Between Two Worlds (1944)

Between Two Worlds (1944), directed by Edward A. Blatt.

A type of metaphysical fantasy that used to be popular and still gets made from time to time.

During WW2, ten people find themselves on an ocean liner headed for Heaven and Hell. They pick their own destinations. It takes them a while to figure out they are dead; until then everyone has to interact with everyone else in various psychodrama segments.

Sydney Greenstreet appears as the Examiner, a departed soul who sorts out the new arrivals. The rich and proud have a hard time of it, but there is some precedent for that.

Adapted from a stage play and it often sounds like it. In particular, John Garfield rants in playwright-speak. It is a bit much, but actually better than it sounds. Somehow the wheels don't fall off entirely. It descends into sweetness in spots, but the spiritual spookiness of the journey is never completely absent.

Korngold score. Many familiar faces (inlcluding lovely Eleanor Parker, who I didn't start noticing until later).

Warner Archive title, available for rent from ClassicFlix.