Search - It Happened Tomorrow on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1944 DVD Release: 07/22/2003 Format: DVD - Black and White SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 24 mins Studio: Kino Members Wishing: 6 Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Fantasy Comedy, Romantic Fantasy

On the eve of their 50th anniversary, a couple argue about whether or not to reveal a story from the husband's past that explains how they met and came to be married. We flashback to the mid-1890's and Larry Stevens' (Dick Powell} first day on the job as a reporter for a New York newspaper -- celebrating his release from writing obituaries with a few too many beers, he and his colleagues start to listen to aging newspaper employee Pop Benson (John Philliber) talk about the past and the future, and the fact that to him they're interchangeable. Larry goes out with his friends to check out a clairvoyant act featuring Cigolini, a phony Italian mystic (Jack Oakie), and a very pretty woman assistant, Sylvia Smith (Linda Darnell). He starts to woo Sylvia, who resists his charms, before heading back to the newspaper, where he meets Pop, who hands him what he says is the newspaper he wanted -- it's only later that Larry realizes that he has tomorrow night's newspaper, and that one story concerns a robbery at the opera house. He gets to the performance that night, with Sylvia accompanying him (at first unwillingly) and witnesses the robbery, writing it up before the police can even leave the scene. His editor (George Cleveland) is ecstatic, but police inspector Mulrooney (Edgar Kennedy) wants to know how Larry knew about the robbery. Sylvia tries to protect him by claiming that she predicted it in her act, and to cover herself and Larry she predicts the drowning of a woman that night in the river. Meanwhile, Larry meets Pop again, who tells him of tomorrow's paper and its account of his attempted rescue of a drowning woman -- he later realizes that the woman is Sylvia, attempting to save him and having to fake a drowning to convince the police of her predictions; he runs to the river and dives in to rescue her. By this time, the two of them are totally involved with each other emotionally, but now Larry must face a new threat. Pop appears again and hands him a newspaper from the next day, which includes a front page story about Larry being shot and killed at the St.George Hotel. Larry vows to avoid the hotel at all costs, and even tries to get some good out of the paper by betting on the winners in five consecutive horse races that afternoon; but it seems that no matter what he does to stay away, he's destined to be at the hotel, at the appointed time. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Dick Powell - Larry Stevens
Linda Darnell - Sylvia
Jack Oakie - Cigolini
Edgar Kennedy - Inspector Mulrooney
Edward S. Brophy - Jake Schomberg

Kino International took a couple of years to get René Clair's It Happened Tomorrow (1944) out on DVD, but the wait was worth it. From the opening credits onward, the movie looks better than this reviewer remembers it from showings on WNEW-Channel 5 during the early 1960's; there are some odd blemishes here and there, and tiny rips show up in the film source at six minutes into the movie; but these have been nicely repaired and otherwise the contrast, the detail, and the overall look of the transfer are beautiful--the night shots have a seductively silky look and on the whole,given the minor flaws in the source, this is just about as good as any movie of its vintage that's currently available on DVD. The audio is mastered very low, but it is also clean enough to boost up very well, even if it takes double normal volume to bring the audio up to standard. The 84 minute movie has been given 12 chapters, which fits perfectly into the episodic nature of the plot. The disc opens automatically to a menu that is pretty cleverly designed to play off the images and story-line of the film, and very easy to use. The movie itself is filled with unexpected delights -- it's a fantasy film, to be sure, about an 1890's reporter (Dick Powell) who finds a way to get tomorrow's news a day early, with consequences that turn his world upside down, but it's also filled with myriad comical and romantic conceits, most of the latter involving Linda Darnell, who never looked more alluring in her career. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide