Tales of Tomorrow (TV Series) The Bitter Storm (1952) User Reviews

A very heavy religious message that might surprise you.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 17 September 2012]

A very bitter scientist (Arnold Moss) has been working on an island on a project--one he wants no one to see or steal. However, when a hurricane approaches and his family activate the machine, they learn that it is a device that will allow you to hear any event from history--any! The idea is not bad but the heavy-handed religious angle that follows might put off many. As for me, I liked the religious idea but felt the piece was just way overdone--and could have used a better script and a lot more subtlety. I'd say more but it would spoil the suspense if you decide to see it.

By the way, the distinguished actor, Arnold Moss, seemed very familiar to me and I recognized him right away from one of the original "Star Trek" episodes ("The Conscience of a King") where he played the actor Anton Karidian. His marvelous voice is a dead giveaway.

Worst Episode of the Series

[Hitchcoc · 2/10 · 10 August 2013]

An insensitive scientist has developed a machine that can play back anything that has ever been said on earth. Now, how you catalog this kind of stuff, I don't know. The premise that all sound is out there in various forms is at least interesting. Now, how do you separate a conversation over how much hamburger to buy with Churchill in the bunker during World War II. He turns a dial and gets it. The sad thing is that he is trapped on the island with his Bible thumping sister, a person with no personality and a mouth full of sanctimony. A storm is brewing and a couple of young people are able to miraculously make it to shore, despite the hurricane conditions. Do you suppose they walked on the water? No, wrong guy! We see the inventor as more and more self-absorbed, but he is going to get his! What is about as mind-boggling as anything is a static filled broadcast from the machine that the sniveling sister recognizes. How she puts two and two together, we are left to our own designs to answer. What a ridiculous mess of prosilytizing.

Fascinating Passion

[Enrique-Sanchez-56 · 10/10 · 24 May 2015]

Science-fiction with a religious message is always scoffed at, and it is rarer still because most scientific types tend or prefer to be irreligious in their choices. But there are some exceptions, in the stories and their followers.

There is nothing heavy handed in this story except in the minds of those who were offended by the religious message. What is wrong with a story whose protagonists are religious people? It is only offensive when one supposes that religious people do not exist. This is the same supposition which excludes African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians or gays from stories for their own convenience of thought or through some exclusionary convention which they must perpetuate in their minds.

Having said that, I thought this story evolved naturally from the conflict between the scientist husband and the religious wife. The acting was very well done by all.

This is very beautiful story that many will find inspiring and moving. As for those who will always be offended by religious subjects, let them be offended. One cannot erase religion from the human condition and it will always be an ingredient, if not obvious then as an undercurrent in the lives of all human beings who wonder about life, the world and the universe of existence.