A Vida Começa Amanhã

Yeah, I know, Scarlett O'Hara's favorite maxim. If by some weird set of circumstances this thoughtful little gem shows up on your TV after the latest infomercial, tape it, go to bed, and sometime when you're in the mood for some reflective film watching, shove it in the VCR maw. Steve Cochran plays a really dumb guy who gets entwined with Ruth Roman's cynical, smart loser dame through a series of preposterous events. If J. D. Salinger had written a crime film, it would have probably turned out like this. Why are films like this so hard to find? Other '50's obscurities worth checking out: Eight Iron Men; Kiss Me Deadly; Rogue River; Violent Saturday; Blood And Steel; Paratroop Command; Convicts Four (actually '62, but a great prison film.) I give up, nobody seems to remember anything about movies since 1980 anyway.

"Tomorrow is Another Day" is a B movie; those often looked down upon stepchildren of the Hollywood system peopled with so called second stringers. When a B movie is as good as "Tomorrow is Another Day", one realizes just what an amazing factory Hollywood was in its heyday. Helmed by the not too well known director Felix E. Feist it stars Ruth Roman and Steve Cochran in the leads. They were both dependable performers with a fairly strong screen presence, but here they both turn in compelling performances and indeed carry the film wonderfully. These characters have come from tough backgrounds and as the film progresses we sense them softening as their relationship develops. The transition is subtle and well handled. While the story itself may have its pitfalls, the dialogue is crisp and credible with some of those wonderful noir one liners one comes to expect from such fare. What elevates "Tomorrow is Another Day" so far above its peers is the wonderful work of cameraman Robert Burks. No wonder Burks was often chosen by Hitchcock for his masterly work, ("The Birds" and others.) Despite the modest proportions of this B movie, Burk takes great pains with each shot; selecting interesting and effective angles. It's his work that puts the stamp of class on this movie. While certainly not a classic, the poorly titled "Tomorrow is Another Day" offers a very satisfying movie watching experience.

Tomorrow is Another Day from 1951 stars Ruth Roman, Steve Cochran, Lurene Tuttle, and Ray Teal.

Bill Clark (Cochran) went to prison as a teenager and is released 18 years later, having had little to no life experience. Due to being exposed in the newspaper where he lives, he gets out of town and goes to New York City.

Desperate for human companionship, he enters a dime a dance joint and becomes interested in Cathy (Ruth Roman in a horrible blond wig reminiscent of Stanwyck's in Double Indemnity). She's as tough as they come, doesn't really want Bill around, and tells him he has to buy her presents to impress her. He buys her a watch.

Cathy has a touch of vulnerability - and Bill is pathetic - so she agrees to take him around New York and show him the sights. When they arrive back at her apartment, her Sugar Daddy Connover, a cop in plain clothes, is waiting for her. Bill and Connover fight; Bill is knocked out. Cathy gets the gun and shoots Connover.

When Bill regains consciousness, she leads him to believe that he shot the police lieutenant. They wind up on the run together.

Some time must pass, though it's not shown, because it's obvious the two become lovers, and Cathy has softened quite a bit. She's also back to looking like Ruth Roman. Eventually, changing their names, they join farm workers picking lettuce.

I really liked this film. I do feel like Ruth Roman turned into a housewife awfully fast. However, she does both personalities very well. Cochran was terrific, awkward, shy, not like the Steve Cochran I've seen in other films. Tuttle and Teal play husband and wife farm workers who befriend the couple.

Very good.

Tomorrow Is Another Day is NOT the sequel to Gone with the Wind but a lovers-on-the-lam story, and a surprisingly alert and moving one as well. For a supposed hack relegated to B-minus features like The Devil Thumbs A Ride, Felix Feist proves adept at filling his work with unexpected, inventive details. Steve Cochran leaves prison after 18 years for killing his brutal father when he was only 13, and now he's still a tentative, gawky pubescent operating inside a man's hulky frame. Lonesome, he visits a 10-cents-a-dance palace and falls for brassy, grasping Ruth Roman. But the sudden shooting of her police-bigwig boyfriend causes the ill-matched couple to hit the road, ending, like the Joads, in a California migrant-worker camp.

Roman's the revelation; in her best-known role, as Farley Granger's fiancee in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, she was ill- and under-used. Here she modulates persuasively from bottle-blonde taxi dancer to sacrificing wife and mother-to-be (and a brunette, to boot). Cochran's almost as good, waffling between the suspicion of a wounded child and the explosive reactions of an under-socialized male. And the ending, while unconvincing, is nonetheless welcome. Along with They Live By Night and Gun Crazy, Tomorrow Is Another Day displays a redeeming sweetness and warmth that belie its film-noir pedigree.

I can't think of any other film from the pre-Moon Is Blue period that deals with so many tough social issues (without, of course, QUITE breeching the Production Code): prostitution, rape, pimping, and even premarital sex. Steve Cochran is excellent as a brooding ex-con on the run from a crime he didn't commit. Outstanding atmosphere, photography, and screenplay. Even the scenes in the lettuce fields are outstanding!