When Tomorrow Comes

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Movie
Original title When Tomorrow Comes
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1939
length 90 minutes
Rod
Director John M. Stahl
script Dwight Tayler
production John M. Stahl for Universal Pictures
music Charles Previn
camera John J. Mescall
cut Milton Carruth
occupation

When Tomorrow Comes is an American melodrama starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer and directed by John M. Stahl from 1939. It is the second of three films by Dunne and Boyer together. The material was filmed again in 1957 by Douglas Sirk under the title The last chord .

action

Philip Andre Chagal, the famous French concert pianist, has just finished his tour of the USA. On the way back to New York, he takes a short break in a small-town café. He is mistaken for a management spy by the waitresses holding a secret union meeting. Helen, the leader of the strike, impressed Monsieur Chagal with her charm and natural elegance. However, he hides his true identity from her and Helen believes that Chagal is an unemployed artist. Philip asks Helen to spend the last 72 hours with him before he leaves. They rent a sailboat and get caught in a storm that forces them to seek refuge in Philip's stately home in the Hamptons. Helen finally realizes who her beau really is. They both confess their love, but Philip is married. A divorce is out of the question, as Mrs. Chagal has since gone mad. In tears, Helen renounces her love and is left alone.

background

Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer had great financial and artistic success in early 1939 with the Leo McCarey production of Love Affair . Dunne received the fourth of a total of five Academy Award nominations for best actress for her performance and Boyer cemented his image as a romantic lover. A few months later, John M. Stahl brought the two stars together again in front of the camera in his adaptation of A Modern Cinderella , a previously unpublished story by James M. Cain . Dunne and Stahl had worked together on Back Street in 1932 and on Magnificent Obsession in 1935 . The actress didn't get along very well with the director, who sometimes had certain scenes repeated very often before he liked them. The prospect of being in front of the camera with Charles Boyer again outweighed her reservations in the end. John M. Stahl structures the plot into three roughly equal segments. Most of the time he had to do without a finished script, which may explain the sometimes illogical and implausible breaches of action in the last third. A total of over 20 authors are said to have contributed to the script, even if only Dwight Taylor is featured in the opening credits.

The first half hour shows the meeting and the beginning love between the two protagonists, which develops against the background of the union activities of Dunne. In the second part, Stahl completely omits the storyline about the union activities and the upcoming strike of the waitresses without transition and concentrates completely on the dramatic development in the relationship between the lovers. The inner turmoil is symbolized by the outbreaking storm, which brings the two into extreme distress. Irene Dunne reveals her true feelings towards Boyer with apparently certain death before her eyes. The third part then presents, without any introduction, a confrontation with Boyer's wife, who seems to have gone mad after the death of their child. Ultimately, it remains unclear whether Madeleine Chagal has actually gone mad, or whether she only plays the role of the mentally ill after realizing the depth and seriousness of the love between Boyer and Dunne.

When Tomorrow Comes was so successful at the box office that in the next few years numerous studios tried to re-present Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer as a screen couple. Warner Brothers offered Dunne the lead role in All This and Heaven Too , which ended up going to Bette Davis . Universal tried to get the two of them excited about the remake of Back Street , in which Margaret Sullavan finally appeared alongside Boyer. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer first tried to win Irene Dunne for Gaslight, only to sign Ingrid Bergman in the end . It wasn't until 1944 that Dunne and Boyer turned the comedy Together Again together again . In later years, Irene Dunne named Charles Boyer along with Cary Grant as her favorite film partner.

In 1957 Douglas Sirk made a remake of the film with June Allyson , Rossano Brazzi and Marianne Koch under the title Interlude . Elements of the narrative are also used in the 1956 film Serenade with Mario Lanza and Joan Fontaine .

Awards

At the 1940 Academy Awards , When Tomorrow Comes won in the category:

Reviews

The New York Times rightly pointed out that lightning rarely strikes the same spot twice, and success cannot always be easily duplicated

“Universals“ When Tomorrow Comes ”[…] is a rather soporific romance […]. The story only works because Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne try for the audience to repeat the success as tragic lovers they had a few months ago in "Love Affair" [...] Mr. Boyer, provided with the charm that makes him one of the few true matinee idols and Miss Dunne, always a pleasant and confident actress, are the only right choices to breathe life into the James Cain story. "

The Daily Worker tactfully emphasized how carefree Irene Dunne still appears at 41:

"She is definitely not the youngest of all the stars, but her portrayal seems extraordinarily youthful and extremely self-assured."

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Universal's "When Tomorrow Comes," [...] is the rather somnolently told romance [...]. It is the kind of tale made possible […] by the willingness of Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne to attempt to repeat, for the matinee trade, the type of star-crossed romance more happily expressed a few months back in "Love Affair." [...] Mr. Boyer, with the charm that has made him one of our few authentic matinee idols, and Miss Dunne, always a pleasant and sincere performer, are unequal to the task of bringing life and conviction to James Cain's made-to- order script.
  2. ↑ She is by no means the youngest of the stars, but er her performance is distinctly youthful and tremendously sincere.