The Cockeyed Miracle [DVD] [1946]

Frank Morgan plays a turn-of-the-century shipbuilder who dies of a sudden heart attack. Morgan is summoned to Heaven by the ghost of the father (Keenan Wynn), who'd been killed in a barroom brawl at an early age and thus is now younger than his own son! After a few amusing efforts at testing his spectral powers, Morgan elects to stick around on earth for a while to straighten out some unfinished business. He is especially eager to put the brakes on his onetime best friend (Cecil Kellaway), who was supposed to invest Morgan's savings but who plans to abscond with the funds and leave Morgan's widow penniless. A bolt of lightning solves everyone's problems, and Morgan peacefully heads heavenward with his dad. Based on a play by George Seaton, Cockeyed Miracle is a charming example of the sort of comedy/fantasy fare popular with filmgoers of the 1940s.~Hal Erickson