Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951)

A man who spent his formative years in prison for murder is released, and struggles to adjust to the outside world and escape his lurid past. He gets involved with a cheap dancehall girl, ... See full summary »

Director:

Felix E. Feist

Writers:

Art Cohn (screenplay), Guy Endore (screenplay),

Stars:

Ruth Roman, Steve Cochran, Lurene Tuttle

Cast

Credited cast:
Ruth Roman	...	Catherine 'Cay' Higgins
Steve Cochran	...	Bill Clark / Mike Lewis
Lurene Tuttle	...	Mrs. Dawson
Ray Teal	...	Mr. Dawson
Morris Ankrum	...	Hugh Wagner
John Kellogg	...	Dan Monroe
Lee Patrick	...	Janet Higgins
Hugh Sanders	...	Detective Lt. George Conover
Stuart Randall	...	Frank Higgins
Robert Hyatt	...	Johnny Dawson (as Bobby Hyatt)
Harry Antrim	...	Prison Warden
Walter Sande	...	Sheriff
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gene Roth	...	Jim, Foreman (scenes deleted)

Storyline

A man who spent his formative years in prison for murder is released, and struggles to adjust to the outside world and escape his lurid past. He gets involved with a cheap dancehall girl, and when her protector is accidentally killed, they go on the lam together, getting jobs as farm labourers. But some fellow workers get wise to them.

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Plot Keywords:

ex con

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Genres:

Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 September 1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

Verfolgt

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

The warden hands Bill Clark a dime for streetcar fare, noting the price has gone up from a nickle during the time he was in prison. But instead of a trolley Clark boards a municipal bus.

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Quotes

Prison Warden: Your generation grew up, married, raised families, went to war. But nothing happened to you, Bill. You just got older.

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Soundtracks

"A Little on the Lonely Side"
(uncredited)
Written by Frank Weldon, Richard Robertson and James Cavanaugh
Played by the band at Play Land

User Reviews

Two Conflicting Halves

An ex-con and a dance hall girl flee the cops and a wrongful murder charge.

Catch that early scene in the tacky dance hall— it's a gem. I've seen a lot of cheap dives in movies, but none I think combines atmosphere and annoyance better than this one. Between the hard dames and the 1-minute buzzer, the guys better hold onto their wallets. Then too, the Warner Bros. production manages uncommon attention to detail. Note how taxi-dancer Cay (Roman) ends the dance hall scene by soliciting another customer. That way we know she's a real hard case no matter what she's said to poor Clark (Cochran).

These touches continue throughout, as with the back-and-forth wristwatch mirroring Cay's and Clark's relationship, or the heart-stopping dropped keys that unlock the carry-all car. All in all, these are the kind of deft touches that turn a good film into a memorable one.

However, despite the excellence of this noirish first half, I have to agree with reviewer Teller. The second half unfortunately collapses into unremarkable melodrama. Frankly, Cay's big turnaround from loose woman to wifely Madonna is simply too complete to be believable. That transformation is signaled in her change of hair color. There, Cay washes out the dance hall blonde for the darker natural color underneath, thereby releasing the real person redeemed now by true love. However, the problem remains-- the personality contrast between the "hard-case before" and the "all-sweetness after" is simply too strong and abrupt not to draw critical attention, regardless of how worthwhile the message.

That's not to say the second part is wasted. Those clapboard shacks for the transient pickers are right out of Grapes of Wrath and just as realistic. Plus, Clark's personality remains volatile and believable, though undergoing the inevitable softening. I just wish the film had modulated Kay's change in a similarly subtle manner. Then we might have had a memorable whole instead of a memorable half.