Forever and a Day

Boasting a cast of 78 movie stars, performers from every corner banded together for the troops in Forever and a Day, another "variety show" movie that was popular during WWII. Join Dame May Whitty, Edmund Gwenn, Arthur Treacher, Victor McLaglen, Herbert Marshall, C. Aubrey Smith, Buster Keaton, Gene Lockhart, Reginald Owen, Halliwell Hobbs, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Nigel Bruce, Una O'Connor, Richard Hayden, Brian Aherne, Claude Rains, Ray Milland, Edward Everett Horton, Patric Knowles, June Duprez, Cecil Kellaway Ida Lupino, Eric Blore, Merle Oberon, Queenie Leopard, Jessie Matthews, Gladys Cooper, Robert Cummings, Donald Crisp as they act out a script contributed to by 22 writers, and directed and produced by seven skilled men.

In one of his earlier films, Kent Smith stars as a young man interested in the history of an old British house. Told through vignettes, the house's owners and ancestors are explained. This has an entirely different feel than the usual "variety show" movies from the time period. There isn't song after dance after skit; instead, it's dramatic British scene after mildly comical British scene after neutral British scene. Unless you can keep up with the different accents and class distinctions and tongue-in-cheek about modern conveniences like bathtubs and motor cars, you probably won't like this one. It is fun to see Charles Laughton playing a butler and Brian Aherne trying out for Cary Grant's part in None But the Lonely Heart, though.

This remarkable film was largely the brainchild of Sir Cedric Hardwicke, who had the idea that British ex-patriates in Hollywood donate their services to make a stirring film with a strong nationalistic theme. He rounded up a lot of potential contributors including actors and directors and writers, but by the time he found a home for this at RKO, some of them like Cary Grant and Ronald Colman and Alfred Hitchcock were no longer available. Some Americans and Canadians pitched in their services and the result is the very entertaining tale of two distant cousins and and a house that survives into the blitz told in flashbacks as London is bombed. Hardwicke and Buster Keaton steal the show as two bumbling plumbers, but there are excellent contributions by Sir C. Aubrey Smith, Dame May Witty, Ida Lupino, Charles Laughton, Roland Young, Dame Gladys Cooper and others. Some material was deleted, perhaps because of the length and leisurely pace of the story-telling. For those who love Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs, this will appeal. It was a miracle it got made. Most of the contributors gave their time for the war effort. Worth a look.

This grand 1943 film once again proved that the British were at their best when they kept that stiff upper lip.

This magnificent piece tells the story of a house from its inception in England in 1804 until the German blitzkrieg circa 1940.

Nothing was spared in this provocative film regarding the cast. Practically everyone known in British films is in it and they all shine.

As two people are dickering in selling the house, its rich history is brought back in a series of flashbacks. We go back to the Napoleonic Era and trace the house to Queen Victoria's era, World War 1 and eventually the second world war.

The film provides plenty of heartbreak and sadness but is a definite testament of faith to the British people in the tradition of Mrs. Miniver.

This is like a cavalcade travelling through history, commencing in Napoleonic times and ending in the Blitz. There are many poignant moments on the way, and the cast contains almost all the best names of the period. Among the most memorable ones are Charles Laughton as a drinking butler, Claude Rains as the only miserable tenant of the house ever, while the real moment of truth is in 1917 when the Americans enter the war. There is a very sensitive scene between Gladys Cooper and Merle Oberon that will stick on your mind for a long time, and Roland Young as the husband with Robert Coote as the blind veteran add to the impression of this scene. The second world war, which provides the beginning and end of the film, comes a little beside the point, since the main issue is the life that all the residents of the two families alternating in peopling the house, bestowed on the house and created a continuity, that not even the second world war could destroy. The message of the film is about continuity, how nothing can change what has been, which will go on forever even if only as memories, which provides quite some food for thought and afterthought. It's a very different film resembling almost none other, except in some ways Noel Coward's "Cavalcade" of 1931, which was something similar, ending in the first world war. This is in the same style and equally touching and profoundly human, which makes it a joy to behold and to remember.

"Forever and a Day" is a most unusual film project. In order to bolster the war effort, a huge group of Hollywood stars* agreed to work on this project without pay. The same for the 19 writers and seven directors involved...they worked without pay and it was to help the war effort. It truly is an impressive effort and although it was made by RKO Studio, it had the cooperation of the other Hollywood studios in loaning folks to the project.

Kent Smith plays an American who has come to London during the Blitz in order to sell a home his family has owned the place for generations. However, he comes off as a bit of a smug jerk and so the lady living there, a distant relation, tells him all about the history of the home and its occupants.

This film is intended to show the folks in the States just how swell our British allies are as well as the long sense of history about the country. This is shown through vignettes showing sacrifice and patriotism...starting with the Battle of Trefalger to WWII.

Overall, this is a surprisingly well made film. I say surprisingly because sometimes when you assemble many directors, the result is a total mess (such as "Casino Royale" from 1967, which had six credited directors). This one, however, is coherent and enjoyable...and very well made.

*Most of the stars in the film are supporting actors and actresses. However, a few A-list actors such as Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Merle Oberon and Herbert Marshall appear in the movie. Additionally, a few of the actors are a bit of a surprise, such as Buster Keaton! Many, if not most, of the actors are Brits living and working in Hollywood.