''It Happened Tomorrow'' is a 1944 American fantasy film directed by

René Clair René Clair (11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. He wen ...

, starring Dick Powell,

Linda Darnell Linda Darnell (born Monetta Eloyse Darnell; October 16, 1923 – April 10, 1965) was an American actress. Darnell progressed from modeling as a child to acting in theater and film. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in ...

and

Jack Oakie Jack Oakie (born Lewis Delaney Offield; November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978) was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television. He portrayed Napaloni in Chaplin's ''The Great Dictator'' (194 ...

, and featuring

Edgar Kennedy Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to por ...

and

John Philliber John Philliber (July 6, 1873 – November 6, 1944), was an American actor. Born in Elkhart, Indiana, Philliber was a stage actor for most of his career, but in his last year of life made several appearances in films, alluding to his old age, bes ...

. It is based on the one-act play "The Jest of Haha Laba" by Lord Dunsany.

Plot

In the 1890s, Lawrence Stevens ( Dick Powell) is an obituary writer unhappy in his job, who is given, by an elderly newspaper man named Pop Benson (

), a newspaper that has tomorrow's news. He uses the paper to write stories and get the scoop on other reporters; but this also brings him under suspicion by Police Inspector Mulrooney (

), who wants to know how Stevens came by his knowledge of a robbery at a theater's box office during a performance, of which he read in the newspaper provided by Benson. Stevens and his new girlfriend Sylvia (

) – half of a

clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...

act with her uncle Oscar Smith (

) – have a number of adventures, until her uncle mistakenly thinks that Stevens has consorted with his niece in her boarding house room. The uncle attempts to intimidate Stevens into marrying her, not knowing that Stevens has come to him to ask for her hand. Stevens gets another newspaper from Pop Benson, intending to use it to pick horses at the racetrack, to win enough money to get married. Unfortunately, he also reads a story about his own death that night, so he and Sylvia get married immediately and head off to the track with her uncle. Stevens bets on winner after winner, amassing $60,000, which is then stolen on their way back to town. They give chase but are arrested for speeding. Stevens hopes for more help from Benson, but learns that the old man died two days ago, even before Stevens received the first newspaper. Stevens tries his best to avoid the hotel lobby where his death is supposed to take place, but circumstances keep pushing him in that direction. He spots the man who stole his money and chases him on foot through the streets and over the rooftops, until they both fall through the chimney that leads to the very hotel lobby he's been trying to avoid. A gunfight breaks out, and the thief is shot and killed. Because he has Stevens' wallet on him, he is at first identified as the newspaperman, and his newspaper prints an erroneous story saying that their star reporter has been killed. When a reporter finds out the truth, the newspaper has already hit the streets; and it is this edition that he had gotten from Pop. Stevens does not die in the hotel lobby; he marries Sylvia and lives to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

Cast

* Dick Powell as Lawrence Stevens *

as Sylvia Smith *

as Uncle Oscar Smith *

as Inspector Mulrooney *

as Pop Benson * Edward Brophy as Jake Schomberg, man taking bets at racetrack *

George Cleveland George Alan Cleveland (September 17, 1885 – July 15, 1957) was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1930 and 1954. Career Cleveland was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. His first appearance on the stage ...

as Mr. Gordon, newspaper editor *

Sig Ruman Siegfried Carl Alban Rumann (October 11, 1884 – February 14, 1967), billed as Sig Ruman and Sig Rumann, was a German-American character actor known for his portrayals of pompous and often stereotypically Teutonic officials or villains i ...

as Mr. Beckstein, circus scout *

Paul Guilfoyle Paul Vincent Guilfoyle () (born April 28, 1949) is an American television and film actor. He was a regular cast member of the CBS crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', on which he played Captain Jim Brass from 2000 to 2014. He retu ...

as Shep * George Chandler as Bob *

Eddie Acuff Edward DeKalb Acuff (June 3, 1903 – December 17, 1956) was an American stage and film actor. He frequently was cast as a droll comic relief, in the support of the star. His best-known recurring role is that of Mr. Beasley, the postman, in ...

as Jim * Robert Dudley as Justice of the Peace

Production

Director and producer Frank Capra originally purchased the rights to Hugh Wedlock and Howard Snyder's story, but when he discovered the concept was similar to that in Lord Dunsany's 20-year-old one act play, he bought it as well; later, when he was going into the Army to serve in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he sold both to

Arnold Pressburger Arnold Pressburger (27 August 1885 – 17 February 1951) was an Austrian Jewish film producer who produced more than 70 films between 1913 and 1951. Pressburger was born in Pressburg, Austria-Hungary (now Bratislava, Slovakia) and died in H ...

. Pressburger approached Rene Clair about directing the film, and the two hired Clair's friend

Dudley Nichols Dudley Nichols (April 6, 1895 – January 4, 1960) was an American screenwriter and film director. He was the first person to decline an Academy Award, as part of a boycott to gain recognition for the Screen Writers Guild; he would later accept ...

to assist in writing the script. They set the time period in the 1890s to avoid dealing with the war."Notes"
on

TCM.com Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

Clair initially wanted

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

for the lead role, but wound up with Dick Powell, who was on the verge of altering his screen persona from a lightweight musical-comedy "juvenile" to a harder one, playing tough guy private detective

Philip Marlowe Philip Marlowe () is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler, who was characteristic of the hardboiled crime fiction genre. The hardboiled crime fiction genre originated in the 1920s, notably in ''Black Mask'' magazine, in which Dashie ...

in '' Murder My Sweet'' later that year, followed by a series of film noirs. Although ''It Happened Tomorrow'' was far from Clair's favorite, he was later to write that " e last twenty minutes are the best thing I did in Hollywood." The ending, especially, which hinges on a mistake in the newspaper from the future, had a personal connection for Clair, since he was fired from his first job as a reporter when he made up a story which was the opposite of what actually happened; Nichols was a former newsman as well.

Reception

''It Happened Tomorrow'' was a success at the box office. Film historian Jeff Stafford noted that the critical response in the United States was "complimentary but reserved". In France, however, the film was a "major critical success".

Awards and honors

''It Happened Tomorrow'' was nominated for two

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

: * Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (

Robert Stolz Robert Elisabeth Stolz (25 August 188027 June 1975) was an Austrian songwriter and conductor as well as a composer of operettas and film music.Stanley Sadie Ed. (2002) ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', Oxford University Press Biogra ...

) *

Best Sound, Recording The Academy Award for Best Sound is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest or most euphonic sound mixing, recording, sound design, and sound editing. The award used to go to the studio sound departments until a rule change in 1969 said it ...

(

Jack Whitney Jack Whitney (February 21, 1905 – November 2, 1992) was an American sound engineer. He won two Academy Awards, one for Best Sound Recording and the other for Best Visual Effects. He was nominated six more times in the category Best Soun ...

)

Adaptations

''It Happened Tomorrow'' was adapted as a radio play for the July 3, 1944 episode of

Lux Radio Theater ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company ...

with

Don Ameche Don Ameche (; born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, stock, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which ...

and Anne Baxter, the September 25, 1944 episode of

The Screen Guild Theater ''The Screen Guild Theater'' is a radio anthology series broadcast from 1939 until 1952 during the Golden Age of Radio. Leading Hollywood stars performed adaptations of popular motion pictures. Originating on CBS Radio, it aired under several dif ...

with Dick Powell and Linda Darnell reprising their original roles and on the October 9, 1946 episode of Academy Award Theater, starring

Eddie Bracken Edward Vincent Bracken (February 7, 1915 – November 14, 2002) was an American actor. Bracken became a Hollywood comedy legend with lead performances in the films '' Hail the Conquering Hero'' and '' The Miracle of Morgan's Creek'' both from ...

and Ann Blyth.

References

External links

* * * * {{Dudley Nichols 1940 films 1940s fantasy comedy films 1940s historical films American black-and-white films American fantasy comedy films American historical fantasy films American romantic fantasy films Adaptations of works by Lord Dunsany 1940s English-language films Films about journalists Films directed by René Clair Films produced by Arnold Pressburger Films set in the 1890s Films with screenplays by Dudley Nichols United Artists films Films scored by Robert Stolz 1940s American films