Três Almas Solitárias

Wonderful Christmastime fantasy about three old men getting young, handsome, hunky Richard Carlson to fall in love with sweet, young, beautiful Jean Parker. There's a lot more to it but I don't want to ruin it.

This is VERY low-budget and the story is overly sentimental and more than a little silly--but I have a soft spot in my heart for it. When I was young a local TV station showed this film around Christmastime for years. I haven't seen it for almost 30 years but caught it on TCM. And i STILL love it!

Something about it has always captivated me. The whole movie was somewhat predictable but I kept watching enthralled. The acting was excellent by everybody (Carlson especially--and his singing is GREAT) and the story didn't get too goody-goody or syrupy. And it all ends on a very happy note. And damned if that ending didn't have me crying.

A wonderful Christmas movie--right up there with "A Christmas Story" and "It's a Wonderful Life". This film should really be rediscovered. Well worth seeing.

Unfortunately the print on TCM is in terrible condition. It's faded and jumpy but not unwatchable. Still worth seeing. I heard there's a COLORIZED print of this! Avoid that at all costs.

A crazy-quilt of drama and emotions, initially with a holiday theme, about three elderly New York businessmen, workaholics who have unintentionally become hermits, finding themselves friendless on Christmas Eve; after throwing their wallets out into the street, they are greeted with two honest souls (a soft-spoken, singing cowboy and a kindergarten teacher) who eventually fall in love...and that's just the beginning of the story! The narrative takes on a bundle of different themes (unexpected death, youthful romance, the cause and effect of success, after-life fantasy), yet the end results are fairly smooth (although, after the forty-minute mark, the picture becomes almost a different movie altogether). Perhaps it wouldn't work so well if not for Charles Winninger's lovely performance as the twinkling Irishman who brings the young folks together. Winninger has a moment late in the proceedings, talking to the heavens, that is both blissfully serene and fraught with emotion--honest emotion, the kind Hollywood sometimes has trouble creating. The film's message is clear--if you give unto others, you're sure to receive--and if that strikes some viewers as corny, so be it. However, the filmmakers do wonders with several ideas which have since become old-hat, and the three codgers are fabulous characters who transcend some of the more obvious plot-developments. In fact, the movie is such a surprise, I would imagine more TV-airings might turn it into a holiday perennial. *** from ****

I found this film when I received a catalog from Alpha Video advertising it. The film (properly called Beyond Tomorrow) sounded interesting, so I ordered it. This is a perfectly charming story from classic Hollywood which explores human emotion on a fairly deep level. Here is an unsung holiday film which is different. A B-list cast to be sure, but the players here are at their best and create unforgettable characters. This will bring a tear to your eye and a lump to your throat unless you are a true Scrooge. The film quality is what you'd expect from Alpha. An unrestored 16mm print, but very viewable and at 84 minutes, it is preferred to the colorized version which is 5 minutes shorter for no reason that makes any sense. I've not seen this version, but the cuts generate some continuity issues from what I've read. This is available very inexpensively from a variety of public-domain companies. If you like classic Hollywood, this belongs in your collection.

Beyond Tomorrow is a film that should be considered a Christmas classic, but sadly is film which has slipped through the cracks. This film began production in 1939 at General Service Studios which was rented out by Academy Productions, Inc. The film was released in May 1940, certainly not during the Christmas season. The film was distributed by RKO. This film was considered to be a second feature, or B picture. The cast, which are excellent in the roles, are all supporting players in other films, but here they are given the lead. This film was known as an "orphan" film. The copyright on this film was allowed to expire when Academy Productions went out of business. Because this film didn't have major stars in it, the film was not widely replayed during the Christmas season, except in smaller local markets. Interestingly, "It's A Wonderful Life" really only became the classic film it is, because it too slipped into the public domain, and repeated TV viewings around the holidays insured that film would become a classic.

In the age of DVDs "Beyond Tomorrow" would soon find a new life, and would appear on any of a number of DVDs from various film studios. Most of these DVDs, regardless of price, would use the same source material, mainly the print stored at the Library of Congress as part of it's copyright deposit collection. The film print that most people are used to is very dark, with cuts and splices throughout.

In 2005 the film was put out in a colorized verison on DVD. The distributer of the film is listed as 20th Century Fox, however the film was colorized by a different company. The colorization, though a major improvement over techniques used in the 1980s, still has its limitations. The color is muddy, very unrealistic, and even distracting. The print that they colorized, while a different print then the ones used on most other DVD releases of this film, was still poor, and that is reflected in the colorized version. Additionally several short scenes were cut from the color verison, but these scenes are included as "deleted scenes" on the DVD. Had these scenes been left in the film the movie would have made a bit better sense.

How is it possible that I have never seen (or heard of) this movie before?! Thanks to TCM I was able to check it out and I must say - this should be a holiday tradition, shown on TV as regularly as "It's A Wonderful Life". Although it's not quite up to that level of classic perfection, "Beyond Tomorrow" gives one a similarly uplifting feeling. The ending makes you feel glad to be alive...and less afraid of death.

I won't give away the story - just watch. Some may say it's naive and sentimental, but I feel sorry for anyone who's such a hard-hearted cynic (and what are you doing watching Christmas movies anyway?) So many movies try to be "heartwarming" and fail, coming off as phoney and emotionally manipulative. It's good to see one as sincere and genuinely moving as this one.

It's a shame the print isn't better quality, despite some recent restoration work. How such a great film could be allowed to deteriorate, I'll never understand. It's especially shameful when you think of how many other, older movies are in better shape. I hope the TCM print gets released on DVD, since it seems to be an improvement over the cheapie DVDs out there. This film deserves to be better known, and should be preserved so that it can be seen...beyond tomorrow.