Category: Christmas Movies – 2021

Beyond Tomorrow

Posted on by John

We ran across this quirky movie more than a dozen years ago and have kept it on the Christmas cinema catalog ever since. It was produced by Lee Garmes, who had far greater fame as a cinematographer with credits such as Scarface (1932), Shanghai Express (1932) and Gone with the Wind (1939), though he did not receive credit for his work on that classic film.  Dealing with life and death and life-after-death issues, the story is a strange mix of sappiness and bizarre theology, but the central, engaging theme is hope in redemption and transformation.

PLOT SUMMARY

Two aging engineers (cynical Harry Carey and gracious C. Aubrey Smith) are still working late on Christmas Eve when their jovial partner (Charles Winninger) bursts into their shared home with stacks of holiday packages.   What looked to be a boring evening for the old men is changed when two lonely young people appear on their doorstep:  a down-on-his-luck singing cowboy (Richard Carlson) and a compassionate nurse (Jean Parker).  By the end of the evening all have formed a warm friendship, and Carlson and Parker are falling in love.  The group’s happiness continues for weeks, until the three engineers are killed in an airplane crash.  They reappear in their home as ghosts watching over their young friends while waiting to learn what happens next in their life after death.  Carlson lands a spot on a radio broadcast and catches the eye of a wicked Broadway star (Helen Vinson), who ensnares the naïve young man and entices him with a role in her next show.  While the ghosts are worrying about the future of their young friends, lightning and thunder summon the cynical Carey, who has an unexplained scandal in his past, to a dark smoky place (Hell?).  The gracious, courtly Smith is welcomed to Heaven by his deceased son, who explains that mother is waiting for them in a perfect re-creation of the favorite period in their life.  The jovial Winninger remains, following the troubled young lovers and trying to get Carlson back with Parker. When a voice beckons Winninger to Heaven, he decides to stay in the world to help his friends, apparently giving up his one chance for paradise.  Carlson and Vinson are shot by her drunk former husband, and when Carlson dies on the operating table, his ghost meets Winninger, who explains how he had tried to help Carlson make better choices.  Heaven welcomes Winninger again (with the disembodied voice saying that Winninger’s mother had been hounding everyone in Heaven to give her son a second chance).  Winninger in turn intercedes for Carlson, who is restored to life and love with Parker.  Finally, Harry Carey emerges from his dark place (so was it Purgatory instead of Hell?) having shed his cynical bitterness, and he ascends to Heaven walking arm in arm with Winninger up steep steps.  Whew!

NEW YORK CONNECTION

The film is set in Manhattan, with several street scenes near Central Park.

CHRISTMAS CONNECTION

The film begins on Christmas Eve and has one of the sweetest celebrations you’ll find in any film, with even the cynical Harry Carey being warmed by good fellowship and carols and a special drink (see below). The film joins a long tradition of another type of Christmas spirits, starting with Dickens and, several years after this film, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) and The Bishop’s Wife (1948). You can also add a squirrel to the special holiday helpers tradition with The Great Rupert (1950), which is also a mainstay of our Christmas watchlist.

CHARACTER ACTORS

Helen Vinson, who played the catty, adulterous Suzanne in In Name Only, plays another bad girl in this movie as the devious Broadway star who ensnares Richard Carlson. Vinson seemed to specialize in faded femme fatale roles in such films as The Kennel Murder Case (1933) and The Thin Man Goes Home (1944), but early in her career she played a sympathetic role opposite Paul Muni in I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932).

Robert Homans, the police sergeant in the park on Christmas Eve, also appears in Holiday Inn (1942).

Rod LaRocque plays Phil Hubert, the producer.  We will see him in Meet John Doe (1941) as Ted Sheldon, the swarmy nephew of the evil mastermind D.B. Norton.

Harry Carey, who plays the cynical partner, had roles in hundreds of films starting in the silent era. He appeared in many westerns directed by John Ford, but my favorite among his many parts is as the Vice President in Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939).

C. Aubrey Smith is another ubiquitous character actor who appeared in such classics as Rebecca (1940), Wee Willie Winkie (1937) and Tarzan the Ape Man (1932).

The Russian actress Maria Ouspenskaya is probably best known as the gypsy fortune teller Maleva in The Wolf Man (1941).  Before immigrating to the United States in 1922, she studied with Stanislavski in Moscow.  Appearing on Broadway for a decade, she ran an acting school in New York, before moving to Hollywood for roles that would help fund her school.

Jean Parker, who plays the love interest in Beyond Tomorrow, appeared in a similarly sweet and innocent role in the under-appreciated comedy The Ghost Goes West (1935).

Alex Melesh, who plays the servant Joseph in Beyond Tomorrow, plays a waiter in Warsaw in another under-appreciated film, Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942) with Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers.

ASTAIRE CONNECTION

Charles Winninger appeared a half dozen times with Fred Astaire on concert benefit stages from 1920 to 1933 and was also a fellow member of the Lambs Club. He originated the role of Captain Andy in Show Boat (1927) on Broadway and reprised it in the 1936 film version with Irene Dunne. His best role is as Dr. Enoch Downer in Nothing Sacred (1937), starring Frederic March and Carole Lombard.  His brother-in-law, Cyril Ring, plays a small part in Beyond Tomorrow (the man who reports no hope for the airplane crash victims).  Winninger’s wife, Blanche Ring, also appeared with the Astaires in their Broadway benefit concerts.

Frank Tours, the music director for Beyond Tomorrow, had been the orchestra director in Astaire’s first Broadway show, Over the Top (1917), and the music director for his biggest Broadway flop, Smiles (1930).

WHY WE LOVE THIS MOVIE

Beyond the character actors and the quirky storyline, the biggest takeaway from this film is the reference to the warm holiday drink, Tom and Jerry, which is poured out at the Christmas Eve party by Charles Winninger.  I had never heard of this drink until this movie.  (There will be another offhand reference in The Apartment.) I looked up the recipe, and it has become a nice, warm alternative to eggnog during our December evenings.  Enjoy!

“Jingle Bells” in Six Classic Films

Posted on by John

For 2021’s “Christmas at the Movies” YouTube clip, I’ve selected scenes from six classic Christmas movies that feature the ubiquitous carol “Jingle Bells.”

First are two scenes from Miracle on 34th Street (1947). The first is part of the film’s opening where Kris Kringle discovers the drunken Santa Claus just before the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade begins. One of my favorite character actors, Percy Helton, plays the inebriated Santa who sings a bit of “Jingle Bells” before passing out. The second 34th Street scene with “Jingle Bells” comes in the Post Office, as the letter sorter happily hits upon a way of getting rid of the thousands of letters addressed to Santa Claus and unwittingly setting up the way of saving Kris in his trial.

The next clip comes from a short film produced in 1945: Star in the Night. This is a charming little film, directed by Don Siegel, who 26 years later would direct Dirty Harry.

Next comes one of my favorite quirky Christmas classics: The Great Rupert (1950). Jimmy Durante sings “Jingle Bells” with support from Frank Orth (Mr. Dingle), another favorite character actor. (Look for him as Duffy in HIs Girl Friday.)

“Jingle Bells” next shows up at the dance song of choice in the raucous office party in The Apartment (1960).

The seldom seen romantic comedy And So They Were Married (1936) features a lengthy rendition of “Jingle Bells” while some brattish children destroy a resort hotel’s Christmas tree. That’s Melvyn Douglas getting trapped in the garland.

Finally, my favorite movie “Jingle Bells” comes from Beyond Tomorrow (1940), another quirky Christmas classic. This one features the American Christmas carol being sung in multiple languages by the likes of Maria Ouspenskaya, Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Winninger, Richard Carlson, Jean Parker, and Gino Corrado.

If you want to see links to our previous years’ “Christmas at the Movies” clips, see this page http://501roseneath.com/christmas-at-the-movies-2019/

Two versions of “Holiday”

Posted on by John

One of our favorite films, not just during Christmas but any time of the year, is Holiday – the 1938 version directed by George Cukor and starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. We found the 1930 version of the movie YouTube has the full 1930 film, and I was struck by how much I preferred the 1938 version. I tracked down a copy of the original stage play, which I had read over 25 years ago, and re-read it. The first film version is much closer to Philip Barry’s stage script. The 1938 version uses a screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart, who made some notable changes in characters and settings.

YouTube has the full 1930 film.

The story, of course, remains essentially the same: Johnny Case, a young man who has risen by sheer grit and hard work from poverty to a secure position in a Wall Street firm, has fallen in love with Julia Seton, the younger daughter of a wealthy Fifth Avenue oligarch. Julia’s older sister, Linda, is a non-conformist, and the brother, Ned, works with his father but is an obvious alcoholic. At first, he father objects to the marriage until Johnny makes a sudden fortune. But just as he approves of the wedding, Johnny announces that he plans to quit business and take a “holiday” to discover a deeper purpose for his life. The father is offended, as is Julia, while Linda sides with Johnny. At first the engagement is broken off, but Johnny decides to compromise and marry Julia. In the play’s climactic scene, Johnny announces his intention to continue working on Wall Street and delay his “holiday” dream for a few years.

I was intrigued by the directorial and acting choices made in this final scene, where Johnny at first agrees to compromise but then returns to his original dream when he realizes how soul-deadening a life focused on money will be. The director of the 1930 version, Edward H. Griffith, blocks this scene as if it were being acted on stage, with the camera usually in a wide angle incorporating most of the actors. For the interjected wisecracks and reactions, he cuts to close-ups. George Cukor in the 1938 version blocks the scene in a more compact angle, that includes all of the actors and doesn’t require cutting to highlight off-side comments or reactions.

I have put the two scenes side by side in a short video on YouTube.

The Cukor version is much funnier but also more substantive. Notice, also, how Cukor’s blocking puts Linda and Ned together on the couch, highlighting how they are more sympathetic with each other, emphasizing a point made earlier in the film.

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/209/holiday/

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6752-holiday-play-mates