A very instructive film. It's no good, mind you, but it's certainly fascinating. In fact, so fascinating, it's hard to decide where to begin. So let's start with the photography. This is credited to little-known Lester White, who was one of Louis B. Mayer's favorite cameramen because he could both shoot fast and shoot artistically at the same time. White worked on most of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Andy Hardy series, but he was also an expert on film noir – and this particular film certainly shows off his expertise in that domain. The movie was produced by none other than Lee Garmes, himself an expert cameraman who specialized in – you guessed it! – film noir! So this movie is nothing if not superbly photographed. Unfortunately, it's one of those movies that start off on a high note, but gradually lose the plot. The opening scenes are great. The characters are deftly introduced and the plot, although it seems pretty traditional, has room to expand – and this it does until about halfway through when it suddenly loses direction and seems at a loss what to do with the characters so artfully introduced in the opening scenes. So all it does is mark time until our 84 minutes are up and we can all go home. A pity! And a wonderful assemblage of players wasted too – including Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith (very unflatteringly photographed), Charles Winninger and Helen Vinson! Available on a very good Alpha DVD.

Man, this started out so well. It has this heartwarming premise that is perfect for a Christmas movie. Three rich old men (C. Aubrey Smith, Harry Carey, Charles Winninger) are lonely on Christmas. So they come up with an idea for how to get some guests for dinner. They each throw their wallet into the street with $10 and their address inside. The people who bring the wallets back they will invite to stay for dinner. Well only two of the wallets come back. They are returned by two young single people, cowboy Richard Carlson (!) and the lovely Jean Parker. So they all have dinner together, the two young people are attracted to one another, and this looks like it's going to be a great time.Then they kill off the old guys. Seriously, they kill them off. Okay, terrible decision but let's see where it goes. Now the plot is that the lovable grandpa types are ghosts who have to get Carlson and Parker together before they move on. Still a potentially great movie there. Except now Carlson is a complete douche who starts falling for a cobra lady (Helen Vinson), even though he proposed to poor Jean. What in the world is going on here? Why did they overcomplicate what started out as such a sweet, innocent film? Anyway, I don't think I'm spoiling things to tell you that it all wraps up well enough. But not before someone else dies and they tease that one of the old men might go to Hell!!! Good grief! It's a decent movie with a respectable cast but it's a little frustrating because there was a great movie in there somewhere and they blew it. If nothing else, see it for Maria Ouspenskaya. She's always great.

I really wanted to see Maria Oupenskaya, a Russian American actress, who trained Ruth White among others. Tragically she died in a fire. This film is the first I was able to see. Back in the studio system days, films like this were done quickly and more efficiently. If anything, the quality of writing isn't great. Still the cast do a terrific job with the script. The Christmas dinner and party was delightful to watch. The tragic loss of the three elderly wealthy men who return as spirits who guide the young honest couple back to each other. The film might have quality issues with the DVD. Still the film is worth seeing at least once and should be aired around the Christmas holidays.

Beyond Tomorrow (1940) ** (out of 4) Three elderly rich men (C. Aubry Smith, Harry Carey, Charles Winninger) die in a plane crash but their spirits come back to help a young couple (Jean Parker, Richard Carlson) that they knew in life. BEYOND TOMORROW isn't a bad movie but it just didn't work for me, although I can certainly understand why some people might love it. The film features some very good performances but sadly they're wasted with a screenplay that's all over the place and even worse is that it's constantly trying to make the viewer cry. I don't mind sentimental movies but I can't stand a movie that has way too much sugar on it and it constantly tries to be powerful, touching and dramatic. There are just too many scenes here that appear to be happening for no reason other than to make the viewer cry. Not only do you have one sweet scene after another but each of them features someone crying. The story of death can be said, there's no question about that, but at the same time do we need tears every step of the way? The screenplay also offers countless twists that really aren't needed and I also didn't care too much for the way this couple "seperated." Still, there's no question that the performances are quite good with Smith and Carey really standing out. Parker and Carlson also make for a nice couple and we even get Maria Ouspenskaya in a supporting bit.