Search - The Man Who Saw Tomorrow [VHS] on DVD

One of the more unforgettable movies I have ever seen

Chris C. | Cordova, South Carolina United States | 05/04/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First off, TMWST is a documentary. However it mixes two subjects that have often fascinated people from the beginning. Prophecy and History. Although today Nostradamus is a household name by and large, when this movie came out he was little more than a obscure name to most. Orson Welles narrates the story of the French Psychic Nostradamus ,beginning with his work as a doctor in France. Early on the signs of Nostradamus's "gift" begin to become apparent. The early life of Nostradamus is far more interesting then one would think with the movie's opening doing much to build interest. The story goes from Nostradamus's early adulthood, to his tragic later years as he loses his family to the plague. However from the seclusion of his life as a widower, some of the more shocking predictions in history are produced by the Frenchman.The documentary begins to illustrate Nostradamus's prediction of the French Revolution, American Revolution, American Civil War, and even World War 2. Of course most of the predictions are what people interpret him to mean.. but never the less the film does a good job at mixing in the words of nostradamus with recreations of these historical events. Other predictions are highlighted with the film even suggesting that Hitler was nearly predicted by name by the psychic.However once the predictions of the past are covered.. the movie moves into the future. As in.. our immediate future(or at least of that time). This part of the movie gave me nightmares for weeks and talked of World War 3, the emergence of a Antichrist, etc. Although most of these predictions have proven to be untrue(information I would have loved to have in the early 80s), they are never the less entertaining for the viewer. The film ends on a nice note, aside from Nostradamus's prediction of the actual year of the end of the world. Although this is a documentary, it comes across more as a movie. Either way I would recommend it. Makes a good watch. Although the fact that its 19 years old has taken away much of the "scare" factor from the later predictions.. at least you can watch it now without worrying about "The Bomb"."

Don't Buy the Hype...Nor the Nonsense of 9/11!!

John A. Kuczma | 08/03/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This movie is "ok" for a B movie-style documentary that presents mix-n-match quatraines from Nostradamus to present the prophet's past, present, and future "predictions". Any God-fearing individual who is into prophecy and end-time predictions knows that a true prophet accurately predicts events 100%, not 50% or 30% or 10% of the time. Nor will he/she know the date and time of the end of the world. Alas, many translated predictions and interpretations (remember Nostradamus wrote in a cryptic what-the-hell-were-you-smoking? prose style) have never come to pass. Those that have are "ify" at best based on hindsight knowledge of history. Case in point, I remember sitting around at a friend's house in Laguna Beach, CA during late May of 1993-94 timeframe and noticed a book in his collection about predictions of Nostradamus. Out of curiousity (since I remembered seeing this movie in the early '80s on cable as a young kid, and being quite scared afterwards, I might add), I picked up the book and turned to a section that had predictions for the 1990s and the current timeframe we were living. Lo and behold California was suppose to be underwater earlier that May due to a major earthquake with chaos and destruction too follow. Happily to say it is 2002 and California (for the time being) is still above water. ;)The movie does an ok presentation of piecing together predictions that supposedly were dead-on accurate, but anyone who has done extensive research on Nostradamus (there is a lot of resource material on the web) knows that most of the info presented in this movie is pretty sloppy.As for future events, the 9/11 attacks were never predicted by Nostradamus. Like an earlier reviewer stated, the whole "Nostradamus Predicted 9/11 Prophecy" that ran rampant on the Internet was a hoax. In the movie, the producers interpret Nostradamus' prediction for 1999 (the one that the 9/11 prediction is based on) as the year a nuclear war takes place and the "Great City" (interpreted by many as New York City) being destroyed in a nuclear blast. With the use of stock footage from other films, we see an entire city getting demolished, not just two towers like some people say is shown in the film. One also has to remember when this movie was made in the early 1980s, we were in the middle of nuclear warfare fear with such movies as the "Day After", "Wargames", etc. reinforcing this fear in our minds. When viewed in this light, it isn't too far fetched to see how current events are twisted to fit as so-called predictions of Nostradamus. In the case of the movie, the fear of nuclear war in the not-too-distant future. In current events, bits and pieces of unrelated quantraines combined to form the so-called prediction for New York City on 9/11.As for conflicts in the Middle East and the rise of an anti-christ, well, that has been going on since recorded history. Good 'ol Nostradamus was supposedly a religious man and had a Bible handy for reference, so it isn't too difficult for someone to foresee what the future may have in store for us based on the words of Revelations.The movie paints a stark picture for the near future, but ends happily like a Pepsi commercial featuring Britney Spears flashing some belly and yoddling like she's singing through a 300 baud modem connected to a Commodore 64. We learn of the rise of the third anti-christ (the blue turban wearing Middle Eastern man, who just might have diabolical plans for Britney) and the standard death, doom, and gloom followed by a 1,000 years of Martha Stewart style love-doves-and-lacey dollies peace. Eventually the earth sputters out with one last cosmic gasp, and Mankind blasts off through space a-la Star Trek style with the dawning age of Aquarius. No I'm not making this up. Rent the movie.Overall, it is an ok movie for schlock entertainment value. If you are really serious about Nostradamus, check out legit research materials (again the web offers a lot of resources) and do your homework. The future is always uncertain so why worry about it to the point of needing Valium? Like the saying goes, live each day like it is your last and enjoy life rather than worrying about tomorrow. I think Jesus said it best, "...tomorrow will take care of itself.""

A Cautionary Tale ... Or Is It?

Edward Lee | 05/18/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The prophecies of Nostradamus are written in such a way that nothing definitive could be gleaned from a single interpretation, and THE MAN WHO SAW TOMORROW generously gives several interpretations to the few significant quatrains (sp?) that the prophet wrote.However, this picture was produced in a documentary fashion, using fresh footage compiled with stock footage from older films; the end result visually kept me guessing at what films they culled explosions from as opposed to being further intrigued by the prophecies.Its single redeeming quality is that it might titillate the viewer to actually go and pick up a book about Nostradamus to investigate the 'prophecies' in a more personal, meaning way.The film is narrated by Orson Welles, who (as always) gives an air of credibility to an otherwise unexplored subject matter."

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow

Edward Lee | 10/01/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With the amount of emotion and feeling Orson Wells puts into his projects is by far outstanding. This was the most scary of them all due to the Attacks on September the 11th in New York. I usually don't write reviews on things such as this, but I watched the original broadcast on TV in 1981. The words them selves drew me back almost as if I had saw this just the other day. This is a movie worth takeing a look at and ponder over. The information delivered 20 years ago by this movie is so wierd I can barely describe it. It is a must see by all. I wonder what the transcribers of the profit are saying to them selves now."