Tomorrow Is Forever

"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".


"We must live for tomorrow, because...tomorrow is forever."   February 8, 2005
Dave (Tennessee United States)
23 out of 24 found this review helpful

This classic drama is easily one of the best films of all time. Claudette Colbert, Orson Welles, George Brent, and Natalie Wood are simply flawless in this tragic tale of how war destroys lives forever. No, there are no battle scenes. The casualties in this film are relationships which are shattered by war. It's also about letting go of your past and learning to live again. Orson Welles should have won an oscar for his incredible performance. There are many scenes in which he says nothing, yet you can see the heartache just by looking at his face. This is a captivating anti-war masterpiece that spans two world wars, and this is a film you will never forget! I only hope it's not too long before this underated movie is released on dvd.


A touching, beautiful story.   February 7, 2001
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

This movie is both a heart wrenching story about 2 people in love who are torn apart by war and a story about several kinds of love. A man who so loves his wife that he can not bring her any pain; a woman who deeply loves a man she thought was lost in the war and who also loves the kind man to whom she is now married; a mother's love for her son; a little orphan's love for the kind man who took her from war-torn Europe. I defy anyone who sees this movie to not be moved to tears (or at least secret tears for the "macho" men). Brilliant performaces by Claudette Colbert and Orson Welles. I loved little Natalie Wood in this early film. I have watched it many times and it remains my all time favorite movie. They just DO NOT make them like this any more.


A masterpiece in casting ,directing .and acting!   April 5, 2002
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

Irving Pichel was a genious in casting and directing this film.Fresh from his "Citizen Kane" and "The Magnificent Ambersons"film masterpieces,Orson Welles takes on the role of the ultimate anti-war hero who sacrifices his adult life and any shreds of happiness for the wife he will always love but surrenders to a far better and less painful world ,the son who is never told who is true father is,and a child war refugee ,played by Natalie Wood.,whom he rescues from war-ravaged Europe. If possible,see this film alone without any distractions. The script,film score,acting/body language are sublime and as the story unfolds before you,not one nerve ending in your entire body will be left untouched.This film is more than the traditional 40's tearjerker;it is ,I feel, a parable on the power of the human heart and spirit to give complete,unconditional love .It will,I guarantee you,reaffirm your faith in humankind.Go ahead and have a good cry and enjoy.Films like this are "Gone Forever".


Preposterous But Eminently Watchable Melodrama Thanks Mainly to an Enigmatic Welles   October 17, 2006
Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Despite the movie's Harlequin-level romance novel title, the unlikely pairing of classic Hollywood leading lady Claudette Colbert and resident bad-boy Orson Welles actually works in this intriguing albeit far-fetched 1946 melodrama directed by the relatively undistinguished Irving Pichel. Written by Lenore J. Coffee, the plot concentrates initially on newly married John and Elizabeth McDonald, who are suddenly separated when he enlists for combat duty during WWI. Just as she discovers she is pregnant, Elizabeth receives word that John is dead, but the truth is that he is so badly injured that he doesn't want to return to her as a cripple. Once recovered, he takes on the guise of an Austrian scientist named Erik Kessler. Twenty years elapse, and Elizabeth has remarried to businessman Larry Hamilton, who has coincidentally recruited Kessler to test the company's new product formula. Elizabeth meets Kessler but does not recognize him to be her long lost John due to plastic surgery. However, John knows her, and they become intertwined again when their son Drew decides to enlist in the RAF years before the U.S. enters WWII.

The story sounds preposterous on paper, but it is quite compelling to see the movie evolve toward its inevitable resolution. Colbert is her naturally effervescent self, though she is well into her forties here and a mite too mature for the early scenes when she is playing a blushing newlywed to the twelve-years younger Welles. Nonetheless, she provides surprising bite to the scenes where Elizabeth confronts her own prejudices about war. In the juiciest role, Welles has a field day as the crippled, defeated Kessler as he keeps his naturally grandiose manner in check. Perennial also-ran George Brent is wooden as expected as Hamilton, but a couple of familiar faces shine as the children - Richard Long as the grown Drew and an eight-year old Natalie Wood, blonde and sporting a convincing Austrian accent, as Kessler's adopted daughter Margaret. There are some lapses in credibility beginning with Elizabeth's inability to recognize John and ending with her rather sudden resignation that John is right in his perspective on the past. Regardless, it's a surprisingly involving movie with a mature perspective on love and war, a curio sadly forgotten today and well worth a look now.