It Happened Tomorrow (1944)

Director:

René Clair

Writers:

Lord Dunsany (play) &
Hugh Wedlock Jr. (story) ...

Release Date:

28 May 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy

Plot:

An ambitious newspaper reporter (Dick Powell), eager to scoop the competition, wishes he could know the news before it happens...

Plot Keywords:

Newspaper | Newspaper Reporter | Robbery | 50th Anniversary | Fall Down Chimney

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Dick Powell	...	Lawrence 'Larry' Stevens
Linda Darnell	...	Sylvia Smith / Sylvia Stevens
Jack Oakie	...	Uncle Oscar Smith / Cigolini
Edgar Kennedy	...	Inspector Mulrooney
John Philliber	...	Pop Benson
Edward Brophy	...	Jake Shomberg
George Cleveland	...	Mr. Gordon
Sig Ruman	...	Mr. Beckstein
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Shep
George Chandler	...	Bob
Eddie Acuff	...	Jim

Also Known As:

René Clair's It Happened Tomorrow (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Arnold Pressburger Films

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Early Edition" (1996)

Soundtrack:

Wedding March

Who Wants to Know the Future?

There were many 'screwball comedies' in the 1930s and 1940s, and this film could probably be described as 'a comic screwball ghost film'. The French director Rene Clair evidently found it more convenient to be in America during the Nazi occupation of France, and this was a film which he shot there in English. I saw the DVD in a French issue, and the French subtitles did no justice at all to the racy colloquial English spoken in the film. Dick Powell, with his quirky laconic humour tinged with despondency (one imagines him going home after shooting to a lonely Scotch), is perfectly cast as a young journalist who wants to know tomorrow's news today. The old codger who kept the archives for the newspaper, eerily played by John Philliber, dies and comes back as a ghost to hand Powell the next day's paper in advance, and he does so several times. This leads to wildly incalculable results, including Powell being accused of murder and trying to escape his own murder of which he has read the report. Powell falls for the glamorous Linda Darnell, jealously protected by her uncle Jack Oakie, and there is a big tussle over her. It is all very lively and very jolly, and although it is not sophisticated, the implications are profound, as the nature of time is under serious consideration, however light-hearted the story may be. The film is adapted from a play by Lord Dunsany.