Thursday, June 2, 2011

It Happened Tomorrow (1944).


It Happened Tomorrow (1944). Fantasy film starring Dick Powell, Linda Darnell and Jack Oakie, Edgar Kennedy and Sig Ruman. Directed by René Clair.


On Larry and Sylvia's golden wedding anniversary, they get into an argument about Larry's wish to publish his story that happened over fifty years ago:

Larry, the obituary writer had just been promoted to reporter and makes a wish to give ten years of his life in exchange for knowing tomorrow's events. The paper's librarian Pop Benson, warns him that it can be dangerous to know the future. After leaving the office, Larry and his drinking buddies sees a poster promoting Oscar Cigolini, the fortune-teller and his niece, Sylvia Smith, and they all decide to see the show, where Larry meets and invites Sylvia on a date, during the performance.

Later that evening, as Larry passes the Evening News office, Pop, hands Larry a copy of tomorrows paper and then quickly disappears.

Later Larry, is taken by surprise when he reads the story about a robbery at the opera house that afternoon, and realizes that the paper he is holding in his hands, is forecasting the day's events. He then asks, his editor, to allow him to cover the concert. Larry, invites Sylvia to join him. As they listen to the performance, the box office is robbed and Larry goes to the paper with his story. Gordon, at first does not believe Larry, until Inspector Mulrooney, confirms the theft.

Soon Mulrooney, becomes suspicious of Larry's knowledge of the robbery and arrests him. Sylvia, tells him that it was she that predicted the crime. Mulrooney, decides to take Sylvia back to the theater and asks her to make another prediction during her performance. This brings more problems than fortune...

Video: In this scene after Sylvia jumps in the water,(because of one of her predictions ).. and Larry takes her to his apartment, where he lends her dry clothes.

This is a fun film, with an interesting story and wonderful characters, showing what happens when you know what happens in the future.. which influences the characters.. Dick Powell and Linda Darnell work well together and Jack Oakie, plays the uncle of Darnell's character and he also has some good scenes.



Jack Oakie (November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978). Oakie, performed in musicals and comedies on Broadway from 1923 to 1927. Oakie performed in five silent films during 1927 and 1928. As the age of the "talkies" began, he signed with Paramount Pictures, making his first talking film, The Dummy (1929).

In the film, Too Much Harmony (1933), the part of Oakie's on-screen mother was played by his real mother Mary Evelyn Offield. During the 1930s he was known as "The World's Oldest Freshman", because of his many performances in films with a collegiate theme. He was also known for refusing to wear screen make-up of any kind, and the frequent use of double-take in his comedy.

Oakie is best known for his performance in, Charlie Chaplin's, The Great Dictator (1940), for which he received an Oscar nomination for the Best Supporting Actor Award.

6 comments:

  1. Dawn, I enjoyed your review of IT HAPPENED TOMORROW. As luck would have it, the movie is playing on TCM right this minute. I'm gonna turn it on! :-)

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  2. Dorian, I'm writting this review as I'm watching, "IT HAPPENED TOMORROW". I hope I did not give too much away. :)

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  3. Dorian, I tried to leave you a comment on your Blog. About the "Dark Corner (1946)" movie review: This is a wonderful review to a wonderful film noir. I thought Lucille Ball, gave a great performance, to bad she did not perform in more of these type of films. I loved the twist and turns of the film, which keeps you on your toes.

    Dawn from N and CF.

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  4. Dawn, don't worry, you did a fine job of keeping the surprises in the plot of IT HAPPENED TOMORROW (IHT). I found IHT totally charming. Dick Powell's versatility shows itself again, and Linda Darnell is a lovely match for him physically, romantically, and comedically. Being surrounded by all those wonderful character actors didn't hurt, either! :-) I also liked the nice little piquant twist in the finale. What a dear little treat of a movie; thanks for bringing it to my attention in your enjoyable blog, Dawn!

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  5. This is a wonderful movie! So glad you're publicizing it on your blog. "Charming" is really the right word for it. Powell and Darnell were a great team. I love the action-packed climax including some excellent musical scoring. Really a treat of a film -- I liked it so much that after I bought it the first time I bought the Kino DVD, which has a restored UCLA print.

    Best wishes,
    Laura

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  6. DorianTB, Your welcome and thank you for the complement . I hope blogger fixes your blog soon so I can leave comments.

    Laura, WOW!! You really did love this movie.

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