Rage in Heaven

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Rage in Heaven
Lobby card
Directed by	W.S. Van Dyke Robert B. Sinclair Richard Thorpe
Produced by	Gottfried Reinhardt
Written by	James Hilton Christopher Isherwood Robert Thoeren Edward Chodorov
Starring	Robert Montgomery Ingrid Bergman George Sanders
Music by	Bronislau Kaper Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Eugene Zador
Cinematography	Oliver T. Marsh George J. Folsey
Editing by	Harold F. Kress
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	March 7, 1941
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

Rage in Heaven is a 1941 psychological thriller about the destructive power of jealousy. It was directed by W.S. Van Dyke and based on the novel by James Hilton. It stars Robert Montgomery, Ingrid Bergman, and George Sanders.

[edit] Plot summary

Phillip Monrell (Robert Montgomery) and his former college roommate Ward Andrews (George Sanders) are both strongly attracted to Phillip's mother's secretary, Stella Bergen (Ingrid Bergman). She prefers the more responsible, hardworking Ward, but ends up marrying the idle Phillip instead.

Phillip is put in charge of the family steel mill, but is not suited for the job. He begins to exhibit signs of mental illness, particularly abnormal jealousy of any competition for his wife's affections. Despite this, he hires Ward to be the chief engineer at the mill. Eventually, Phillip's paranoid suspicion that Ward and Stella love each other drives him to try to kill his rival at work. Ward confronts him and quits.

Stella, convinced that her husband is insane, leaves him and meets Ward. Phillip phones them and promises to grant her a divorce if Ward will talk with him in person. Despite Stella's misgivings, Ward agrees to see him. However, Phillip provokes a loud argument and Ward leaves.

Afterwards, the madman kills himself, carefully framing Ward for the crime. Ward is arrested, convicted of murder and sentenced to be executed. A frantic Stella is unable to convince anyone of his innocence. The day before the execution, she is visited by Dr. Rameau (Oscar Homolka), a psychiatrist who had been treating Phillip. He is convinced that Phillip committed suicide and that he would have left some message bragging about it. They go to the Monrell mansion and start searching. Mrs. Monrell (Lucile Watson) reveals that her son kept diaries; then, Clark (Aubrey Mather), the butler, recalls that he mailed a package to Paris. They take a flight to France and find the book, which exonerates Ward.