Beyond Tomorrow (1940)

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

On Christmas Eve, three wealthy old New York City gentlemen decide to test the spirit of the holiday. Each throws his wallet from a window, containing $10 and a business card. Surprisingly nor not, two wallets are picked up by generous souls. One woman assumes the owner wouldn't miss $10, and gives the money away. The other two wallets are returned, in person. Our first responder is handsome Richard Carlson (as James "Jimmy" Houston), an aspiring singer from Texas. Next is pretty Jean Parker (as Jean Lawrence), a single woman from New Hampshire. They are invited to dinner and, well...Not surprisingly, Mr. Carlson and Ms. Parker fall in love. But you may not guess what else is going to happen. "Beyond Tomorrow" is full of surprises. The old pros helping the young couple are sentimental Charles Winninger (as Michael "Mike" O'Brien), sensible C. Aubrey Smith (as Alan Chadwick) and cynical Harry Carey (as George Melton). Loyal Russian housekeeper Maria Ouspenskaya (as Madame Tanya) joins Mr. Winninger in helping save Carlson from seductive Helen Vinson (as Arlene Terry), who picked up the other wallet. It's all densely plotted, overly sentimental, well produced and nicely cast.******* Beyond Tomorrow (5/10/40) A. Edward Sutherland ~ Richard Carlson, Jean Parker, Charles Winninger, Maria Ouspenskaya

I find myself watching this over and over again around Christmas time. It's an oldie, older than "It's a Wonderful Life", but has yet to become a Christmas classic. A few years ago there was an official DVD release, which changes the title from "Beyond Tomorrow" to "Beyond Christmas", no doubt to make it more marketable as a holiday movie. It shows the original B&W version and a colorized version. In this release they show "deleted" scenes as a special feature, but these scenes are included as part of the feature in almost every other DVD compilation which features it, as well as TV airings, so the makers of this DVD distort the meaning of the term "deleted scenes".Three aging, well-to-do engineers are spending Christmas Eve in the spacious NY mansion which they apparently share, and also work out of. Also living there is a kindly former Russian countess, Madame Tanya (Maria Ouspenskaya) who, like Josef the butler (Alex Melesh), was exiled after the Bolshevik revolution. The three men are bored and lonely after their expected guests cancel, so Michael O'Brien (Charles Winninger), the jolly Irishman, comes up with a scheme to deliberately toss out their wallets, each containing ten dollars (a fair sum in 1940), to see if anyone brings the wallets back. The two that are returned belong to Michael and Allen "Chad" Chadwick (C. Aubrey Smith), the friendly Englishman. The other wallet that was not returned is found and kept by a woman, a starlet named Arlene Terry (Helen Vinson), who later emerges as something of a villainess. Appropriately enough, that wallet belonged to the melancholy Oklahoman George Vale Melton (veteran screen star Harry Carey), perhaps the most interesting character. More on that later.Michael's and Chad's wallets are returned, respectively, by a Texan named (what else?) James Houston (Richard Carlson, whose singing here is far better than his otherwise fine acting, assuming that's really him singing), and a lady from New Hampshire, Jean Lawrence (Jean Parker). They all become instant friends, and Jimmy and Jean become instant lovers. A few months later, a plane crash, apparently foreseen by Madame Tanya, takes the lives of the three engineers, who return as ghosts in an effort to help James and Jean, and to keep James from being led astray by the duplicitous Arlene Terry as he pursues a singing career. Along the way, George is summoned to the darkness by an ominous voice. In life, he was in fact a good-hearted soul, but tried his best to hide it, as witnessed in the Christmas Eve scene where he delights in the walking stick given him by Michael, until Chad sees him, then George changes his expression and calls it "A lotta childish nonsense!". He is haunted by an incident from his past, the nature of which is not made entirely clear, but there are a few clues . Earlier, he suspects that the Christmas Eve guests who cancelled on them did so because of him and this incident, the Shreve (sp?) case, "acquitted". As he is summoned by this voice, he says he did what needed doing, and has no regrets. Later Madame Tanya provides another clue when she tells Jimmy that George lost everything over a woman like Arlene. Chad, too, is called, in his case to heaven to be with his wife and son, who preceded him in death. When Michael is called, he chooses to remain on Earth to help lead Jimmy on the right path and back to Jean, even though he is told that he will wander the earth forever. Of course, after a near-tragedy, he eventually succeeds in his mission, and as a result of some prodding by his late mother, he is called home again, and is joined by George, who has returned from the darkness after working out all of his issues.A little hokey? Maybe, but how realistic can portrayals of the afterlife be expected to look? That there is an afterlife appears to be a central theme of the movie, as witnessed by the Benjamin Franklin quote that appears after the opening credits, and that gives this review its title. A feel-good movie that deserves to be a holiday classic.

RKO Pictures eschewed the use of stars in making this very charming fantasy about three business partners who have three very different personalities who help a pair of young lovers they meet in life and in death and Beyond Christmas.Harry Carey is the cynical one, all business and a potential Scrooge if he keeps going on. Charles Winninger and C. Aubrey Smith have more faith in human nature. In a friendly bet they turn out to be two thirds right. The trio is gathered at Maria Ouspenskaya's home for dinner and they decide to throw out wallets with a $10.00 bill and each one's business card inside. Sure enough two out of the three wallets are returned by Jean Parker and Richard Carlson and as everyone gathers for dinner, it's obvious that Carlson and Parker are smitten with each other.It might have been better if a real singer had been cast in Carlson's role, you can't miss the fact that Carlson is being dubbed. But he is an aspiring singer who gets a break on a radio program and becomes an overnight hit.After that Carey, Smith, and Winninger are all killed in a plane crash, but they linger on earth to help Carlson and Parker over the rough spots.The roughest spot is Helen Vinson who is playing one of her patented other woman roles. She's a Broadway actress with her eye on Carlson and he's taken with her, a fact upsetting to Parker.As you can see the plot has already taken a few interesting turns, but the end is quite beautiful, quite sentimental, and life affirming for those who believe we do have a purpose in our existence.When you've got three consummate professionals as the business partners who don't go out of business even in the next world, you can't help but have an enjoyable fantasy film without pretense. The kind they really don't make any more.

A crazy-quilt of drama and emotions, initially with a holiday theme, about three elderly New York businessmen, workaholics who have unintentionally become hermits, finding themselves friendless on Christmas Eve; after throwing their wallets out into the street, they are greeted with two honest souls (a soft-spoken, singing cowboy and a kindergarten teacher) who eventually fall in love...and that's just the beginning of the story! The narrative takes on a bundle of different themes (unexpected death, youthful romance, the cause and effect of success, after-life fantasy), yet the end results are fairly smooth (although, after the forty-minute mark, the picture becomes almost a different movie altogether). Perhaps it wouldn't work so well if not for Charles Winninger's lovely performance as the twinkling Irishman who brings the young folks together. Winninger has a moment late in the proceedings, talking to the heavens, that is both blissfully serene and fraught with emotion--honest emotion, the kind Hollywood sometimes has trouble creating. The film's message is clear--if you give unto others, you're sure to receive--and if that strikes some viewers as corny, so be it. However, the filmmakers do wonders with several ideas which have since become old-hat, and the three codgers are fabulous characters who transcend some of the more obvious plot-developments. In fact, the movie is such a surprise, I would imagine more TV-airings might turn it into a holiday perennial. *** from ****