O Amanhã é Eterno

My brother, Joe, joined the Marines right after Pearl Harbor, as an underage boy with false papers. So did his cousin. Now it's over seventy years later and for the first time I realize the anguish of my mother and all mothers when their sons went to war. Claudette Colbert stole my heart as she made me understand what my mother, and all mothers then and today, must have been going through when their sons (and now their daughters go to war).

I was 3 1/2 years old in 1942, and so during the war, while he was in the South Pacific, I heard my mother's stories about 'Brother Joe,' that she told so that I would understand that I had a brother and he would eventually come home and live with us.

Natalie Wood is a wonderful surprise as a tiny war orphan, perhaps eight years old; Orson Welles was at the top of his form, but Claudette Colbert was the brightest star of this film.

This is not an anti-war film, it's much more a 'why we must go to war film.' There's a lot of philosophy buried in the script, but it never slows the film.

Warning, bring at least two handkerchiefs to "Tomorrow is Forever".

This is a lot more than a simple melodrama. It has elements of fantasy like "It's a Wonderful Life" or "A Matter of Life and Death". Although the drama on the surface is possible, the coincidences are so improbable that one senses a moving hand and that things are not as they seem. The film takes on the sheen of a lucid dream. There are allegorical elements, for example, the little girl made an orphan by the Nazis and forced to flee. She stands for all suffering Europe in the shadow of that terrible war, which had just ended. One can simply accept the surface story, or dig deeper for its meaning. One thing is certain, there is no way a simple melodrama would carry such a feeling of emotional weight and genuine pathos, in the Greek sense.

The acting is wonderful. Orson Welles gives one of his great performances. It is so strange that one never hears of this film. I just happened to catch it on TCM and to say I was startled, would be an understatement.

This is why we love movies.

What a powerful story! So powerful to me, at least, that I have only watched it one other time and have little desire to see it again.....even though it's a fine movie. It's too frustrating a story for me, frankly. I could NOT have done what Orson Welles' character did in this film. Welles, by the way, is outstanding in here. He, Claudette Colbert, George Brent and Richard Long provide some wonderful acting.

Long, playing the elder son, presents a tremendous contrast of how a young man acted back in the 1940s compared to nowadays in terms of of respect and manners. The little girl in here is played by Natalie Wood. I wouldn't have known it was her had she not been mentioned on the back of the video box. She has blonde hair and is about five or six years old, and does an impressive job speaking German.

This is a real heart-rendering story. The only drawback is the credibility of Colbert's character, "Elizabeth Hamilton," the wife of Welles. A supposed war victim and gone for years after his marriage to her, Wells - despite now having a beard and aging a bit - would still be recognizable (at the least, audibly) to his former wife. It was asking a bit much to believe she wouldn't realize it was him, but it's still good storytelling and a film that hits you deeply. Speaking about the last point, if you liked 1942's "Random Harvest," you probably would like this, too.

This excellent 1946 vehicle provides Orson Welles with a role that he is most sympathetic with. Married to Claudette Colbert in this film, he is soon declared missing and dead. Colbert quickly remarries a wealthy gentleman who is most sympathetic when this apparent tragedy strikes.

Fast forward 20 years. By chance, Colbert comes across Welles in a new disguise. This is all coming about as World War 11 will envelop Europe. It appears that Welles was not killed off during World War 1, but merely was missing and apparently suffering from amnesia.

The film becomes a heartbreak after this. Both Colbert and Welles really are conflicted here. She suspects that he realizes his true identity now and he realizes that the son she bore is his.

Both Colbert and Welles put on some very fine acting here in this film where you had better have plenty of handkerchiers available.

Take a journey back to the mid-40s and enjoy this weepie about lost love and balancing pleasant memories against present endowments.

Colbert's character must wrestle with what she "lost" twenty years ago and what treasures she now has. Welles' character is there to assist in her deliberations, while Brent offers a conciliatory bridge between what was and is now.

The casting couldn't be bettered: what a treat to see Colbert and Welles working together. This provided Orson with one of his most sensitive roles, and he plays it with great compassion. Colbert and Brent are both excellent, and young Natalie Wood offers a most impressive performance as a war refugee. Richard Long is likewise fine as an idealistic young man wanting to do his part to make this a better world.

Max Steiner's score is unusually rich, complete with high voices mixed with strings, and a romantic main theme highlighting the essence of this sentimental script.

Irving Pitchel's direction is on target for this emotional material. Very beautifully rendered.