Hold Back Tomorrow

I would love to see a Hugo Haas festival. At a theater or on television. If anyone was an auteur, it was Haas. His movies are similar to but better than those of Ed Wood. They are below the standards of some other contemporaries. But they seem to have been shot with little money.

Here we have a brunette Cleo Moore and Death Row inmate John Agar. She is a self-described "pickup girl." She looks it, too. It's very sleazy -- as it is meant to be.

This basically two-character piece was ahead of its time. I can imagine it with Al Pacino and Edie Falco.

This is a very original film on a very original story with very original actors, and even the music is original. Hugo Haas was something of a buccaneer in Hollywood, doing his own films, writing his own scripts, finding his own actors and team work, and the result is something of the most original and fascinating of film making during the great age of noirs. Here the film begins with a girl trying to drown herself by jumping into the river, she is rescued against her will and has to return to her more than dreary existence of nothingness, being threatened by being thrown out of her shabby room, having no place to go and no one to care about. By chance two policemen look her up with the strangest of offers: she will be paid $200 for keeping company with a prisoner sentenced to death during his last night, since that is his last wish. She doesn't care about anything and therefore accepts, and most of the film is just the two of them talking together in his cell, airing their mutual hopelessness and finding each other. That's the whole story. The dialog is amazing, extremely intriguing and well written, and the warden, the watchmen, his stepsister also play some part, but as a chamber play this is perfect and enduring. She will never forget her last night with a man sentenced to hang, and no audience could possibly ever forget this film.

"Hold Back Tomorrow" is one of the stranger films I've ever seen. Not bad at all...just very strange. And, it's because the film is so unusual that I recommend you see it.

When the story begins, Joe (John Agar) is on death row...a day before his scheduled execution. Unlike most prisoners in such situations, Joe is not repentant and wants everyone to just shut up and leave him alone. But, after the warden offers to give him ANY last request, Joe decides he wants to have a woman spend his final hours with him. While this sounds like he wants to get some, he just wants someone to talk to.

At the same time, a seriously depressed woman tosses herself into the river. She is saved...and yells at the stranger who saved her. Ultimately, she is the woman who is asked to spend Joe's final night with him in his prison cell.

This is a very odd film. On one hand, the plot is completely ridiculous as wardens do NOT offer the condemned ANYTHING they want...no questions asked! And, having a stranger spend a the night with the condemned...well, that sure isn't gonna happen! But if you can suspend disbelief, the film is amazing. First, while about 95% of the story consists of the pair just talking in one room, it's never boring. Second, for years, John Agar has been known as one of the worst actors alive. But here, with the right material, he shows his acting chops. After playing most of the story angry in a one-note performance, later he changes and his depth of talent shows. Cleo Moore is also quite good as the girl. Overall, a film which really works once you stop worrying about the improbability of it all. A really nice low-budgeted movie...one which I almost gave a 9.

John Agar himself has said (in an online chat hosted by Turner Classic Movies) that this was a "very strange" movie. Strange yes, but also intriguing in a low-budget sort of way.

Of course, the film is a retread of the old hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold romantic fantasy. (A much more recent example: "Leaving Las Vegas.") The Cleo Moore character, who agrees to spend the night with Agar, isn't actually identified as a prostitute, but we get the idea. We also know that the more time these two tormented souls spend together, the more they will get to know each other, and themselves, with a generous helping of psychobabble along the way.

But once you get past the obviousness of the film's rather incredible premise, not to mention a mawkish opening theme song, things get interesting in this modest, offbeat Hugo Haas opus. Moore and Agar deliver performances that are sincere, if at times a bit theatrical - he plays a condemned man who's mad at the whole world; she plays a suicidal woman who, despite her despair, is still capable of hope. Some of Moore and Agar's scenes together are nicely played out in long, continuous takes.

Unfortunately, the movie is nearly ruined by a frustrating, unresolved ending. Haas may have been trying for some kind of dramatically suspended moment, but it makes you want to yell at him: Tell us what happens next!!!

John Agar is about to be executed for murder. It's his last night, and he can have anything he wants. He asks for a woman to spend his last night on earth with him. He winds up with Cleo Moore, who has just been rscued from trying to drown herself in the river.

Hugo Haas has written a very interesting two-player drama. He cast his frequent star, Cleo Moore, and for some reason, John Agar. It's an hour of their talking emotionally. Unfortunately, neither is particularly convincing nor interesting.

Has spent about a dozen years writing, producing, and directing his own movies. When he was finished, he sold them to a distributor -- here it's Universal -- and move onto the next. Generally they were dark, gloomy noirs, variations on other pictures that went in some unexpected direction. Had he gotten better actors, this could have been a very good movie. Alas, as it is, it's more interesting for the idea than the execution.