folks, meet a grand FATHER! He's the affable, laffable head of the most delightful family that ever stepped out of America's screens...into America's hearts!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0033980 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 23 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Irving Rapper directs. Charles Rosher behind the camera. Warren Low cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

185 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Irving Rapper, shot by Charles Rosher. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Editor Warren Low shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
4Fredric March and Martha Scott and Beulah Bondi carry the top of the cast.
5Marketing tagline: "Folks, meet a grand FATHER! He's the affable, laffable head of the most delightful family that ever stepped out of America's screens...into America's hearts!".
6IMDB entry: tt0033980 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 23 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Charles Rosher
Editing: Warren Low
Costume design: Milo Anderson
Makeup / hair: Perc Westmore
Runtime: 108 min · 1h 48m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: One Foot in Heaven (1941)

Also by

Irving Rapper

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-07-20
★ 7/10
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.

Production companies