Sementes de Ódio

Lately I've been wondering about TCM's rating system. This is the second time I've been burned by a bunch of stars next to a film. I think they need to relook at some of these movies.

"Tomorrow, the World!" is based on the Broadway play. The film stars Frederic March, Skippy Homeier, Betty Field, Agnes Moorhead and Joan Carroll. Skippy is Emil (recreating his Broadway role), a German boy who comes to America to live with a scientist, Mark Frame (March), his sister (Moorhead) and his daughter (Carroll) - she's the same age as Emil. Field plays Leona Richards, a schoolteacher who is engaged to Mark. Emil has been indoctrinated by the Nazis to hate and to be prejudiced and also to lie and manipulate. The fact that Leona is Jewish and that Mike's insecure sister seems uncomfortable about the marriage plays right into Emil's hands, as he doesn't want Leona around.

Skippy was Skip by the time I became aware of him, and he was always a very likable actor and for baby boomers, a constant television presence. This was my first exposure to him as a child. He was a beautiful young boy, with a mane of blondish hair and enormous eyes. "Tomorrow, the World!" a propaganda film directed with a sledgehammer, is his screen debut.

In the beginning I was suspicious that it might be a comedy due to Skippy's totally outrageous performance as a Hitler Jugend. For one thing, tiny Natalie Wood could have taught him something about German accents and speaking German - she was perfect in "Tomorrow is Forever." He says his lines in a sing-song voice, often sounding Swedish, sometimes American; only sometimes is there a hint of German, and he speaks German like an American. In the second part of the film, however, he's very effective, really showing what he can do acting-wise. It's just a shame he was directed as he was. In his faux nice moments, he comes off like a German Eddie Haskell or a male Patty McCormick - you just don't buy it.

The biggest bone I have to pick with this film is the stupid soap opera part, which is the argument between Leona and Mark. Mark for reasons known only to himself thinks that Emil is becoming nicer and more acclimated to the American way; Leona disagrees with him passionately and says she cannot live in the house with the boy, thus breaking their engagement. Mark feels she's being unreasonable. Now, if only she'd thought to mention that precious little Emil had written "Miss Richards is a Jewish tramp" on a bunch of sidewalks, Mark might have understood that Emil's attitude wasn't improving as rapidly as he thought. But she fails to mention this nugget of info.

The second part of the film is far superior to the first. March, Field, and Carroll are very good in their roles. I agree with several posters here that Skippy dominates the film, but that isn't always for the right reasons.

The ending is too pat - that often happens when you only have less than two hours to make a point and you've spent most of it talking about America and its strengths. I suspect "Tomorrow, the World!" had more impact in 1944, though it's hard for me to accept that anyone ever believed Herr Skippy in his sweet, friendly moments.

Tomorrow the World was the screen adaption of a Broadway play that ran a season or two previously. It's the story of an American family who adopts a kid over from Nazi Germany. Of course the kid comes over with all the attitudes instilled there from his time in the Hitler Youth. It's going to take a lot of deprogramming to straighten him out.

Skip Homeier repeated his role from the Broadway stage and made an electrifying debut. So much so that he overshadowed grownup stars Fredric March and Betty Field. March is his widower uncle and Betty Field is his fiancé who also is Homeier's teacher in public school.

Of course Homeier doesn't exactly make too many friends spouting all the party line he learned in the Hitler Youth. He's positively horrified to find out that he's going to be mixing with kids of all backgrounds that he's been taught are inferior.

Pretty much everyone gives up on Homeier save Joan Carroll who is March's daughter. Her scenes with Homeier are the best in the film.

Skip Homeier could never escape the typecasting after this movie. Even when he occasionally played good guys there was always an edge to them. No one would ever cast him as a hero. But he did well as a teenager and later as an adult. Fans today probably know him best as the mad leader of a futuristic hippie cult from an original Star Trek episode.

Fredric March might have been a bit miffed at being upstaged by a kid. But he had a second Oscar in his future in his very next film, The Best Years of Our Lives.

I think Father Flanagan in Boys Town would have had a handful dealing with Homeier, might have given his philosophy a quick review or he may have seen his thesis proved about they're being no such thing as a bad boy. It's all in how soon you get to them and whether the life programming patterns have taken root.

I had not heard of the film until I saw it on the Turner Movie Classics schedule. Seeing the subject matter and the 1944 date excited me. The writer, director and cast would be playing out the issues in real time, as the die was cast. I grew up in a household conflicted with stories and opinions of Nazi Germany. My mother is Jewish. My father was German and raised by a father who supported Hitler. I have always been fascinated by Germans who seem to be good people who choose to ignore the eventual outcome of Hitler's madness and defend Germany's need for him.

The characters each have their unique perspective and reaction to Emil as played masterfully by Skip Homeier. The desire to see only the good in a human being with no expectation that they are dealing with a fully brainwashed evil acting thug is such an American trait. This movie is simply made and concentrates closely on the story, and it's the story and the acting that is compelling. I think you will enjoy it if you enjoy a good psychological study. My husband was disappointed with the ending, I, however, was overjoyed and cried. P. S. It was nice to see Agnes Moorehead in her role. I have never seen her play such a "normal person".

An obviously cheaply-made film version of the long-running Broadway hit that that was one of several films made during the War addressing the vexed question of just what was to be done with the Germans once the War was over.

It preserves for posterity the young 'Skippy' Homeier's extraordinary performance as Emil Bruckner, a feral eleven year-old Hitler Youth who just turns up in a small town in wartime America without attracting any attention on the part of the authorities. There is also a memorable performance by Joan Carroll as the host family's perky young daughter, but it's strange to see an actor of Fredric March's stature taking such a back seat to the proceedings as her father. Although we're told that the still young and glamorous Betty Field - who is both a teacher at the local school and March's fiancée - is Jewish, this element isn't developed and the fact that she's supposed to be Jewish is seldom referred to - even by Emil.

Recalling Frank Borzage's 'No Greater Glory' (1934) and anticipating 'Frieda' (1947) and 'The Bad Seed' (1956), parts are quite amusing - possibly intentionally - others extremely shocking; and the writers plainly didn't know how to end the thing. (An interesting version could be made today with the young kid a Middle Eastern refugee...)

...based on a Pulitzer-prize winning (!!!) play, from United Artists and director Leslie Fenton. Fredric March stars as Mike Frame, a small-town American who is taking charge of an orphaned relative, 13-year-old German boy Emil (Skip Homeier). Mike, his sister Jessie (Agnes Moorehead), young cousin Pat (Joan Carroll), and Mike's fiancee Leona (Betty Field) welcome the boy into their home but are shocked and appalled by his Hitler Youth sensibilities, including vocal antisemitism, anti-American sentiments and a desire to continue the German cause in any way possible. Emil's attitude naturally leads to trouble both at home and in school, with things coming to a violent conclusion. Also featuring Edit Angold, and Rudy Wissler.

I called this hysterical and it is, in both senses of the word. Emil is depicted as such an extreme exaggerated caricature that he becomes an object of unintended hilarity. Homeier, who had originated the role on Broadway and was making his film debut here, overplays it to the hilt. The situations are often absurd, the character decisions ludicrous, and the last half hour is just one bizarre moment after another, including attempted murders, brutal fist-fights among children, and one of the more unconvincing sappy endings in some time. There's no way that I'd call this a good movie in the conventional sense, but as a bad movie I found it very amusing.