Tomorrow Is Forever (1946)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Irving Pichel

Writers:

Gwen Bristow (story)
Lenore J. Coffee (writer)

Release Date:

16 September 1946 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir

Tagline:

THE VIBRANT, PULSING STORY OF A WOMAN ESCAPING HER PAST! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

Elizabeth and John say good-bye as John leaves to go to war. When the war ends, Elizabeth receives a telegram that John has been killed in action...

Plot Keywords:

Tennyson | Orchestral Music Score | WWI | Title Spoken By Character

Cast

Claudette Colbert	...	Elizabeth Hamilton
Orson Welles	...	John Andrew MacDonald / Erik Kessler
George Brent	...	Lawrence Hamilton
Lucile Watson	...	Aunt Jessica Hamilton
Richard Long	...	Drew Hamilton
Natalie Wood	...	Margaret Ludwig
John Wengraf	...	Dr. Ludwig
Sonny Howe	...	Brian Hamilton
Michael Ward	...	The Drew infant
Ian Wolfe	...	Norton
Joyce Mackenzie	...	Cherry Davis
Tom Wirick	...	Pudge Davis
Lane Watson	...	Hamilton's secretary
Henry Hastings	...	Daniel

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | USA:Approved (PCA #10934)

Company:

International Pictures (I)

Trivia:

Richard Long's film debut.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: Lucile Watson's name is misspelled "Lucille" in the opening credits.

Quotes:

John Andrew MacDonald: Here is the one you wait for. No other man is your husband.

Soundtrack:

Tomorrow Is Forever

The Saddest Movie I Know

It's interesting to compare the hero's sacrifice in Tomorrow is Forever with the hero's in Casablanca. Rick (Bogart) leaves Ilsa in Casablanca to her husband for the good of the world, and for a cause he believes in (fighting the Nazis) -- a cause he will participate in. But John/Erik (Welles), while he leaves Elizabeth for the good of the same cause he fervently believes in, can not participate. He is crippled and sickly from the First World War (he is probably emasculated, as well). Unlike Rick, he can neither reveal his identity or his love for the woman he left behind -- even though she may know it. He only says openly that the cause is all. But, unlike Rick, he is lying within himself. Elizabeth is the abiding passion in his life, his only possibility of emotional fulfillment. Yet, even so, the world comes first. And he sacrifices for this cause to the point of his own non-existence. It is truly the greater sacrifice. It is a wonderfully acted film, which makes the lost love of John and Elizabeth the most poignant I have ever shared as a movie viewer.