Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) Review

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(More customer reviews)I find with each viewing of the classic "Tomorrow Is Forever" I find I like the production more and more. It is such a totally rich film in so many ways, whether it be the sterling central performance from Claudette Colbert in what I'm convinced is one of her finest performances, Orson Welles's charmed under playing of a role that could have been simply sentimental, or the haunting anti-war message it puts forward in its telling of life through two world wars.
"Tomorrow Is Forever" has so much to offer to the viewer in so many different ways. Claudette Colbert always a favourite actress of mine proves once and for all what a superb dramatic actress she can be. Long regarded as one of the premier comedy actresses of the 1930's and 40's here she excels in the role of a young bride who believes she has lost her husband in WW1 action only to find that years later after she has re married that a stranger who comes into her families life gives her a eerie sense that that might not be the case. In this film she is at times touchingly lovely, stubborn, full of anger and full of hope, in short she has a wonderful well rounded character to work with and she makes the most of it.
Claudette is blessed with two excellent leading men in this production in Orson Welles and George Brent. Welles, so often prone to bellicose overplaying of roles that require a bit of restraint, here delivers a beautiful modulated performance as Claudette's first husband who seemingly has come back from the grave. His scenes after he has returned to Colbert's home are wonderful and full of tension as to whether he will reveal his real identity. The conclusion of the film is a tour de force for Welles as he decides to sacrifice his own potential happiness and to remain a mystery to the family and tells Colbert that "Tomorrow is forever and not to look back to a romantised past". George Brent, so often stiff on screen here delivers one of his best performances as the man who has loved Claudette through two world wars and provides her with the home and family she craves so much. He is entirely believable and warm in his playing and he and Colbert reveal a wonderful chemistry in their playing together. Natalie Wood also makes a rare childhood appearance in this film as an Austrian orphan, the daughter of the doctor who saved Welles's life but was killed by the Nazi's, who Welles adapts and brings to America. She is a delight in her scenes and you can see the tremendous acting talent that she possessed even at this early age. Richard Long playes Welles's and Colbert's son who doesn't know the identity of his real father and brings great depth to his playing of the treasured son who comes into conflict with Colbert over his decision to join the fighting early in WW2 thus causing history to repeat itself.
"Tomorrow Is Forever" can be regarded as a real tear drenced drama for the matinee crowd however its worth goes way beyond that. It covers many issues just as relevant today such as those about the human cost of war, the issue of whether we should involve ourselves in others problems and whether we should allow our past experiences to rule how we behave. It is a beautifully put together drama full of rich performances that really stay in your mind. I'm quite surprised that this wonderful film is not better remembered today. I sense that it has been forgotten because of the more famous roles that all the main performers have undertaken. Claudette Colbert in particular is totally awe inspiring in her dramatic delivery of the tortured young bride who has been robbed of her life and spends a lifetime trying to recapture it. She will have you alternately crying, laughing and saying "bravo" up to the wonderous finale.
I cannot recommend "Tomorrow Is Forever" highly enough. For all those who enjoy well acted dramas with fine writing, a non preaching message and performers delivering often unexpectedly restrained acting work, none come finer than the anti-war "Tomorrow Is Forever".

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Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) Review

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(More customer reviews)There are relatively few movies about the American Revolution. I think this is due to the fact that the American side lost most of the battles of that war. The battle at Saratoga, the surprise attack at Trenton, and the siege of Yorktown are part of the short list of American victories, and except for the occasion television movie or mini-series, they are rarely touched upon. Consequently, "Drums Along the Mohawk" remains the best of American movie about the revolution even though it was made before World War I and even though the redcoats are not really involved in the fight.
"Drums Along the Mohawk" does not start off as a movie about the American Revolution. Instead it begins as a movie about settling the frontier, which, at that point, was upstate New York. The focus is on a pioneer couple, newlyweds, Gilbert (Henry Fonda) and Magdalena (Claudette Colbert), called Lana. Martin is a farmer who brings his bride to the Mohawk Valley where their home is burned out by Indians allied with the British. The couple are taken in by neighbors after that happens and Martin joins the militia, but the settlers are going to need more men than that to fight the Indians and save the fort from attack.
Based on a novel by Walter D. Edmonds the screenplay for "Drums Along the Mohawk" is by Sonya Levien and Lamar Trotti, although William Faulkner worked on it without receiving credit as well. Edmonds' history novels were all set in upstate New York and "Drums Along the Mohawk" is about the warfare between the settlers and the Six Nations of the Iroquois allied with the British. The Battle of Oriskany in 1777, fought in a forest, was a American victory although their commander General Nicholas Herkimer (Ralph Imhof) died of his wounds in one of the moving scenes of the film.
This was the third film that John Ford made in 1939, following "Stagecoach" with John Wayne and "Young Mr. Lincoln" with Fonda; his next film would be "The Grapes of Wrath." Colbert and Fonda are the stars, but they are upstaged by several members of the supporting case, such as Edna May Oliver as Mrs. McKlennar and Arthur Shields as the Reverend Rosenkrantz. The old lady has such an iron will that she can make Indians take her bed out, with her in it, while they are burning down her home, and the reverend has a memorable scene in which he eases the suffering of a tortured settler. Fonda is young and earnest, while Colbert comes to terms with what it means to be living on the American frontier in troubled times.
More than anything else "Drums Along the Mohwawk" is about people coming to the realization that they are Americans, an interpretation more than amply justified by the film's final scene. These are not the Sons of Liberty living in Boston and dealing with the King's troops and all those burdensome taxes. These are small families living out on the frontier for whom the idea of the United States of America was as odd as a flag with thirteen red and white stripes with a circle of white stars on a blue field. Perhaps it is because it takes place off the main stage that "Drums Along the Mohawk" manages to hit the right notes.

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Lawless frontier.Indian attacks.Settlers protecting themselves the only way they know how-with guns and courage.In the years before the Revolutionary War, the East was as wild as the West would be one hundred years later.Henry Fonda delivers one of his most memorable performances ever as a young frontier leader protecting his family in the backwoods of New York state.Claudette Colbert so-stars as his spirited wife.With a fine supporting cast that also includes Edna May Oliver and John Carradine, this is one of John Ford's most exciting historical dramas.

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Since You Went Away (1944) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Since You Went Away" was released in 1944 and shows a different side of war - families coping with life stateside. The peerless Claudette Colbert stars as Anne Hilton, and the picture picks up with her entering her empty home after her husband has been deployed. She struggles to put on a happy face for her teen daughters, played by Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple. All three of them make sacrifices and experience tragedies as they bravely endure war which impinges on their previously ideal middle-class life. Into their lives come an abrasive, retired Colonel (Monty Woolley), the Colonel's timid son (Robert Walker, who was married to Jennifer Jones at the time), and a charming family friend who is stationed nearby (Joseph Cotton).
Producer David O. Selznick wanted the movie to be as superior as his earlier "Gone with the Wind." That comparison is a bit lofty, but "Since You Went Away" is extremely good - a top-notch Hollywood film in every way. The casting and acting are superlative, particularly Colbert; Temple is also quite good in one of her few young adult roles. The direction by John Cromwell (father of actor James) is stunning, with a multitude of intimate scenes interspersed with some incredible set-pieces, such as the USO cantina dance. Perhaps the most famous scene takes place in a train station, with Jennifer Jones tearfully biding goodbye to her boyfriend as she runs alongside his train. The scene was even parodied in "Airplane!"
Although the film teeters toward melodrama at times and the movie is undeniably glossy, but the script is so pitch-perfect and warm that it manages to be tremendously effective. The film may sound like an American retread of 1942's "Mrs. Miniver," but the plot is quite different and even funny at times. The film received a number of Oscar nominations: Picture, Actress (Colbert), Supporting Actor (Woolley), Supporting Actress (Jones); it won for best score. "Since You Went Away" is one of the finest war movies of the 1940s; however, perhaps because of its rather genteel tone, it's been somewhat forgotten, which is really a shame. Most highly recommended.


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Nominated* for nine Academy AwardsÂ(r), thisheart-warming, soul-stirring(Variety) portrait of life on the homefront during World War II isa magnificent picture rich in humor and poignant with heartbreak(The Hollywood Reporter). Claudette Colbert heads an all-star cast,including Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten and Shirley Temple, in thisbeautifully produced picture that gets into your heart(Los Angeles Examiner).With her husband Tim off at war, Anne Hilton (Colbert) struggles to be a pillar of strength for her daughters Jane (Jones) and Bridget (Temple). During America's darkest hours, she bravely steers her girls through heartbreak and hardships as she eagerly awaits news from overseas and wonders if life will ever be the same. *1944: Best Picture, Actress (Colbert), Supporting Actor (Monty Woolley), Supporting Actress (Jones), Cinematography (B&W), Art Direction (B&W), Editing, Music Score (won), Special Effects

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