''The Heavenly Body'' is a 1944 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Alexander Hall Alexander Hall (January 11, 1894 – July 30, 1968) was an American film director, film editor and theatre actor. Biography Hall acted in the theatre from the age of four through 1914, when he began to work in silent movies. Following his milit ...

and starring

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the '' Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters cr ...

and

Hedy Lamarr Hedy Lamarr (; born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler; November 9, 1914 January 19, 2000) was an Austrian-born American film actress and inventor. A film star during Hollywood's golden age, Lamarr has been described as one of the greatest movie actress ...

. Based on a story by Jacques Théry, with a screenplay by

Michael Arlen Michael Arlen (16 November 1895 – 23 June 1956), born Dikran Kouyoumdjian ( hy, Տիգրան Գոյումճեան), was a British essayist, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and scriptwriter of Armenian origin, who had his greatest s ...

and

Walter Reisch Walter Reisch (May 23, 1903 – March 28, 1983) was an Austrian-born director and screenwriter. He also wrote lyrics to several songs featured in his films, one popular title is "Flieger, grüß mir die Sonne". He was married to the dancer and a ...

, the film is about the beautiful wife of a professional astronomer who becomes convinced that her astrologer's prediction that she will meet her true love will come true. Produced by Arthur Hornblow Jr., ''The Heavenly Body'' was released by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

in the United States on March 23, 1944.

Plot

A neglected wife turns to an astrologer, who tells her she will meet and fall in love with a handsome stranger, much to the dismay of her

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

husband.

Cast

Production notes

* Production Dates: 4 May-early Aug 1943 * The working title of this film was ''The Stars Can Wait''. * ''The Heavenly Body'' marked William Powell's first picture since the 1942 film '' Crossroads''. ''Crossroads'' was also the first time in which Powell co-starred with Hedy Lamarr, and according to modern sources, the success of that film prompted MGM to re-team them in ''The Heavenly Body''.

External links

* * * * 1944 films 1944 romantic comedy films 1940s screwball comedy films American black-and-white films American romantic comedy films American screwball comedy films Films directed by Alexander Hall Films scored by Bronisław Kaper Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films with screenplays by Irving Brecher Films with screenplays by Harry Kurnitz 1940s English-language films 1940s American films {{romantic-comedy-film-stub