Beyond Tomorrow (1940)

The ghosts of three elderly industrialists killed in an airplane crash return to Earth to help reunite a young couple whom they initially brought together.Structured as a B film, the production did not engage any stars who would receive billing above the title, relying instead on a quartet of veteran characters actors, Charles Winninger, Maria Ouspenskaya, C. Aubrey Smith and Harry Carey, second-tier young leads Richard Carlson and Jean Parker as well as "other woman" Helen Vinson, a minor lead/second lead during early and mid thirties, here approaching the end of her career. All seven actors received a "Featuring" billing after the title. The remaining supporting cast included Rod La Rocque, a top leading man of the silent era, now reduced to playing minor supporting roles.In retrospect, the movie is interesting for its cast, but never really rises above a B-movie. It is a bit too melodramatic, and doesn't stand out as a great film in its own right and not a great Christmas film. I have read that some people have made this a Christmas tradition, but I just can't imagine doing this. With the dozens of great Christmas movies, I wouldn't put this in the top 50.

A very instructive film. It's no good, mind you, but it's certainly fascinating. In fact, so fascinating, it's hard to decide where to begin. So let's start with the photography. This is credited to little-known Lester White, who was one of Louis B. Mayer's favorite cameramen because he could both shoot fast and shoot artistically at the same time. White worked on most of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Andy Hardy series, but he was also an expert on film noir – and this particular film certainly shows off his expertise in that domain. The movie was produced by none other than Lee Garmes, himself an expert cameraman who specialized in – you guessed it! – film noir! So this movie is nothing if not superbly photographed. Unfortunately, it's one of those movies that start off on a high note, but gradually lose the plot. The opening scenes are great. The characters are deftly introduced and the plot, although it seems pretty traditional, has room to expand – and this it does until about halfway through when it suddenly loses direction and seems at a loss what to do with the characters so artfully introduced in the opening scenes. So all it does is mark time until our 84 minutes are up and we can all go home. A pity! And a wonderful assemblage of players wasted too – including Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith (very unflatteringly photographed), Charles Winninger and Helen Vinson! Available on a very good Alpha DVD.

Man, this started out so well. It has this heartwarming premise that is perfect for a Christmas movie. Three rich old men (C. Aubrey Smith, Harry Carey, Charles Winninger) are lonely on Christmas. So they come up with an idea for how to get some guests for dinner. They each throw their wallet into the street with $10 and their address inside. The people who bring the wallets back they will invite to stay for dinner. Well only two of the wallets come back. They are returned by two young single people, cowboy Richard Carlson (!) and the lovely Jean Parker. So they all have dinner together, the two young people are attracted to one another, and this looks like it's going to be a great time.Then they kill off the old guys. Seriously, they kill them off. Okay, terrible decision but let's see where it goes. Now the plot is that the lovable grandpa types are ghosts who have to get Carlson and Parker together before they move on. Still a potentially great movie there. Except now Carlson is a complete douche who starts falling for a cobra lady (Helen Vinson), even though he proposed to poor Jean. What in the world is going on here? Why did they overcomplicate what started out as such a sweet, innocent film? Anyway, I don't think I'm spoiling things to tell you that it all wraps up well enough. But not before someone else dies and they tease that one of the old men might go to Hell!!! Good grief! It's a decent movie with a respectable cast but it's a little frustrating because there was a great movie in there somewhere and they blew it. If nothing else, see it for Maria Ouspenskaya. She's always great.

Apart from "essential" Christmas movie fare like adaptations of Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol", Frank Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946), George Seaton's original MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947) and Bob Clark's A Christmas STORY (1983), there is also an assortment of fairly obscure but equally pleasant films dealing with the Yuletide season and this review concerns one of them. Incidentally, the film has received various budget DVD incarnations over the years as a result of its public domain status but, ironically enough, the official DVD release from Fox mistreats the film threefold: most bafflingly it offers a cut version (when the budget disc I watched was complete), the film is also available in a redundant computer colorized version and, most ludicrously, retitled it as BEYOND Christmas! Anyway, the plot is simple enough: three old, wealthy but lonely bachelors make a bet with one another that if they each throw their wallets, containing just one $10 note, out of the window into the streets, they will eventually be returned by whoever finds them. As it happens, only two of them come back and the men invite the persons in question to sit at their Christmas dinner. The bachelors are winningly played by cheery Charles Winninger, bemused C. Aubrey Smith and grumpy Harry Carey while the impoverished lucky diners are silver-voiced country hick Richard Carlson and demure nurse Jean Parker; the old gentlemen, then, are doted upon by their deposed Russian émigré housekeeper Maria Ouspenskaya. Romance soon blossoms between Carlson and Parker but, after the tragic death of the three old men in a mountaintop airplane crash, Carlson soon falls in with Helen Vinson, a man-hungry divorcée who also happens to be a radio star and soon sets Carlson on his way to become the current hit crooner of the airwaves... Unfortunately, the second half of the film is an unconvincing, bland depiction of unexpected stardom going to one's head but BEYOND TOMORROW is ultimately redeemed by the sensitive portrayals of the four veteran character actors and the uplifting fantasy elements so prevalent during wartime, given that the three old gentlemen return from their graves as ghosts to guide the straying Carlson back to ever-loyal Parker's rightful path. Schmaltzy, yes but it was rather an unexpectedly perceptive touch to have the ghosts still preoccupied by their earthly demons – Smith re-uniting with his dead soldier son in the afterlife, Carey still being the loner tormented by "the darkness" and Winninger, of course, literally wanting more than anything else to reunite the two young lovers.