It Happened Tomorrow (1944)

It Happened Tomorrow
Directed by René Clair
Written by Dudley Nichols and René Clair from multiple sources
1944/USA
Arnold Pressburger Films
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] “Before you leave, the fortune teller reminds you that the future is never set in stone.” ― Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus[/box]

I was sold on this movie before I watched it by its cast list.  How can you really go wrong with Dick Powell, Linda Darnell, and Jack Oakie?

Larry Stevens (Powell) has just been promoted to reporter from his stint on the obituary desk at an evening newspaper.  While he is celebrating with his pals in the newsroom they get to talking about time.  An old-timer says that time is an illusion and that the future exists now.  Stevens speculates about how great it would be to predict tomorrow’s news.  The old-timer says he should be careful what he wishes for.

After they leave the office, the boys happen upon a nightclub where Cigolini (Oakie) is putting on a mind-reading act.  His medium is the beautiful Sylvia (Darnell), who in real life happens to be his niece.  Stevens immediately starts chatting her up despite the fact that she is supposedly in a trance.  Late that night, the old man gives Stevens a newspaper.

Stevens doesn’t open his paper until breakfast when a friend borrows it to look at the want ads. It turns out that it is the paper that will be published that evening.  The paper accurately predicts several events and Stevens parlays that into a raise and promotion. He spends his free time courting Sylvia and they are rapidly in love.  But his newfound skill at prediction lands him in jail.  The old guy keeps coming around with more papers, all the time issuing warnings.  Finally, one bears a headline announcing Stevens’s own death in a shootout.  I’ll stop here but it is worth noting that this is a comedy.

This is a fun little movie and Powell, Darnell and Oakie certainly do not disappoint.  I think I like Darnell better every time I see her on screen.  There’s something so down-to-earth and humorous under all that beauty.

It Happened Tomorrow was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Sound, Recording and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

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