Back Door to Heaven is a 1939 American crime drama film directed by William K. Howard and starring Wallace Ford, Aline MacMahon, Stuart Erwin and Patricia Ellis.

Frankie is an impoverished child of a kindly mother and an alcoholic father who spends what little income the family receives on drink.

His teacher, Miss Williams, asks him to participate with the class in a performance in front of the school inspector.

Although his teacher and the sheriff are sympathetic to Frankie's situation, the severity of the crime means that he has to be sent to reform school.

He gains a tough reputation there and afterwards is sent to the state penitentiary for five years for punching a prison monitor.

Upon returning to his digs, he finds a note from his two friends saying that they intended to rob an ice cream parlour at a given time.