Zwischen zwei Welten

I haven't seen this movie for decades, but I still remember it well. It has a haunting 'twilight zone' twist to it and is very entertaining. I'm surprised, in this in this 'post Titanic megahit' time, that an ocean liner backdrop to an eerie, romantic story has not been recycled as was 'Death Takes a Holiday'. It might even be re-incarnated as a 'Fantasy Island' type TV series with new passengers every week.

You expect justice and good to win out in movies of this era. It's nice they left enough 'wiggle' room to do the right thing. And I think people take a comfort from a good movie showing us going on after death. It's a trip we all hope to take one day....

Sutton Vane's play Outward Bound was expanded and souped up considerably in this second screen version of the play, Between Two Worlds. The basic ideas of the play and first film have been extended and accommodated to World War II. Several new characters were introduced into the screenplay.

Paul Henreid and Eleanor Parker play a young couple who decide to take their own lives via a gas stove. Earlier in the day they saw several people killed when a bomb hits a bus during the Blitz. Parker and Henreid then find themselves on a fog enclosed ship with those same people they saw and a steward played by Edmund Gwenn.

In the original play these people were all British, but because of the wartime alliance some Americans got in on the act. Cynical reporter John Garfield, charwoman Sara Allgood, millionaire George Coulouris and his traveling companion Faye Emerson who used to have a thing with Garfield, vicar Dennis King, merchant sailor George Tobias, and a proper middle class British couple Gilbert Emery and Isobel Elsom.

It takes a while, but soon the others catch on to what Parker and Henreid know already that they're dead. Gwenn informs them that at the end of the voyage they will meet The Great Examiner.

Taking the place of Dudley Digges who played The Great Examiner on stage and in the first film version of Outward Bound is Sydney Greenstreet. The one guy who's relieved at this turns out to be King who recognizes him as an old chum from seminary. Apparently this is how clergy people are used in the next life.

Leslie Howard played the role John Garfield has on stage and in the first version. It was interesting seeing both films back to back to see how two very different actors interpreted and how the screenplay was adapted to fill John Garfield's rebel persona.

George Couloris's character is fleshed out a great deal more in this than in the original version. On screen Montagu Love played it and the man's sins were strictly mercenary. Here he's accompanied by his tootsie Faye Emerson and there's carnal lust in the mix as well as avarice.

Alison Skipworth played Isobel Elsom's part on screen first and in that version, Mrs. Cliveden-Banks is already a widow. Here her husband is brought into the plot, played by Gilbert Emery and her eternal fate is different from the original.

Daniel Fuchs in adapting and expanding the screenplay did manage to still preserve Sutton Vane's message about your eternal fate hanging in the balance of how you live life. Between Two Worlds is still an entertaining fantasy with a strong moral to it.

I saw this movie when I was 7 years old. Up until last year I didn't even know the name of the movie, but I remembered seeing it and kept trying to discover the name and if I would ever get to see it again now that I am older and would have a better understanding.

Last year I discovered IMDb's web site and because of them, I now know the name. I also discovered that Between Two Worlds is a remake of the 1936 Outward Bound. I keep checking on a regular basis hoping that these movies will be issued on DVD one day soon. My hope is that until then, Turner Classic Movies will obtain copies so that I can put my 42yrs desire and search to an end.

I remember finding the movie very fascinating. I need to know if it really was or if it was just a childish perspective

Between Two Worlds was a 1944 remake of the 1930 Leslie Howard film, Outward Bound, which was a hit on Broadway. This allegorical tale about death was the perfect World War II film and boasted a super ensemble cast--each and every cast member is wonderful. The stars, John Garfield, Paul Henreid, Eleanor Parker, and Sydney Greenstreet, give top-notch performances, but the film also boasts high points in the careers of Isobel Elsom, Faye Emerson, Dennis King, Sara Allgood, Gilbert Emery, and Edmund Gwenn. Each actor gets a share of the spotlight as they slowly discover their fate and face the final judgment. Nicely directed with a good set, although the music picks up bits from Casablanca. Moody and yes maybe talky by today's standards, but very effective and moving. My favorite is haughty Isobel Elsom, the great British actress who came to Hollywood in the mid 30s, after being one of England's biggest silent-film stars. She has the role Alison Skipworth played in the 1930 version, but her imperious demeanor takes on a whole new meaning in 1944, set against the war. This is the kind of film that can't be made any more, and when film-makers try, their efforts sink from view very quickly. Powerful and touching film filled with great moments. This one is a must see.

"Between Two Worlds" is one of the best examples of one of the rarest of move genres, a fantasy for grown-ups. I can't think of many other successful examples of this sort of thing off hand beyond, perhaps, Powell and Pressburger's "A Matter of Life and Death".

By "adult" I do not, of course, mean that there is anything off-color or X-rated about the film. On the contrary, it's pretty tame by today's standards. This film is simply a fantasy for adults in the sense that it was not for or about children or adolescents.

A small, ill-assorted group of people find themselves together at night on a fog-shrouded passenger ship with no other passengers, and no crew save for a single steward. Two of the passengers, who are slightly apart from the others, have committed suicide and are aware that they are dead. The others know nothing. The steward, who knows what is going on, caters to the passengers wishes and pretends that everything is normal.

The film is very well done, with a first-rate cast of the sort of character actors they simply can't assemble anymore, wonderfully atmospheric sets, and set against an excellent Korngold musical score. I understand there was an earlier version with Leslie Howard, called "Outward Bound". I've never seen it, but it would be interesting to see it and compare it with this version.