The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1981) User Reviews

These are but shadows of what may be

[corthew · 7/10 · 31 August 2013]

I think its important to note that when you make literally thousands of predictions, some of them will certainly occur. That said, every prediction Nostradamus made is open to numerous and varied interpretations. As we move toward whatever future may be for us, there will always be those who will see something in a quatrain that strikes them as similar enough to think, "AHA! He got it right!". When you watch this movie, keep in mind that several of the more popular quatrains have been applied to multiple events at various times through history, always with the "AHA!" moment in the minds of the interpreters. There have understandably been those people who, acting in their own devious interests, have manufactured events specifically to resemble predictions, knowing that men who believe events will unfold a certain way, will work to ensure they do, even to their own detriment. Keep in mind, Nostradamus' own disclaimer: "the One who is reasonable can learn from my prophecies how to find the right path to take as if he would have found footprints in the sand from someone who has gone before." The future IS ours to choose. Our future may be predetermined, but its predetermined by our choices each day.

A load of baloney, but fun because of Welles...

[essayons7 · 6/10 · 14 April 2010]

This film had a resurgence just before the first Gulf War, but then died out quickly thereafter.

It's a Wolper Production, so the quality is quite high. Much of the film is comprised of newsreel footage and the like. Only when it comes to the future predictions does the "acting" begin.

Welles is quite game throughout, as absurd as the source material is. I particularly like the attempts to make actual history "fit" into the woefully obscure and vague predictions.

Watch it so you can laugh about the incorrect predictions, but don't take is seriously.

Interesting but totally hollywoodized

[jsdesignstudio2 · 5/10 · 17 September 2005]

Skeptics are quick to call Nostrodamus a fraud due to his vague "quatrains", although there is much accuracy in his visions which has made his name so famous. If you have actually researched Nostrodamus, as I have, you will realize that at the time Nostrodamus lived, witchcraft was highly feared and punished by death. In order to protect himself and yet still document his visions, he was forced to code them by using multiple languages and adding some jibber-jabber. I watched this film many many years ago and have also read Nostrodamus' notes. Certain quatrains were represented differently in the film then what has actually happened. The talks about the nuclear detonation in NYC at the end, or "future" part of the film have clearly been misrepresented. After 9/11 we can now distinctly see what was being discussed. Also, a 25 year war is mentioned in the film. When I first saw this many years ago It was hard for me to understand a war lasting that long. but now, it can be seen logically that the "War on Terror" could possibly last 25 years because it is unlike any other war ever fought in the past. Lastly, it was said in the movie that this war will be preceded by a number of catastrophic natural disasters unlike any EVER seen in history. If you have been watching the world news in the past few years, well...remember the devastating earthquake in Turkey in 1999 that killed thousands, the great Indonesian tsunami of 2004, and more recently hurricane Katrina...dwell on that and do as much research as possible before drawing conclusions, and keep in mind this film was made in 1981.

Don't let it worry you!

[dtucker86 · 8 October 2001]

This movie and I have a very interesting history. I first heard of Nostradomus when I watched an "In Search Of.." special on his life and times. They said he predicted King Henry's death in a jousting tournament and all kinds of other things. I remember watching this film in the 1980s and it scared me to death, especially the part in the end about the third Anti-Christ, the evil Warlord in a blue turban who will start WWIII. When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, I read an article that said he was the third anti-Christ and it scared me even more. I served in Desert Storm with the National Guard and I can remember all the time I was over there I thought the world was going to end just like it showed in this ridiculous film, I about drove myself crazy worrying over nothing! My father always used to tell me that I was foolish even thinking about Nostrodomus. Well anyway, I read a book on this prophet by a man named James Randi and he pointed out that Nostrodomus was really a fraud. His predictions are so vague that they can be twisted and turned to mean almost anything. All right, he talks about something called Hister in his predictions, in this movie they try to make it out like he predicted the rise of Adolf Hitler. But if you do a little bit of studying, you find Hister was the name of a river in France! Friends there is nothing to worry about! In the wake of these terrorist attacks, people have tried to make it out like he predicted those as well. Dont make the mistake I did, its not even worth thinking about. Orson Welles has a great narrator's voice and makes the story come alive, but just watch it and laugh. Looking back, I feel so foolish that I let this film frighten me so much, I should have listened to my father.

Nostradamus Says So !!

[loay_76 · 6/10 · 16 December 2008]

Firstly, let's talk about the movie:

The movie worked professionally with the past historical facts and linked it with Nostradamus' quatrains, facts like The rise and fall of Napoleon, The rise and fall of Hitler, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, John and Robert Kennedy and the fall of Shah Ali Bahlawy of Iran (Persia as Nostradamus said) and the rise of AyatoAllah Al Khomini .. the interpretations are so good concerning the past and the historical events but the future events (keep in mind that the movie was released in 1981 which is more than a quarter of a century ago) like the destructive earthquakes that will destroy San Francesco, The famine after the coming of the great comet (The movie mentioned the Halley comet which passed near the earth on 1986), and the hilarious interpretation about the third king of terror (Anti-Christ as the movie said) which was shown as a no more than a clown wearing strange outfit which reminds us with the Prince of Persia (lol) as to convince us that the coming king of terror will come from the middle east and will be a Muslim and will start the WWIII between 1994 and 1999!! Hurraaaaay !! of course all these interpretations are fake and didn't happen at all !!

Now let's talk about Nostradamus .. the real one:

All the historical facts and scenes in the movie featuring Nostradamus' life and death are absolutely true and historically authenticated .. the quatrains mentioned in the movie are almost true (with some mistakes from the translation of the quatrains from French to English) What is not correct are the interpretations.. for example:

• Orson Wells said that Nostradamus mentioned Moselini (Brute, empty minded, ... etc) but there's no evidence that Moselini was mentioned in the prophecies of Nostradamus

• Nostradamus didn't mention the word Anti-Christ describing Napoleon or Hitler or even the 3rd yet unknown king of terror (By the way, Nostradamus said that his name will be MABUS, he'll ignite a massive destructive war (maybe the WWIII) which will last for 27.5 years) .. the word Anti-Christ is not valid here as they are all not anti-Christs, the Anti-Christ is only one in the world history who'll appear at the end of time .. He didn't come yet .. he has special figure and characteristics known by the Christians and Muslims .. Napoleon was described in his era and since then as an (The Enemy of the Christ) when he insulted the Pope and took the imperial crown from him to put it on his own head, Hitler was described as (The Enemy of the man kind) when he insulted the cross (A Christian holy symbol) and changed it's shape to satisfy the Nazi's propaganda, the 3rd king of terror didn't come yet so how we can describe him as an anti-Christ ?!

• Killing and torturing the Jews is a crime made by Hitler but that does make him Anti-Semitic and not an Anti-Christ

• The Quatrain talking about the 3rd king of terror is (Century X Q72):

The year 1999, seventh month, From the sky will come a great King of Terror: To bring back to life the great King of the Mongols, Before and after Mars to reign by good luck.

so The 3rd king of terror can't be Muslim nor Arabian at all .. as Nostradamus described him He's a king (Remember the American dynasty! Bush the Senior and Bush the Junior?!) and he'll come in the seventh month of 1999 (Remeber the American Presidancy elections: Exit William Clinton and Enter G. W. Bush ??!!), he'll return the legacy of Ghengis Khan the king of Mongols (Bush invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, he's quite controlling Pakistan by controlling Musharaf, and is threatening Iran and wants to invade it and also he's tampering with China) ..don't all that remind us with the way of Ghengis Khan) .. The quatrain ends by(before and after war reigns with good luck): so imagine who's luckier than Bush to win all the wars and to destroy his county's resources and economy just to provide more and more money and funds to his infernal military war craft which reigns the world by now .. The King of terror's name as Nostradamus said is MABUS (if we reverse the letter M upside down to be W, transfer the A to be H (very similar 2 letters) and put it in the end of the word then like a magic MABUS will be W BUSH .. VOILA .. got him!!

• The Anti-Christ is not a Christian or a Muslim as they both believe in Jessus (Eissa in Islam) and can't be against him

• I agree on the concept that Nostradamus was a strange and unrepeatable phenomenon that he really could see the future and the evidence for that is his prophecies which that are coming true day after day and era after era .. what I don't agree on is the selection, changing and manipulating his prophecies to serve political or Zionist ideas or purposes .. that the 3rd King or terror is a Muslim and death will come from the countries of Islam .. and etc with all that unreal and illogic mambo gambo ... we should consider and make up our minds to know the real hidden truth ...

Sorry Ors *** Lo'ay

A Good Documentary

[bosochima · 7/10 · 6 October 2001]

I first saw this in the early 1980s, and it scared me to death. I just

saw it again on the History Channel. As a documentary it is still

engaging. Orson Wells adds something to anything he is in, and I think

it's his presence that gives the show a gravity it's stock footage and

b-movie recreations do not. As far is whether Nostradomus really

predicted the future, I can't say personally. Some of his predictions,

as interpreted by the show, seem a little far fetched, such as the idea

of a 27-year-long nuclear war. Some of his predictions, though, a

chillingly accurate. Although I do not study these things, I found the

Man Who Saw Tomorrow to be an entertaining introduction to the subject.

Worth Considering

[mikelouthan · 7/10 · 6 April 2015]

I watched this movie in the 80s. I saw it several times and recorded it on VCR. My copy is so blurry now it is hard to watch. The interesting thing to consider is that this movie was produced in 1981. Half of the movie deals with the past from the 1981 prospective. The movie points out the nearly correct predictions of the past. The producers never said he was dead on every prediction. Rather it was uncanny how he was able to closely describe events of the future and was fairly close on details. What is more interesting now that the film is 34 years old is that the predictions laid out in the movie have indeed happened or are happening. Ignorance would cast these closely described descriptions as smoke and mirrors. For instance the prediction that man made mountains in the new world (there was no NYC when he wrote it) would be destroyed by attacks by the Middle East....hmmm. The movie depicted it as missiles being launched across the sea when in reality it was planes launched from airports in the US but directed by middle east sponsored terrorists....nahh ridiculous right? A third Antichrist, purple turbin, Middle East...ridiculous??? Anyone seen the videos of the ISIS folks beheading, crucifying and burning people? Nahhhh, ridiculous again. The movie is worth considering, not sell all possessions and bunker down but have an ear up for the awareness the film and the predictions offer. It is worth considering. Be careful of the demonstrative individuals who can absolutely assert that nothing prophesied is ever going to happen.

This movie is FAKE!!!!

[lthseldy1 · 2/10 · 27 October 2001]

I don't even know why this movie was even made with fat Orson Welles as the host of this documentary about a few of the predictions of Naustradamous. An astrologer in the 16th century. First of all we have no proof that these predictions were in fact from Naustradamus, all you have to do is read your history books. Napolion, Hitler, the death of Kennedy and the fame of his brothers have all happened before this movie was made but it's when we get to the good part at the end is when the film becomes rediculas. After Haleys Comet we will face a drout, earthquakes, and starvation and then become cannibals? After all.... Haleys Comet has already happened. Then we come to WW3. This scene looks like it came from a cheezy sci-fi movie when we see an Arabian in a blue turban that send nuclear missles to New York City and blows it up. Russia and Saudi Arabia become allys (?) and WW3 will last for 27 years. In the end, what is left of the population will all become friends. All this sounds to unreal and made up by someone who just wants to put together a hoaky movie about prophacy. Most of what was "quoted" from Naustradamus was from the Bible and then it mentioned Germans and Naustradamus didn't even know what Germans were back then! Avoid this movie and do not believe it!!!

Great visuals and narration

[drystyx · 8/10 · 31 January 2016]

I don't think the prophecies of Nostradamus are any "news" to any one. Certainly to no one reading these reviews, and even in 1981, he was getting some of the "underground" appeal. By the time this film came out, he entered into super fame status thereafter.

This film is a great visual piece, and I think it should be of note that even narrator Orson begins by saying this film is not his idea, inferring that he is not "sold" on Nostradamus.

And so, Orson does a fantastic narration, which in view of his denial of belief, makes this a great acting job on his behalf.

I was never sold on the prophecies, and neither were most of us in the arts, because we could see how vague the "quatrains" were. Give enough vague verses, and they have to come true across the globe over hundreds of years.

The only amazing thing is that less that 100% of them came true so far, in some interpretation. That would be amazing.

The "legend" of Nostradamus is very akin to Tyrone Power in NIGHTMARE ALLEY. The con approach is to be general enough, and hit upon items that can have many meanings. I practiced this myself around 1990 with some friends, and scared them senseless with one quatrain, which incidentally came totally true on 9-11-01. I wasn't being "insightful". I just knew that "twin towers", "Sun falling", and other phrases could have dozens of meanings. "Twin towers" could mean basketball players, Minnesota cities, the buildings, and who knows what else.

So, it isn't to be taken seriously. It's "fun and games", this film is. And it is great fun and games. Very interesting, very well done, very entertaining. Thumbs up.

Hindsight is 20/20

[c123vega · 3/10 · 12 July 2016]

(This review is in essence a spoiler, so if you have not seen it yet, don't read this.) This "documentary" is really a docudrama.Nostradamus did not see tomorrow, nor did the interpreters of his writings. There are countless books on his writings, and they differ in their interpretations of the future, sometimes even on past events. The docudrama is entertaining though, just as long as you suspend disbelief. What is said about the past that supposedly came true, was after those events came to pass. What is said of the future... well, you be the judge. When I first saw it, I was fresh out of high school. It made an impact on me. But it has been more than 35 years, and the predictions of the future as interpreted at the time of the movie was made, have not panned out. I don't remember anything that has come to pass as interpreted in the movie. I would watch again to see if I discover or remember anything of importance, but it would be a waste of time.

It's scary how accurate some predictions of events since the movie turned out to be.

[lee_eisenberg · 9/10 · 22 September 2007]

In my view, "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow" makes an even better argument than it intends to, due to things that have happened since the movie came out. Michel de Nostradamus prophetized that the people's princess would get killed in a moving metallic object. We just recently passed the 25th anniversary of Grace Kelly's death and the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death, both in car wrecks.

But there's more. According to Nostradamus, the third Antichrist (the first two being Napoleon and Hitler) would rise to power in the Middle East during the period of about 1994-1999 and launch an attack on a great city near the 45th parallel, which narrator Orson Welles says would probably be New York. How true it all came, even if this is all a matter of interpretation.

Overall, the movie leaves it up to us to decide whether or not we believe that Nostradamus was right. Although you gotta admit that they make a pretty convincing case. Welles, speaking in a no-nonsense tone and smoking a cigar, creates a rather eerie feeling...the kind of eerie that makes you truly respect the work that they must have done to put this movie together.

So, I recommend this one. While some of Nostradamus's prophecies obviously didn't come true, it's truly scary how accurate others turned out to be. As for the third Antichrist - presumably Osama bin Laden - plunging the world into a massive war, the Bush family's business ties to the bin Laden family have certainly turned the world into a powder keg. As for the future, we'll just have to see how things turn out. Worth seeing.

PS: this was the second time that Orson Welles narrated a movie. The previous one was the 1975 documentary "Bugs Bunny Superstar", a look at the early days of Termite Terrace, padded with nine classic cartoons.

Nostradamus

[AaronCapenBanner · 5/10 · 11 December 2013]

Orson Welles presents this docudrama about the life and times of 16th century French astrologer and physician Nostradamus, who has since passed into legend. He was reputed to have predicted(through the use of coded writings to safeguard against the church) future events like the rises of Napolean and Hitler, the assassinations of U.S. Presidents Lincoln & Kennedy, and the invention of the airplane and moon rockets, among other things. A bit corny now, even if Welles does a nice job here, but viewer may get the feeling that he really doesn't believe anything he's saying, which kills the whole point of watching! Stars like Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack, and even Brad Crandall were the best at this sort of thing, with "In Search Of..." & "Unsolved Mysteries" doing far better jobs presenting the same material, in a more even-handed way. Not yet on DVD, though is on YouTube.

Don't bother except for nostalgia

[sleazydinosaur · 14 January 2004]

I remember this being on Cinemax all the time back in the early 80s, I taped it, and when I was in high school, I mentioned it to a teacher, and she had me bring it in and the class watched it, and then the school library borrowed it and made a copy. I wonder if they still have it, they should be ashamed of themselves if they show it to any more classes, I was just a teenager, but these were educated adults taking this nonsense seriously. I saw it again recently, I remember being absolutely mesmerized by it at the time, I'm almost embarrassed that I was ever naive enough to take this for anything more than base entertainment. The whole production is just so cheap and silly looking, and most of the predictions haven't panned out, I'm sure Nostrodamus was a slick talking con man of his time, sort of like Sylvia Brown now, just say a lot of vague things and hope people overlook it when your wrong. All of that being said, Orson Wells has a great presence, and he almost makes this tripe seem plausible, if you close your eyes. If you saw it way back when, it's kind of fun to revisit it and goof on it, but you've never seen it, there's no need to.

This was interesting

[nucleicacid5 · 4/10 · 8 July 2005]

I remember watching this program when I was a little boy around 10 years old and it freaked me out talking about all these predictions that were yet to happen....from time to time over the years they would show this on t.v. and you would be amazed of how MUCH of those things came true...they showed this program again a few months after 9/11 and I was freaked out at how much relating to the middle east had come thru...there is a part of how a prince from the middle east would start the next world war by bombing the NEW CITY...this was very eerie watching after 9/11 and I sat there really dumbfounded on how much has come true since my boyhood...I don't know if this was a coincidence or not but it was pretty close....something to think about....

A primer for Nostradamus Fraud

[JoeB131 · 8/10 · 25 October 2009]

I recommend this movie to ANY person who actually believes Nostradamus was anything *other* than a fraud and a charlatan!

The movie spends a lot of time explaining about how things that already happened were predicted by Nostradamus, especially the first two anti-Christs, Napoleon and Hitler. (Although lumping poor Napoleon in with Hitler is unfair.) Yes, those predictions make sense, if you are really, really interpretive.

It's when Welles tries to predict the future that things become dicey. Amongst things this movie predicted- Ted Kennedy would be President. (Pretty unlikely now, eh?) An Earthquake would level Los Angeles in 1989 (um, nope). That a vast war would break out in the 1990's that would result in the rise of the "THird Anti-Christ". As near as I can tell, none of that stuff happened, although I'll admit much of the 1990's is a blur to me today.

Still, fun to watch Welles on his last legs pontificate...

Stop worrying about the future and start listening!

[emm · 5/10 · 18 January 1999]

Ladies and gentlemen, there is no need to panic over this documentary film narrated by Orson Welles. Evidence shows as another in a series of long gone productions about silly tabloid journalism. Remember the U.F.O. movies of the mid-70s, plus countless others involving Bigfoot, the Devil's Triangle, and psychic phenomena. This, of course, is different because it tells of a legendary seer named Nostradamus who accurately predicted major world events. But given the time frame it was released, it's obviously another example of those movies! The biggest problem is telling about the three Antichrists in excessive portions, creating the largest feature of all. In making this film, the producers used quite a bit of stock footage from actual Hollywood movies, which I feel was a disgrace for a documentary. Where events on Napolean and earthquakes were shown, you can easily discover how they were filmed! Other footage came from archived sources, including the segment on J.F.K.; the rest is substandard acting fare. In watching this, do consider the reality of how the prophecies have passed as events unfolded. It's not the end of the world as we know it yet, but there is something to worry about: the film is almost two decades old! (gulp!) Well, I guess it's time to start worrying......

Beyond scary

[BandSAboutMovies · 10/10 · 12 March 2021]

Robert Guenette took his experience working for Sunn Classics and made this movie, which decimated my childhood with its airings on HBO. Seriously, even if I saw only a moment of movie, my nine-year-old self would have the worst anxiety you've ever felt.

Orson Welles hosted this, despite the fact that he didn't really believe in the subject all that much. His main objection was his belief that Nostradamus' work was never translated properly. That's because his quatrains - Nostradamus broke his work into four lines at a time and then collected them into centuries, which were one hundred quatrains at a time - make it difficult to comprehend what he was really saying.

Adding to Welles' theories, the political and religious issues of the psychic's time made him hide his predictions in four different languages - Latin, French, Italian and Greek - and then coded messages and took them into anagrams.

After making the movie, Welles started publically making fun of it, even when he was on shows where he was supposed to sell the movie to audiences. Was he contractually obligated to make it? Or was Welles just the kind of person who didn't care and the filmmakers figured people would come see the movie anyway?

The scariest part of the movie is all about the King of Terror, who was said to be the third of the Antichrists who would spread Islam, join with Russia and nuke New York City. Between this and finding random Jack Chick tracts and The Day After, let me tell you, if you think the 80's were fun, you didn't live in them.

In 1988, this movie found another life - after theaters and HBO - when it became a video rental hit in the wake of the California earthquakes. Roger Ebert said, "Sales clerks at the busy 20/20 Video Store on La Cienega Boulevard told me the tape is renting like crazy, and the overnight fee has been raised to $6, reflecting the demand. Spokesmen for Warner Bros Home Video confirm that "The Man Who Foretold the Future" has emerged as a surprise hit from their backlist."

It found another life after that if you can believe it!

In 1991, a remake of the film aired on NBC with Charlton Heston redoing Welles' narration, reading almost the same script. However, with it being only an hour long, they cut plenty out of the movie, as well as the implication that the third Antichrist was an Islamic leader. It's implied that this person is really Sadaam Hussein. And to make it even weirder, the end of the world parts were deleted.

Wait! It also did the very same comeback after 9/11, when Blockbuster Video went nuts renting this movie. In an article in the Chicago Tribune, "Anika Lee, manager of a Blockbuster Video store in Chicago, reported several requests for The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, and said "(Customers) have been asking for that like crazy.""

Regardless, you really should watch it, if only to listen to one of the greatest geniuses of all time reduced to being in an exploitation documentary.

Why can't I play the video

[bealifegodday · 1/10 · 20 March 2020]

I'm able to pull up the title and add to my watch list but there is no mechanism to actually watch the video. Any assistance would be greatly app

Pitch Man for Nostradamus...Orson Welles' Legacy?

[cariart · 25 March 2004]

Every time the world faces a disaster, somebody intones, self-righteously, "Nostradamus PREDICTED it..." Be it a flood, an earthquake, an assassination, or anything in-between, the sixteenth century French cleric wrote about it, somehow, in the midst of his hundreds of ambiguous quatrains. His writings have become the nonbelievers' Book of Daniel and the Revelations of St. John the Divine, reference works almost occult in stature about the future of the human race.

As a potential source for a 'cheap buck', his writings are invaluable, as they can so easily be twisted to mean ANYTHING, so low-budget documentaries pop up frequently with "definitive" interpretations, and THE MAN WHO SAW TOMORROW is, perhaps, the most famous of the lot. Best-known for having Orson Welles, looking suitably Satanic, as the Host/Narrator, pouring over ancient documents and looking up at the camera as if he were 'channeling' Nostradamus' spirit, himself (Once a ham actor, always a ham actor...), the documentary jumps to stock footage of natural disasters, the Nazis, Hollywood renditions of Napoleon, and newsreels of John and Robert Kennedy, all the while stating how dictators ('Anti-Christs'), Popes, Kings and Presidents' lives and deaths were foreseen with unerring accuracy.

The problem arises when the 'future' is predicted, using his writings. Whether our world survives or falls into chaos, there has NEVER been a 'fortuneteller' who predicted what lies ahead correctly. It is only AFTER the fact that one can 'interpret' the writings to 'fit' what has happened. It reminds one of the old joke about fortunetellers...if they are so accurate, why aren't they all rich from winning lotteries, horse races, and such? From Nostradamus to contemporary 'visionaries' like Jeanne Dixon, what HASN'T happened that was 'predicted' as coming to pass always trips them up...while their supporters quickly offer excuses that we simply 'misinterpreted' what was foreseen.

So don't face what lies ahead with fear, when watching THE MAN WHO SAW TOMORROW...just enjoy it for the cheesy spectacle it is, and perhaps mourn the fact that non-film fans may remember Orson Welles more from his overripe performance, here, than for CITIZEN KANE or TOUCH OF EVIL.

Nostradamus probably predicted THAT, too...

You don't want to watch this with the lights off

[corosive_frog · 8/10 · 26 February 2008]

I watched that movie soon after 9/11 and everyone saw Bin Laden as the Muslim warlord.

It is old, let's face it, but it predicted an earthquake in San Francisco around 1988, something wrong when the Halley comet ran by in April 1986 (Chernobyl disaster) and an attack on New-York by Muslims but the movie aid it was going to be a nuclear attack. It also predicts natural catastrophes (Tsunami? Hurricane Katrina? El Nino?) around the time of a conflict between America and the Muslim world. It's not a hundred percent precise but as far as interpretations of Nostradamus' predictions go, it is the most accurate I found.

But you really don't want to watch that with the lights off. The horror of the Nazi camps so well described and the future it predicts is so grim and yet close to the truth that it's quite scary.

You guys are nuts

[cortes5 · 10/10 · 15 August 2008]

This movie was made in 1981. I saw it in 1985, and thought it was rubbish at the time. However, looking back at it, there is an ere feeling that I get. Here are some quotes in the movie AND some real life stuff happen right now.

Nostrodamus gives the location of the middle east as to when we would go to war. (Iraq)

He also mentions that the heir of a previous leader would be in charge at the time. (Bush Jr)

He also mentions of a an anti-Christ and that it would cause a 3rd world war that would last 7 years and that an ally from the east would turn on us.

(The leader of Russia has a very nasty track record, even banning the media in there country. Also this war with Georgia is due because Georgia made there own oil pipe line for there country not wanting to have anything to do with Russia. Up until then Russia had a pipe line that ran through China that was one of there main cash cows. They cut there supply off to Georgia. Georgia decided to charge less to others in the region, and have been at odds with Russia for years.. Now here is the prediction.. The USA needs to take a stance on this,.. However this could cause a war with Russia who in turn will get aid from China and most likely Cuba and the middle east. This pose's a major threat and with out troops already thinned out, this may cause a major problem for us.) THIS COULD BE THE WORLD WAR 3 he is speaking of that seems to be unfolding right now.

HE WILL FEAR THE BLACK ONE. (in a word,OBAMA is all I can think of right now. It was thought to be Colon Powell but I think this has to be Obama.)

To think these warnings were given to us over 20 years ago in this movie and we were too arrogant to listen.

JUST WOW!! worth watching! Keep it in your mind the whole time that this movie was made in 1981!

A curiosity, on par with The Da Vinci Code

[The_Film_Cricket · 29 March 2012]

I guess my view of the prophecies of Michel de Nostradamus - the 16th century French prophet who is said to have written down accurate predictions of at least 2000 years of forthcoming human events – hold about as much weight as for me as something like The Da Vinci Code. There are a lot of holes in the Nostradamus' predictions so I tend to chalk it up as nothing more than an interesting curiosity.

The documentary The Man Who Saw Tomorrow doesn't see it that way. Here is a movie that offers a tiny bit of biography about the supposed prophet, and then cobbles together footage from every source under the sun in an effort to prove his accuracy. Did he have fore-knowledge of the future? Did he accurately predict The French Revolution? Napoleon? The American Revolution? The Civil War? The rise of Hitler? World War II? The Atomic Bomb? The Kennedy Assassination? The Moon Landing? Is he also right in his prediction about World War III and the end of the world? Well, I don't happen to think so, but I am confused about whether the movie does. It spends 90 minutes reiterating that Nostradamus wrote down 2000 years worth of prophecies that came true and then adds a tag at the end to tell us that the producers of this film are actually less convinced of his accuracy than I am.

Hosted by Orson Welles, who sits in his stuffy office behind a desk smoking a cigar, The Man Who Saw Tomorrow attempts to lay out all of the major turning points of history by way of Nostradamus' writing. Before diving head-long into his predictions, we learn that Nostradamus was a hard working student who had ambitions to be a doctor but after losing his family in the plague, turned his ambitions toward writing down his predictions in quatrains, hiding his verses in anagrams and secret code in an effort to avoid being prosecuted for witchcraft. Early on, we learn, he kissed the robes of a young Franciscan friar who would someday be Pope Sixtus V. Later he was invited to the home of a dignitary where he accurately predicted which pig they would be eating. Curiously, he forgot to jot those things down.

The historical predictions put forth by Nostradamus are interesting, but the methods in which the movie presents them are, in a word, baffling. Nothing is off limits here. There is footage of the Kennedy assassination, the holocaust, The Moon Landing, the revolution in Iran. Then, for events where there is no footage, sometimes actors are used in recreations and other times we get footage from old movies like War and Peace. Sprinkled into the mix also are old newsreels, short films, documentary footage, illustrations and cheap special effects shots from old science fiction movies.

The only center of logic in this chaotic jumble is a very brief interview with former astronaut Edgar Mitchell who argues that the future is nothing more than our summation of present events. I think I would have liked to have heard more from him and less from Jean Dixon, who appears absurdly satisfied that she predicted the deaths of both John and Bobby Kennedy. That's before Welles informs us that we can see Nostradamus' accuracy if we simply keep one eye on the quatrains and the other on our daily newspaper. For me, that's just too much work. I think I'll just let the future surprise me.

The movie keeps insisting over and over that Nostadamus laid out a historical time line the revealed three men who would try to take over the world – Anti-Christs he called them. The first was Napoleon, the second was Hitler and the third is said to be a future tyrant who will come from the Middle East. This man, it is said, will plunge the world into a catastrophic war that will last 4 and 20 years, whatever that means.

That prediction lays out the film's final act in which Nostradamus apparently predicted that a Middle Eastern Warrior in a blue turban would start World War III at or about May of 1988. That leads to an embarrassingly silly scene with cheap sets right out of "Battlestar Galactica", with the governments of both The Middle East and The United States firing nukes at each other until civilization is obliterated. After that, the movie helpfully reminds us that Nostradamus predicted a thousand years of peace before the world ends in 3797.

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow is nothing more than a curiosity. Any attempt to take it seriously the requires the kinds of fruitless insights than are often attached to things like The Da Vinci Code, Roswell or Bigfoot. I'm no skeptic but I had to smile at most of this. It is a professionally made film that probably takes its subject more seriously than it should. I find the predictions of Nostradamus to be a curious but not essential element to human history. He seemed to have a good track record even if he did predict that Ted Kennedy would become President of the United States in 1984. Hey, nobody's perfect.

Rosebud Redux

[minister_pumpkin · 8/10 · 18 June 2005]

Ensconced in an elegant drawing room -- furnished handsomely with books, hourglasses, a grandfather clock and a telescope -- celebrated Nostradamus scholar Orson Welles guides us through a detailed examination of the 16th century physician-turned-prophet's visions of the future.

Nestled next to a crackling fireplace, cigar in hand, Mr. Welles informally recounts Nostradamus' early life and exploits (he developed an effective treatment for the plague), analyzes the prophecies which have already come to pass (the French Revolution; assassinations of world leaders; pasteurization; and the development of the submarine and all manner of flying contraptions, from the hot air balloon to modern spacecraft), and postulates on events still to come.

Mr. Welles' erudite narration is nicely complemented by historical footage and tasteful reenactments. The smoke from our host's ever-present cigar lends a dignified air of mystery which frames the film well.

Much attention is paid to Nostradamus' concept of the Antichrist: Napoleon and Adolf Hitler, both Antichrists, and a third whom the seer referred to in his quatrains as "Mabus." Mabus has yet to be definitively identified; he could be a mighty world leader or an obscure subversive. (Some have even suggested that Mabus could be the name of a powerful weapon or bomb.)

With Mr. Welles' unexpected death in 1985, we lost one of our most impassioned Mabus hunters. In the days that followed, as the world mourned and came to grips with its loss, sadness and confusion gave way to suspicion and conspiracy. Today, twenty years later, the same question is still on everybody's mind: Did this Mabus contrive to eliminate Mr. Welles before he could unmask Nostradamus' dreaded third Antichrist? It seems Charles Foster Kane has taken another secret with him to the grave.

predictions still to come

[littlefarm · 9/10 · 29 November 2009]

I saw this movie in 1998 and warned my family and friends not to be near NYC in 1999. I felt a bit foolish until 9/11 happened 2 years later. the date was actually based on some planetary alignment predicted 500 years ago. New city of man made mountains, Fireballs, A secret leader from the middle east, terror terror terror.

He further predicts that the leader will not be caught but will go into hiding and then emerge after forming an alliance with the dragon (asian nation?)

If Osama bin Ladin doesn't form an alliance with (the dragon) then I will have to admit that this movie is just a big coincidence and cant be used to warn us of the future.

I recommend watching this movie and decide for yourself.

Dated but entertaining.

[yenlo · 2 November 1999]

Of course this documentary is now viewed with a certain amount of hilarity. However when it came out in 1980 it was received quite well. Chock full of stock footage from David L. Wolper past productions it tells the tale of the legendary Nostradamus and his predictions of the future. The tale of the three anti Christ make up a bulk of the film. The third (and yet still unknown) is the mysterious Blue Turbaned man from the middle east who will cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war in the 90's. The film is entertaining in it's own little way even though it is now obviously riddled with predictions that didn't happen. Then again who knows maybe the dates of the predictions are wrong. Orson Welles adds his special touch