Forever and a Day (1943)

During World War II an American travels to Britain to sell an old house near London that belongs to his family. But he mets Susan Trimble who lives in the house and who is strictly against ... See full summary »

Directors:

Edmund Goulding, Cedric Hardwicke,

Writers:

Charles Bennett, Alan Campbell,

Stars:

George Kirby, Doreen Munroe, May Beatty

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Kirby	...	Wartime Newspaper Vendor
Doreen Munroe	...	Wartime Londoner (as Doreen Monroe)
May Beatty	...	Wartime Londoner Cook
Connie Leon	...	Wartime Londoner
Joy Harington	...	Wartime Bus Conductor (as Joy Harrington)
Kent Smith	...	Gates Trimble Pomfret
Ernest Grooney	...	Hotel Manager
Reginald Gardiner	...	Assistant Hotel Manager
Victor McLaglen	...	Archibald Spavin
Billy Bevan	...	Wartime Cabby
Arthur Treacher	...	Second Air Raid Watcher
Harry Allen	...	First Cockney Air Raid Watcher
Aubrey Mather	...	Man in Air Raid Shelter
Ethel Griffies	...	Wife of Man in Air Raid Shelter
June Lockhart	...	Girl in Air Raid Shelter

Storyline

During World War II an American travels to Britain to sell an old house near London that belongs to his family. But he mets Susan Trimble who lives in the house and who is strictly against the sale. While they spend the night in an air-raid shelter she tells him the story of the building from it's construction in 1804 until present day.

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Plot Keywords:

world war two

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 January 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Changing World

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Admiral Eustace Trimble (played by C. Aubrey Smith) quotes from William Wordsworth's poem "We Must Be Free or Die": "We must be free or die, who speak the tongue / That Shakespeare spoke..." (lines 11-12).

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Soundtracks

"Down at the Old Bull and Bush"
(uncredited)
Written by 'Andrew Sterling (II)' and Harry von Tilzer
Sung in the air raid shelter

User Reviews

The House and the generations who lived there.

This was one unusual project especially for a relatively minor major studio like RKO. In Forever And A Day they assembled a whole bunch of players from the Hollywood British colony, imported a couple like Anna Neagle and Jessie Matthews who did their work across the pond and put them all in one film that was directed by a half dozen directors or so. That many hands in the creation usually is a recipe for disaster. Usually that spells incoherent, but in the case of Forever And A Day it's just ponderous.

Kent Smith and Ruth Warrick meet during the blitz, she owns a house he'd like to buy. It turns out he's distantly related to Warrick. The house was built by their common ancestor C. Aubrey Smith who was a retired admiral during the Napoleonic Wars. He built the place in an area that was rural then, London hadn't spread out that far. Warrick then starts telling the story, warts and all, of the house and the generations who lived there.

I'm amazed the film was as good as it was. Still the story is slow moving and definitely parts are better than the whole. The only villain in the piece is really Claude Rains who was an ancestor, but a conniving schemer who had his ward stolen from him by Ray Milland as he was about to make a profitable match for her. A lot of women really were chattel in 1804. Rains is never bad in anything.

Charles Laughton had a small role as a butler to one of the generations that lived in the house. Watch Laughton in this tiny role, it's one of the best examples of a consummate actor making something out of a nothing role.

Forever And A Day is interesting, but that's the best I can say for it. It was good wartime propaganda, it's not the kind of film to ever be remade. If it is, hopefully with one good director and one creative vision.