Wonderful Christmas

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Movie
German title Wonderful Christmas
Original title Beyond Tomorrow /
And So Goodbye /
Beyond Christmas
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1940
length 84 minutes
Rod
Director A. Edward Sutherland
script Adele Comandini ,
Mildred Cram
production Lee Garmes
music Frank Tours
camera Lester White
cut Otto Ludwig
occupation

Wonderful Christmas ( aka Beyond Tomorrow , And So Goodbye, and Beyond Christmas ) is an American fantasy film released in 1940 .

action

Michael O'Brien, Allan Chadwick, and George Melton are three elderly single men who are successful engineers in New York City . They live with the butler Josef and the housekeeper Madam Tanya, a former duchess who had to leave her home country because of the Russian Revolution . On Christmas Eve the expected guests of the three gentlemen cancel and they realize that they have recently been neglecting their old friends because of the business. The optimistic and kind-hearted Michael has an idea to get new guests: All three toss their wallets with 10 dollars each out of the window and the finders should then spend the Christmas dinner with them. George, a pessimist and tough businessman with a soft core, bets Michael that no one would be honest enough to bring the wallet back.

The arrogant Broadway star Arlene Terry finds George's wallet , but she throws it away and slips the money to her driver. The other two purses, however, are found by friendly people: the Texan cowboy James Houston, who so far hopes in vain for a singing career in New York, and the kind-hearted Jean Lawrence, who works in an orphanage. The two stay for Christmas dinner and quickly make friends with the three older men and Madam Tanya. James and Jean fall in love, thanks in part to the careful management of the three businessmen, and they soon become engaged.

The idyll is destroyed when the three gentlemen die in a plane crash on the way to a business meeting. They had boarded the plane despite a dire premonition from Madam Tanya, who had foreseen the disaster. The ghosts of the three old men return to the house, Madam Tanya senses this too. Meanwhile, James and Jean inherit the gentlemen's money, which is processed into a story by the press. James is invited for an interview on the radio, which also gives him the chance of a singing career. In the radio station he also meets the star Arlene Terry, who is enthusiastic about his singing. Arlene has long wanted to replace her aging partner. She and her manager Phil Hubert offer James the lead male role in a new Broadway show. Jean is initially happy about her lover's new career, but James gets the fame to his head. He gradually spends more time with the manipulative Arlene, who also wants to win over the new star privately.

Meanwhile, the spirits must gradually leave the world. When George is the first to be prompted with thunder and lightning, Michael asks him to repent of his sins before it is too late. But George says he has nothing to blame and goes into the dark. Allan is soon asked: his son David, who died in the war, greets him and accompanies him to heaven, where Allan can meet his long-dead wife. Only Michael stays behind and tries to save James and Jean's relationship, because as a ghost he has an - albeit very limited - influence on their thoughts. Michael is supposed to leave Earth soon too, but he refuses until the crisis between James and Jean is over.

The disappointed Jean leaves James, who then goes on a short vacation with Arlene. They are followed on the drive by Arlene's abandoned husband, Jace Taylor, whose life was ruined by his marriage to the beautiful but cold-hearted woman. While staying in a restaurant, the two are gunned down by the jealous Jace. James dies on the operating table and is greeted by Michael's ghost, who reveals his mistakes. Michael asks the "Voice from Above" for a second chance for James, which is granted to him. James miraculously returns to life while Jean and Madam Tanya wait for him in the hospital corridor. Michael is reunited with George, who was in Hell and now regrets his mistakes, and both are taken to Heaven.

background

Beyond Tomorrow was one of the few works as a film producer by Lee Garmes , who was actually an Oscar-winning and influential cameraman. The film did without big stars, but relied on a number of well-known character actors with Charles Winniger, C. Aubrey Smith, Harry Carey and Maria Ouspenskaya. Richard Carlson and Jean Parker play as young lovers, both of whom were mainly leading actors in B-Movies .

The film was shot from November 1939 and premiered on May 10, 1940, meaning that it was not shown in the cinemas during the Christmas season. Nevertheless, in later years the film was also marketed explicitly as a Christmas film under the alternative title Beyond Christmas and its German title Wundervolles Weihnachten . The black and white film is also distributed in a colored version by Legend Films . In Germany, the film was marketed directly on DVD from October 1, 2009 .

Reviews

Bosley Crowther was divided on Beyond Tomorrow in the New York Times September 27, 1940. The film is "lovingly produced, beautifully photographed and genuinely acted". The first part of the film on Christmas Eve is told tenderly and heartwarmingly, but the ghost story in the second half of the film seems “more absurd than moving”. Crowther decided that the action should have ended on Christmas Eve.

Leonard Maltin gave the film two and a half stars out of four, noting it was a "delicate little drama".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Beyond Tomorrow (1940) - Articles. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved November 3, 2017 .
  2. ^ "The Howards of Virginia," a Fine Historical Drama, at Music Hall - 'Beyond Tomorrow' at Palace - NYTimes.com. Retrieved November 3, 2017 .
  3. ^ Leonard Maltin : Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide . Plume, New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-14-751682-4 , pp. 54 (English): “Sensitive little drama”