kijii
The 1946 Oscars were a VERY competitive with great movies including: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and It's a Wonderful Live (1946). However, Tomorrow is Forever (1946) is so pitch perfect that, at the very least, Claudette Colbert should have been nominated for Best Actress and Orson Wells for Best Actor. Wells was so great that one waits for everything he does and says in his pregnant and thoughtful performance. Then, there is a wonderful performance by Natalie Woods when she was only 8 years old!! The story begins in Baltimore where the employees of Hamilton Chemicals Works are celebrating the end of World War I. Elizabeth MacDonald (Claudette Colbert) is working there as a librarian for Lawrence Hamilton (George Brent) and his father.However, when she goes home that night to prepare for her husband's homecoming, she receives a telegram informing her that he had been killed in the war. This leads to a FLASHBACK of an incident that occurred during her one-year marriage to John Andrew MacDonald (Orson Wells). In the flashback, John shows Elizabeth his new suit (an Army uniform) and tells her that he had received an appointment, at top pay for a 2nd Lt, due to his expertise. He also tells her that he would not be near any battles.RETURNING TO THE PRESENT: When Elizabeth returns to work the next day, she faints and is carried to the Hamilton's home. There, she is cared for by Larry's Aunt Jessica (Lucile Watson). After Elizabeth has been seen by a doctor, Aunt Jessica informs Larry that Elizabeth is pregnant. The Hamiltons decide that Elizabeth is in no condition to go home to an empty house so soon after John's death. So, they invite her to stay at their family home. When a baby boy is born, Elizabeth names him John Andrew (after her late husband) and calls him "Drew" for short. During her stay with the Hamiltons, Larry becomes very fond of Elizabeth and asks her to marry him. MEANWHILE, in a German hospital, a parallel story has been emerging: John MacDonald had been taken from a battlefield with no identification except a letter, found in his coat, from Elizabeth. John is badly disfigured, with most of his right foot missing and his face torn away. He wants to die. but his doctor persists in telling John to live, even with only one foot. He also reminds John that his face can be replaced by plastic surgery. When John asks why, the doctor tells him that he must live for mankind. The story then abruptly moves forward 20 years (from 1919 to 1939). Elizabeth and Larry still live in Baltimore with their two sons: Drew (John's biological son) and his younger brother, Brian (Larry's biological son). Drew is in college but wants quite and join the RAF after hearing that the Nazis had invaded Poland. His mother is terrified by Drew's determination to join the RAF. (It would be like losing John twice.)At about this time, John returns to Baltimore to work as a chemist at Hamilton Chemical Works. John (now Erik Kessler) comes from Austria with his little daughter, Margaret (Natalie Wood). Margaret is scared of the new country and knows only a little English. Her father, now known as Erik Kessler, cannot be recognized as John, due to his facial plastic surgery and the 20 years that have passed since he had left Baltimore. John first goes to his old Baltimore home only to find that on one has lived there for years. When John (Kessler) and Margaret are invited to the Hamiltons for dinner, he knows Elizabeth, but she does not recognize him. (Remember, even though the movie doesn't show it—John's face is TOTALLY changed due to the needed plastic surgery of 20 years before.)The rest of the movie basically presents a debate between Elizabeth and Drew about his desire to join the RAF and fight with the allies. John (Kessler) is, at first, welcomed into the Hamilton home, but his very presence, at times, seems an impediment to the debate between Elizabeth and Drew. When Drew talks to John (Kessler) about the war in Europe, John (Kessler) passively agrees him. However, one can tell that his heart is not totally into the agreement; he, like Elizabeth, has seen enough death from war. Elizabeth vacillates between wondering if John (Kessler) is HER John and seeing him as the enemy. At one point she says, "You killed my husband." John's (Kessler's) response is measured. When she insists that he IS John, he tells her that she should not want give up her full and happy life with Larry and her children and that wishing for different past is futile when hers has been so happy and fulfilling. Nor should she want John (Kessler) to be Drew's father when Larry has been such a good father to both boys.When Drew tries to escape and meet his friends to join the RAF, John (Kessler) prevents him from leaving, telling him that he is not yet 21, and can't make that decision without his parent's consent. When John (Kessler) brings Drew home, Drew is very angry with his interference into things that don't involve him. However, John's (Kessler's) decision to interfere and bring Drew home is not to necessarily to change the outcome of Drew's decision; it is to make the decision right with Drew's family. (It is as though John was acting as Drew's father in this ONE very important moment in Drew's life.)Orson Wells' performance in this movie is like discovering a hidden gem. What is so remarkable about it is how he is able to calmly navigate conversations while arriving at difficult personal questions. His answers are always true but never quite completely what Elizabeth (or the audience) might expect them to be.
oldcorpsed
I LOVE this movie! I first saw it on TV in the early 50's when I was about 10 and bawled at the end, but with the kind of tears that make you feel good to have a human heart. I'm now 72 and its effect and my opinion have not changed. The plot's has been covered many times in these reviews, so I'll not go there, but the scene (knowing what we know) between Colbert and Welles when he tells her that what she has is the reality, is a heart-breaker with its loving generosity and sacrifice. Finally, when Welles comes in from the storm and is at the fireplace, full tears flow. And I'm not ashamed to admit it.Years later I actually did fall in love with Natalie Wood.
MartinHafer
The fact that "Tomorrow is Forever" is an exceptional movie came as no surprise to me. After all, it features three exceptionally talented actors. I always love films these folks are in--especially George Brent and Claudette Colbert.The film begins with a husband (Orson Welles) going off to fight in WWI. He is reported killed but what his wife (Colbert) didn't know is that he is alive--but he refuses to tell the doctors in the POW hospital who he is. Why? Because he was horribly disfigured and knows it will take lots of plastic surgery to give him a new face. Years pass. Colbert has married a nice man (Brent) and the son she was expecting on Welles' death (Richard Long) thinks Brent is his actual father and they are a happy family. However, two things occur to shake up this home. First, WWII arrives and Long wants to go off to war (causing Colbert to become very upset since she is reminded of her own young husband going off to war--never to return). Second, Welles arrives. What will happen next? This is a very, very sentimental film. While some may call it a 'woman's film', I think it's very good all around because of the amazing acting and the nice original plot. Well worth seeing.By the way, at one point in the film, Richard Long says he's attending the University of Maryland and it used to be just a little medical college. I attended the school and actually it was originally an agricultural school.Also, Natalie Wood plays a young German girl in the film. With her odd accent and blonde hair, you might miss this.
