The 1946 Oscars were a VERY competitive with great movies including: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and It's a Wonderful Live (1946). However, Tomorrow is Forever (1946) is so pitch perfect that, at the very least, Claudette Colbert should have been nominated for Best Actress and Orson Wells for Best Actor. Wells was so great that one waits for everything he does and says in his pregnant and thoughtful performance. Then, there is a wonderful performance by Natalie Woods when she was only 8 years old!!
The story begins in Baltimore where the employees of Hamilton Chemicals Works are celebrating the end of World War I. Elizabeth MacDonald (Claudette Colbert) is working there as a librarian for Lawrence Hamilton (George Brent) and his father.
However, when she goes home that night to prepare for her husband's homecoming, she receives a telegram informing her that he had been killed in the war. This leads to a FLASHBACK of an incident that occurred during her one-year marriage to John Andrew MacDonald (Orson Wells). In the flashback, John shows Elizabeth his new suit (an Army uniform) and tells her that he had received an appointment, at top pay for a 2nd Lt, due to his expertise. He also tells her that he would not be near any battles.
RETURNING TO THE PRESENT: When Elizabeth returns to work the next day, she faints and is carried to the Hamilton's home. There, she is cared for by Larry's Aunt Jessica (Lucile Watson). After Elizabeth has been seen by a doctor, Aunt Jessica informs Larry that Elizabeth is pregnant. The Hamiltons decide that Elizabeth is in no condition to go home to an empty house so soon after John's death. So, they invite her to stay at their family home. When a baby boy is born, Elizabeth names him John Andrew (after her late husband) and calls him "Drew" for short. During her stay with the Hamiltons, Larry becomes very fond of Elizabeth and asks her to marry him.
MEANWHILE, in a German hospital, a parallel story has been emerging: John MacDonald had been taken from a battlefield with no identification except a letter, found in his coat, from Elizabeth. John is badly disfigured, with most of his right foot missing and his face torn away. He wants to die. but his doctor persists in telling John to live, even with only one foot. He also reminds John that his face can be replaced by plastic surgery. When John asks why, the doctor tells him that he must live for mankind.
The story then abruptly moves forward 20 years (from 1919 to 1939). Elizabeth and Larry still live in Baltimore with their two sons: Drew (John's biological son) and his younger brother, Brian (Larry's biological son). Drew is in college but wants quite and join the RAF after hearing that the Nazis had invaded Poland. His mother is terrified by Drew's determination to join the RAF. (It would be like losing John twice.)
At about this time, John returns to Baltimore to work as a chemist at Hamilton Chemical Works. John (now Erik Kessler) comes from Austria with his little daughter, Margaret (Natalie Wood). Margaret is scared of the new country and knows only a little English. Her father, now known as Erik Kessler, cannot be recognized as John, due to his facial plastic surgery and the 20 years that have passed since he had left Baltimore. John first goes to his old Baltimore home only to find that on one has lived there for years.
When John (Kessler) and Margaret are invited to the Hamiltons for dinner, he knows Elizabeth, but she does not recognize him. (Remember, even though the movie doesn't show it—John's face is TOTALLY changed due to the needed plastic surgery of 20 years before.)
The rest of the movie basically presents a debate between Elizabeth and Drew about his desire to join the RAF and fight with the allies. John (Kessler) is, at first, welcomed into the Hamilton home, but his very presence, at times, seems an impediment to the debate between Elizabeth and Drew. When Drew talks to John (Kessler) about the war in Europe, John (Kessler) passively agrees him. However, one can tell that his heart is not totally into the agreement; he, like Elizabeth, has seen enough death from war.
Elizabeth vacillates between wondering if John (Kessler) is HER John and seeing him as the enemy. At one point she says, "You killed my husband." John's (Kessler's) response is measured.
When she insists that he IS John, he tells her that she should not want give up her full and happy life with Larry and her children and that wishing for different past is futile when hers has been so happy and fulfilling. Nor should she want John (Kessler) to be Drew's father when Larry has been such a good father to both boys.
When Drew tries to escape and meet his friends to join the RAF, John (Kessler) prevents him from leaving, telling him that he is not yet 21, and can't make that decision without his parent's consent. When John (Kessler) brings Drew home, Drew is very angry with his interference into things that don't involve him. However, John's (Kessler's) decision to interfere and bring Drew home is not to necessarily to change the outcome of Drew's decision; it is to make the decision right with Drew's family. (It is as though John was acting as Drew's father in this ONE very important moment in Drew's life.)
Orson Wells' performance in this movie is like discovering a hidden gem. What is so remarkable about it is how he is able to calmly navigate conversations while arriving at difficult personal questions. His answers are always true but never quite completely what Elizabeth (or the audience) might expect them to be.
The story begins in Baltimore where the employees of Hamilton Chemicals Works are celebrating the end of World War I. Elizabeth MacDonald (Claudette Colbert) is working there as a librarian for Lawrence Hamilton (George Brent) and his father.
However, when she goes home that night to prepare for her husband's homecoming, she receives a telegram informing her that he had been killed in the war. This leads to a FLASHBACK of an incident that occurred during her one-year marriage to John Andrew MacDonald (Orson Wells). In the flashback, John shows Elizabeth his new suit (an Army uniform) and tells her that he had received an appointment, at top pay for a 2nd Lt, due to his expertise. He also tells her that he would not be near any battles.
RETURNING TO THE PRESENT: When Elizabeth returns to work the next day, she faints and is carried to the Hamilton's home. There, she is cared for by Larry's Aunt Jessica (Lucile Watson). After Elizabeth has been seen by a doctor, Aunt Jessica informs Larry that Elizabeth is pregnant. The Hamiltons decide that Elizabeth is in no condition to go home to an empty house so soon after John's death. So, they invite her to stay at their family home. When a baby boy is born, Elizabeth names him John Andrew (after her late husband) and calls him "Drew" for short. During her stay with the Hamiltons, Larry becomes very fond of Elizabeth and asks her to marry him.
MEANWHILE, in a German hospital, a parallel story has been emerging: John MacDonald had been taken from a battlefield with no identification except a letter, found in his coat, from Elizabeth. John is badly disfigured, with most of his right foot missing and his face torn away. He wants to die. but his doctor persists in telling John to live, even with only one foot. He also reminds John that his face can be replaced by plastic surgery. When John asks why, the doctor tells him that he must live for mankind.
The story then abruptly moves forward 20 years (from 1919 to 1939). Elizabeth and Larry still live in Baltimore with their two sons: Drew (John's biological son) and his younger brother, Brian (Larry's biological son). Drew is in college but wants quite and join the RAF after hearing that the Nazis had invaded Poland. His mother is terrified by Drew's determination to join the RAF. (It would be like losing John twice.)
At about this time, John returns to Baltimore to work as a chemist at Hamilton Chemical Works. John (now Erik Kessler) comes from Austria with his little daughter, Margaret (Natalie Wood). Margaret is scared of the new country and knows only a little English. Her father, now known as Erik Kessler, cannot be recognized as John, due to his facial plastic surgery and the 20 years that have passed since he had left Baltimore. John first goes to his old Baltimore home only to find that on one has lived there for years.
When John (Kessler) and Margaret are invited to the Hamiltons for dinner, he knows Elizabeth, but she does not recognize him. (Remember, even though the movie doesn't show it—John's face is TOTALLY changed due to the needed plastic surgery of 20 years before.)
The rest of the movie basically presents a debate between Elizabeth and Drew about his desire to join the RAF and fight with the allies. John (Kessler) is, at first, welcomed into the Hamilton home, but his very presence, at times, seems an impediment to the debate between Elizabeth and Drew. When Drew talks to John (Kessler) about the war in Europe, John (Kessler) passively agrees him. However, one can tell that his heart is not totally into the agreement; he, like Elizabeth, has seen enough death from war.
Elizabeth vacillates between wondering if John (Kessler) is HER John and seeing him as the enemy. At one point she says, "You killed my husband." John's (Kessler's) response is measured.
When she insists that he IS John, he tells her that she should not want give up her full and happy life with Larry and her children and that wishing for different past is futile when hers has been so happy and fulfilling. Nor should she want John (Kessler) to be Drew's father when Larry has been such a good father to both boys.
When Drew tries to escape and meet his friends to join the RAF, John (Kessler) prevents him from leaving, telling him that he is not yet 21, and can't make that decision without his parent's consent. When John (Kessler) brings Drew home, Drew is very angry with his interference into things that don't involve him. However, John's (Kessler's) decision to interfere and bring Drew home is not to necessarily to change the outcome of Drew's decision; it is to make the decision right with Drew's family. (It is as though John was acting as Drew's father in this ONE very important moment in Drew's life.)
Orson Wells' performance in this movie is like discovering a hidden gem. What is so remarkable about it is how he is able to calmly navigate conversations while arriving at difficult personal questions. His answers are always true but never quite completely what Elizabeth (or the audience) might expect them to be.