"Between Two Worlds" is a preachy and simplistic moral fantasy film, but it's somewhat interesting, for me at least, to compare it to the film it's a remake of, "Outward Bound" (1930), both of which are based on the original play. I haven't seen the play and, of course, I didn't see it originally in the 1920s. Like the character Scrubby, I've sailed back and forth with these other characters in their (relatively) eternal afterlife of film, but I never knew them in life, or live theatre. And like the films' other suicides, Henry and Ann, we the spectators willingly enter this other world, but we don't belong.
One thing I like about this 1944 remake compared to the 1930 adaptation is that it adds a theatrical act within the film, with the characters performing and being spectators. It's a play-within-a-play. Tom Prior leads the performance to reveal, in his snarky way, to his fellow passengers that they're all dead. Unlike in the 1930 film, which also had no scene like this, the passengers' deaths are no surprise to us spectators of the film. The film is adapted to the then-current WW2, with most of the passengers dying from an air raid and the suicides being given a partially new reason, as well, as resulting from Henry's trauma from the war. Apparently, because of the Hays Code, the young couple are now married, and Tom Prior doesn't actually do much drinking on screen.
I'm fine with doing away with the surprise, which actually wasn't much of one in the 1930 film, either. I suspected as much before Leslie Howard's version of Tom Prior exposed it, but, then, I had the knowledge it was a Hollywood film, so the fantastic mystery wouldn't remain unresolved or obscure surrealism à la Luis Buñuel's "The Exterminating Angel" (1962), for instance. Classic Hollywood films such as "Outward Bound" and "Between Two Worlds" are too simple for that, and they're always resolved. Anyways, I wish this remake would've done away with the play's later surprise, too, involving the relationship of two of the passengers, because it felt tacked on and tacky in both films.
Another improvement upon the 1930 version is the evolution of film style since the infancy of talkies from which "Outward Bound" failed to overcome. Thus, "Between Two Worlds" has a brisker pacing, with an average shot length of about 9 seconds compared to about 12.8 for "Outward Bound," despite the 1944 film also featuring several long tracking shots, the first of which references the 1930 film and the play's title on a sign. Another tracking shot I liked was the one involving a mirror, which Maxine--a character absent in the 1930 film and rather superfluous here--uses to examine herself in.
Yet, "Between Two Worlds" remains almost as stage-bound as the former film. For most of it, we're stuck in ship rooms with lots of talking, regardless of the amount of editing and deliberate camera movement. Thus, a lot depends on the acting and the script, neither of which is especially divine here. John Garfield's Tom Prior is remade a journalist for the remake, which, I guess, is the reason for his barrage of rat-a-tat insults as though he's auditioning for "The Front Page" (1931) or "His Girl Friday" (1940). Meanwhile, Sydney Greenstreet turns in another airy yet dignified performance as the Examiner, which would've been just as appropriate had he been judging Humphrey Bogart in a noir setting.
The 1930 film had more foggy and dreamlike atmosphere to it, including an obscured view of some kind of Heaven. The 1944 film, however, relies for atmosphere upon its score--another thing, as with most early talkies, missing from "Outward Bound." Fortunately, it's a rather good score.
One thing I like about this 1944 remake compared to the 1930 adaptation is that it adds a theatrical act within the film, with the characters performing and being spectators. It's a play-within-a-play. Tom Prior leads the performance to reveal, in his snarky way, to his fellow passengers that they're all dead. Unlike in the 1930 film, which also had no scene like this, the passengers' deaths are no surprise to us spectators of the film. The film is adapted to the then-current WW2, with most of the passengers dying from an air raid and the suicides being given a partially new reason, as well, as resulting from Henry's trauma from the war. Apparently, because of the Hays Code, the young couple are now married, and Tom Prior doesn't actually do much drinking on screen.
I'm fine with doing away with the surprise, which actually wasn't much of one in the 1930 film, either. I suspected as much before Leslie Howard's version of Tom Prior exposed it, but, then, I had the knowledge it was a Hollywood film, so the fantastic mystery wouldn't remain unresolved or obscure surrealism à la Luis Buñuel's "The Exterminating Angel" (1962), for instance. Classic Hollywood films such as "Outward Bound" and "Between Two Worlds" are too simple for that, and they're always resolved. Anyways, I wish this remake would've done away with the play's later surprise, too, involving the relationship of two of the passengers, because it felt tacked on and tacky in both films.
Another improvement upon the 1930 version is the evolution of film style since the infancy of talkies from which "Outward Bound" failed to overcome. Thus, "Between Two Worlds" has a brisker pacing, with an average shot length of about 9 seconds compared to about 12.8 for "Outward Bound," despite the 1944 film also featuring several long tracking shots, the first of which references the 1930 film and the play's title on a sign. Another tracking shot I liked was the one involving a mirror, which Maxine--a character absent in the 1930 film and rather superfluous here--uses to examine herself in.
Yet, "Between Two Worlds" remains almost as stage-bound as the former film. For most of it, we're stuck in ship rooms with lots of talking, regardless of the amount of editing and deliberate camera movement. Thus, a lot depends on the acting and the script, neither of which is especially divine here. John Garfield's Tom Prior is remade a journalist for the remake, which, I guess, is the reason for his barrage of rat-a-tat insults as though he's auditioning for "The Front Page" (1931) or "His Girl Friday" (1940). Meanwhile, Sydney Greenstreet turns in another airy yet dignified performance as the Examiner, which would've been just as appropriate had he been judging Humphrey Bogart in a noir setting.
The 1930 film had more foggy and dreamlike atmosphere to it, including an obscured view of some kind of Heaven. The 1944 film, however, relies for atmosphere upon its score--another thing, as with most early talkies, missing from "Outward Bound." Fortunately, it's a rather good score.