The Present with a Future (1943) User Reviews

Bette Davis during WWII with a war bond pitch...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 27 October 2008]

Bette Davis fans will appreciate this short directed by Vincent Sherman which has her as a mother greeting her two children on Christmas morning without the expected presents. Instead, she gives them a pitch about savings bonds instead of the toys or gifts they expected.

Davis delivers the "mother" role with actressy charm while the children (one of them is Billy Gray) gaze at her earnestly and go along with her talk about helping the men overseas and wartime patriotism.

Interesting as a curio from the past. After the brief segment with the two children, Davis is shown in her dressing room addressing the audience and furthering her pitch to buy War Bonds. If you savor the Davis mannerisms, well--they're on full display here whether she's playing the mother with two understanding kids or herself in her dressing room on the set.

In And Out of Character

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 13 December 2008]

In the same year as her most relevant war time feature film came out, Watch On The Rhine, Bette Davis took some time to pitch for War Bonds, both in and out of character.

Bette is first seen playing a scene as a mother who gives her children war bonds for Christmas, saying that this is a sacrifice they must make. Especially since their father is one of the soldiers fighting for America on a foreign field.

AFter the scene is done, we then shift to Bette Davis now out of her character and herself making a pitch for war bonds and telling a tale not altogether different from the character she has just played.

The whole short is an interesting bit of World War II historical nostalgia.

It's said that the Real Life kids of the two old biddies in . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 27 December 2018]

. . . WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? loathed their actress moms with a vengeance. We all know that "Joan's" maternal reputation was torpedoed by wire coat hangers. But what about "Bette's"? THE PRESENT WITH A FUTURE provides an answer to this nagging question. You should NEVER tell your hypothetical kids that their hypothetical dad is off fighting in some hypothetical war, where he MIGHT suffer a hypothetical bullet wound, shrapnel puncture, or tank tread crushing--AND be denied a hypothetical pain pill IF the cost of said tablet was squandered on an ACTUAL bicycle or train set on their "Santa List" instead. Probably the only possible way to make your kids hate you more is if you spring this story on them at the bottom of the steps after they've excitedly run downstairs from their bedrooms on Christmas morning. However, that's EXACTLY what Bette does in THE PRESENT WITH A FUTURE. Boop-Boop-De-Doop.

Nice Short

[Michael_Elliott · 4 November 2008]

Present with a Future, The (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Bette Davis stars in this Warner short, which is another in a long line that tried to sell war bonds. In the film Davis plays a mother who on Christmas morning must tell her children that they are getting bonds instead of toys because one stamp could save a soldiers life. It was fairly common for big name stars to help in these shorts but I was shocked to see Sherman's name on this as he had previously done The Return of Doctor X, All Through the Night and would work with Davis the same year as this in Old Acquaintance. He handles the material very well and Davis delivers everything you'd expect from her. At the end of the short she, in her dressing room, addresses the people watching the film and it's funny to note that she acts no differently here than in her "acted" role of the mother.

How politics connect with film during wartime

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 25 December 2017]

"The Present with a Future" is of course a little play on words in the title of this 1943 2.5-minute short film that will have its 75th anniversary soon. 2-time Academy Award winning actress Bette Davis stars in here as a mother of two explaining to her kids during Christmas why they cannot get any pompous presents this year, but get war bonds instead. You can imagine the children's faces before they of course get their mother's point. And eventually, Davis adresses the audience too and talks to them about the importance of (investing in) war bonds for the future. The director of this little black-and-white short is Vincent Sherman, a man who came really close to becoming a centenarian. Anyway, this film is interesting from the perspective of how film channels the political climate during the days of World War II. It is propaganda, but one that focuses on "us" instead of "them", which makes it a relatively harmless watch. But it is also very forgettable in my opinion. Back then, it may have made an impact, but today not so much and I'd only recommend it to 20th century (film) historians and Bette Davis fans, even if her role and performance aren't too significant either as you may have guessed already looking how this one ends before the 150-second mark. Everybody else can skip it and they won't be missing much.

A Peek at X-mas 1943

[dougdoepke · 21 December 2017]

It's 1943 and the war is still in doubt, so everyone has to do his or her part, even youngsters. The way we can all help is with buying war bonds to finance the war's expense. That's what Betty tells her two kids in front of the X-mas tree. After all, a war bond could even help their dad who's serving overseas. Even now this short-short (3-minutes) packs a motivating punch. And who better to deliver the patriotic message than the compelling Betty Davis. And when the little girl suggests a bicycle along with a bond, Betty points out that a bike would require manpower to manufacture when people are needed for arms manufacture. So even America's vaunted consumer industry is constrained. All in all, it's a revealing holiday peek during the sacrifices of WWII, along with a personal note from Betty.