Beyond Tomorrow

Plot synopsis:
Engineers George Melton (Harry Carey) and Allan Chadwick (C. Aubrey Smith) work furiously to complete a design on time, even though it is Christmas Eve. Michael O'Brien (Charles Winninger), the third partner in the firm, arrives with presents for all and kindly lets their employees leave. The three old men then go home to the mansion they share with Madame Tanya (Maria Ouspenskaya), an elderly countess dispossessed by the Russian Revolution, for a dinner with prestigious guests.
When the guests cancel at the last minute, George is convinced it is because of his dark past. To relieve George's black mood, Michael comes up with an idea to obtain new guests for dinner. Each man throws out a wallet containing $10 and his business card into the street. George's is found by Arlene Terry (Helen Vinson), who merely gives the money to her driver and discards the wallet. However, the other two are returned by more considerate people: Texas cowboy James Houston (Richard Carlson) and teacher Jean Lawrence (Jean Parker). They stay for dinner and soon become good friends with the three men and Madame Tanya. James and Jean also fall in love with each other, delighting the three men.
When the engineers have to travel to another city on business, Madame Tanya begs Michael to take the train rather than fly. He assures her it is perfectly safe, but Madame Tanya's premonition proves tragically correct when their aircraft crashes in a storm, killing all three. When James and Jean come to announce that they are engaged, they receive the bad news. The ghosts of the three men return home, where they are dimly sensed by Madame Tanya.
It turns out that Michael had bequeathed some bonds to the young couple so they could afford to marry. The story is picked up by the press, and as a result, James is invited to be a guest on a radio show. This is the opportunity he has been waiting for to showcase his wonderful singing voice. At the studio, James bumps into Arlene Terry, an established singing star. She wishes him well and is impressed by his performance. She had been wanting to replace her aging partner; she and her manager, Phil Hubert (Rod LaRocque), offer James a starring role in her new show. He accepts.
As James spends time with Arlene rehearsing, he becomes infatuated with her and neglects Jean, much to the distress of the ghosts, who are powerless to do anything. When Arlene's ex-husband bangs on her door, she has James leave by the back door, but not before persuading him to take a three-day break from work with her in the country.
George is summoned to leave the world. Michael begs him to repent before it is too late, but George refuses to be a hypocrite and walks away amid thunder and lightning into the darkness. Soon it is Allan's turn. His son David (William Bakewell) comes to take him to Heaven to be reunited with his wife. When Michael is called, he refuses to leave James, although a voice tells him each person is summoned only once and that he will be doomed to roam the Earth forever if he turns it down.
When Arlene leaves her apartment to meet James, her ex-husband is waiting. He needs her help to get back on his feet. However, she coldly brushes him off. When Arlene and James drive away, the jealous, estranged husband follows and shoots them when they stop for dinner. James dies on the operating table with his spirit greeted by Michael who then intercedes on his behalf, pleading with a "voice from above", for a second chance for the young man.  His wish is granted and James returns to life. Michael is reunited with a now-repentant George, and both are admitted into Heaven.

Tags: romantic, murder

Review:
Even after passing BEYOND TOMORROW, three old gentlemen continue to guard their two young friends.Unfortunately rather obscure, this charming little film, bursting with the joy of life, brings a whimsicality as unexpected as finding a ten dollar bill on a snowy sidewalk.Texas rodeo cowboy Richard Carlson and children's clinic worker Jean Parker are the two lonely people brought together on a cold New York City Christmas Eve by their new benefactors.
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).
The slow pace allows you to think a little more about the characters, and it often gives you a chance to anticipate what comes next, giving the story a feel of inevitability despite its more fanciful aspects.The movie divides into two major sections.
In this elaborately scripted fantasy, when three aging businessmen are unexpectedly left without guests on Christmas Eve, each tosses a wallet including a ten dollar bill from a window in hopes that someone honest will return one, and be asked to dinner, to make their holiday less lonely.
Two of the three billfolds are returned, by a young man (Richard Carlson) and a young woman (Jean Parker) whose lives are acutely changed as they are welcomed not only to the table of the three gentlemen but also into their hearts and those of their two retainers (Maria Ouspenskaya and Alex Melesh).
Wonderful Christmastime fantasy about three old men getting young, handsome, hunky Richard Carlson to fall in love with sweet, young, beautiful Jean Parker.
"Beyond Tomorrow" with effects pretty good for the times is a charmer from beginning to end.Three gentlemen, getting on in years, are very successful engineers who live in a palatial town house in Manhattan.
Winninger's O'Brien will capture the heart of all who enjoy lovable Irishmen with deep hearts and a hardy brogue.Jean Parker is adorable as the big-hearted kid who finds and almost loses love in the Big City.This wasn't a big budget film but for the time the spectral characters are pretty state-of-the-art.
However, in addition to colorizing and retitling the film (BEYOND Christmas), the company has also chopped out about 5 minutes of material from the movie.
(Made even more obvious by the fact that the footage shows up on TV and on all previous VHS & DVD versions, including the bargain bin copies.) Granted, they include the material in the Extras as "deleted footage," but that only begs the question, "What was the point of deleting it at this time, to begin with?" Some of the deletions, such as the sequence where Arlene Terry's ex-boyfriend clashes with her new leading man, destroy the emotional impact of the showdown between the two men and Arlene during the film's finale.
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.
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.
Apart from "essential" Christmas movie fare like adaptations of Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol", Frank Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946), George Seaton's original MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947) and Bob Clark's A Christmas STORY (1983), there is also an assortment of fairly obscure but equally pleasant films dealing with the Yuletide season and this review concerns one of them.
Aubrey Smith and grumpy Harry Carey while the impoverished lucky diners are silver-voiced country hick Richard Carlson and demure nurse Jean Parker; the old gentlemen, then, are doted upon by their deposed Russian émigré housekeeper Maria Ouspenskaya.
Romance soon blossoms between Carlson and Parker but, after the tragic death of the three old men in a mountaintop airplane crash, Carlson soon falls in with Helen Vinson, a man-hungry divorcée who also happens to be a radio star and soon sets Carlson on his way to become the current hit crooner of the airwaves...
Unfortunately, the second half of the film is an unconvincing, bland depiction of unexpected stardom going to one's head but BEYOND TOMORROW is ultimately redeemed by the sensitive portrayals of the four veteran character actors and the uplifting fantasy elements so prevalent during wartime, given that the three old gentlemen return from their graves as ghosts to guide the straying Carlson back to ever-loyal Parker's rightful path.
Schmaltzy, yes but it was rather an unexpectedly perceptive touch to have the ghosts still preoccupied by their earthly demons  Smith re-uniting with his dead soldier son in the afterlife, Carey still being the loner tormented by "the darkness" and Winninger, of course, literally wanting more than anything else to reunite the two young lovers..
On Christmas Eve, three wealthy old New York City gentlemen decide to test the spirit of the holiday.
The old pros helping the young couple are sentimental Charles Winninger (as Michael "Mike" O'Brien), sensible C.
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.
Edward Sutherland ~ Richard Carlson, Jean Parker, Charles Winninger, Maria Ouspenskaya.
Aubrey Smith, Harry Carey and Charles Winninger front and center in the sort of spotlight roles that character actors were afforded back then in B movies of this type.
It's a little too simplistic, too sentimental and has a rather silly story to tell that could only have been made in the '40s when the world was on the verge of falling in love with IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.Three wise old fools become the guardians (from beyond) of two people they helped meet and fall in love.
CHARLES WINNINGER does nicely as the man who thinks up the idea of tossing his wallet and business card into the snow to see if anyone will return it (on Christmas Eve of course) and thereby be invited to spend time in the luxurious suite he shares with SIR C.
Two lonely people do return the wallet--JEAN PARKER and RICHARD CARLSON--and stay for dinner and immediately fall in love.To tell any more would be to give away what little remains of the plot, but let's just say it struggles to be "warm and cozy" while at the same time falling apart once the kindly gentlemen disappear into the beyond.The story gets a brief lift from the presence of MARIA OUSPENSKAYA as a wistful housekeeper who senses the presence of the ill-fated men who want to act as guardians from beyond.A viewer should be aware that staying awake for this one may be a problem.
While it's not a great film, it's imaginative and likable, with nice performances from Winninger, Aubrey Smith, Ouspenskaya, et al.
One note: when the estranged husband of Helen Vinson shoots her and Carlson, the character played by Charles Winninger is able to save the young man, who will doubtless be reunited with Jean Parker, but not Vinson.
It's a great story about three old men working together since many years, who get the idea of throwing out their wallets in the street with some money in them for Christmas, just for kicks.
They are invited for a Christmas dinner, and there it all starts.There are many various turns of the tale, the three gentlemen even have some interesting experiences after death, and the young couple don't go too easy along either.
It is rather sweet with three old men accidentally bringing together two lonely young people on Christmas eve.From there the story starts to dull.
The ghosts of three elderly industrialists killed in an airplane crash return to earth to help reunite a young couple whom they initially brought together.There have been lots of these spirit movies over the years.
I voted 5/10 for this film as the only bit I enjoyed was listening to Maria Ouspenskaya singing a line in Russian of "Jingle Bells".Hollywood producers had an annoying tendency in the 1940s to produce too syrupy & sentimental movies and this one is no exception.Even some of your critical American users above are of this point of view.I know the USA is largely a Christian country but why bring this doctrinal assumption into the screenplay where the possible hereafter is concerned?
The ghosts of three elderly industrialists killed in an airplane crash return to Earth to help reunite a young couple whom they initially brought together.Structured as a B film, the production did not engage any stars who would receive billing above the title, relying instead on a quartet of veteran characters actors, Charles Winninger, Maria Ouspenskaya, C.
Aubrey Smith and Harry Carey, second-tier young leads Richard Carlson and Jean Parker as well as "other woman" Helen Vinson, a minor lead/second lead during early and mid thirties, here approaching the end of her career.
Aubry Smith, Harry Carey, Charles Winninger) die in a plane crash but their spirits come back to help a young couple (Jean Parker, Richard Carlson) that they knew in life.
I've no idea if this was a popular film in its day (I've the feeling it may not have been, due perhaps to that aforementioned budget) but one can easily imagine it deeply affecting a nation torn by war and loss of loved ones, with its images of Christmas, selfless love, death, rebirth, and those who've died being called to heaven.
The young couple and the two devoted servants are devastated, but three old men return as ghosts (despite limited funds, the special effects are entirely successful), not realizing at first that they've died, though the maid senses their presence (the only one who does, as a matter of fact).
Soon, Jimmy joins Mike as a ghost, distraught at both the pain he's caused Jean by leaving her and by dying so suddenly, but Mike offers a word of wisdom and almost instantly he is called home again; this time he doesn't refuse - he only asks that Jimmy be returned to the land of the living, a request that is granted, and as the film closes, Mike is joined by the friend who had originally gone to a very dark place and together they climb, literally, the stairway to heaven.
As the young couple they look out for, Richard Carlson and Jean Parker are sweetness and light personified; sure, they may be somewhat TOO good but you just can't help but root for them.
Released in 1940 by Academy Productions, which disappeared soon after, (If anyone knows what happened to it, if it possibly merged with other poverty-row studios in the 40's, I'd like to hear about it); the film does disguise its low-budget origins expertly behind atmospheric photography and skillfull editing and direction.The story begins with Milton, Chadwick and O'Brien, wealthy but friendless owners of a engineering firm, living (together!) in a mansion, presumably in New York.
When the three old codgers are killed in plane crash, their ghosts remain here for a while to finish guiding their young couple through the standard plot: They love each other, he is tempted by success and a bad woman, a jealous husband (it could be her ex-, that's what she said, and in 1940 we would have taken that at face value, but in 2004 I would expect that to be a lie); he needs to be shown that the good girl is one he should be with.The side story regarding the two Russian emigres Josef and Madame Tanya is deftly sketched in with a few key shots of family photos, a war medal and a conversation about their past, but also fleshes out our knowledge about the three men whose generosity enables them to survive.
Ms. Cram was something of specialist in the extremely sentimental tearjerkers, her best known story idea being used in 1957's "An Affair To Remember." Ms. Comandini was active from the silents right up until the 1992 TV-remake of "Christmas in Connecticut," but none of her efforts seem to be as weird or fantastic as "Beyond Tomorrow."If you decide to sit and watch this film, you will enter into an agreement with the characters that the over-the-top sentimentality and naivete is OK, we can bend some rules of logic, and that we can learn something simple: It's perfectly fine to help anyone without question, even forego your own trip to Heaven..
Their three ghost come back to continue their help with the loving couple through their career trials.*Special Stars- Richard Carlson, C.
Aubrey Smith, Charles Winninger, Harry Carey, Maria Ouspenskaya *Theme- Do what is right and good things will happen to you.*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W, Notice the many special and complex lighting tricks used to change the scenes from daytime to night during the Christmas holidays and the heavenly scenes.
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).
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.
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!".
***SPOILERS*** Sentimental little Christmas movie involving three life long friends who in trying to pep up their somewhat lonely Christmas Eve get together in roping in two young strangers who make their holiday season a lot better and far more rewarding.
So much better that they just refuse to go back to their maker, and heaven, after they ended up dying in a tragic plane crash.The three old guys Irish Michael O'Brien, Charles Winninger, British Allan "Chad" Chadwick, A.Aubrey Smith, and American businessman George Melton, Harry Carey,end up bonding with their unexpected Christmas guests Texas cowboy James Huston,Richard Carlson, and children clinic volunteer Jean Lawrence, Jean Parker, who end up becoming their lifelong,and even beyond life, friends.Becoming almost inseparable both James and Jean drift apart when their three old benefactors, with Michael leaving James a cache of money to continue his fledging singing career, unexpectedly perish in a plane crash.
The cranky and penny pinching George finally found out, after his death, that money isn't everything if your in a place, the world in between life and death, where its not worth the paper that it's printed on and also sees the light, heaven, by the time the film is over.Only Michael gets involved with the world of the living in his attempt to save James from a fate worse then death in both losing Jean as well as his life by getting himself involved with Arlene.
James in fact does see the light after he's shot and killed by Arlene's drunk and jealous ex-husband-Mr. Terry I presume-and is given a second chance to return back to earth, and life, to reunite with the girl that he left behind Jean.Nothing really new here even though the movie predates the far more popular and very similar Frank Capra Christmas Classic "It's a Wonderful Life" by some six years.
But he wants to remain and try to help reunite the young couple, James and Jean, played by Richard Carlson and Jean Parker.
The two newcomers soon become friends with them and this is an entirely charming film up to this point.HOWEVER, in a bizarre twist, the three old men are killed off and become ghosts AND the young man and woman develop a romance...but it's almost ruined by an evil femme fatale.
Aubrey Smith, Harry Carey, Charles Winninger) are lonely on Christmas.
They are returned by two young single people, cowboy Richard Carlson (!) and the lovely Jean Parker.
So they all have dinner together, the two young people are attracted to one another, and this looks like it's going to be a great time.Then they kill off the old guys.
The idea is that nobody is a stranger on Christmas Eve. The cynical member of the trio, George Melton (Harry Carey of "Angel and the Badman"), argues that nobody will return their wallets.
And not because it was old, but because the story was silly.I think the plot really went wrong with the three men coming back as ghosts.