BlazeLime
Strong and Moving!
Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Logan
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Cineanalyst
"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.
tomsview
I have seen this film on and off over the years starting probably around 1960 when it first appeared on Australian television. During World War Two, a small group of people sailing on a passenger liner from London find they are heading for an unexpected destination.This film was made during the war. With the world in arms, audiences of the day would have been only too aware of the imminence of death, if not for themselves then for the ones they loved. I think this film would really have hit home, possibly in a reassuring way in as much as the film accepts that there is life beyond death. There were a number of films made during the war or shortly after that dealt with death and beyond: "Here Comes Mr. Jordan", "A Guy Named Joe", A Matter Of Life And Death" and "The Horn Blows at Midnight". But "Between Two Worlds" was the most serious of them all. It delivered reassurance of an afterlife, but its premise was that a worthy life is essential for an easy transit to the next world - the quality that all religions from the ancient Egyptians onward stress more than anything else. Completely studio bound whether on land or at sea, the film shows the influence of the 1923 stage play on which it is based. But that foggy, claustrophobic atmosphere gives the film a mood that is sustained from beginning to end."Between Two Worlds" features a couple of iconic stars: John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet. Both give minor variations on their familiar screen personas - Garfield the cynical, street-wise guy whose luck always seemed to be out, and Greenstreet whose rotund affability always masked a deeper agenda. However Paul Henreid and Eleanor Parker give the most effecting performances as Henry and Ann Bergner. There are many lump-in-the-throat moments in the film, but the Bergner's doomed love affair and redemption is an emotional roller coaster. Erich Wolfgang Korngold only produced 18 film scores in his career, and his work for "Between Two Worlds" was his personal favourite. This sumptuous, soaring score with its chimes and echoing notes cements the film together and directs the mood. "Between Two Worlds" is a unique film. Thankfully, in Australia, we still have programs like "Bill Collins Golden Years of Hollywood" and "Turner Classic Movies" otherwise movies such as this would disappear from our screens all altogether.
dimplet
~~~ I notice some reviewers are giving away details without doing a spoiler alert. If you haven't seen this, just watch it; the less you know about the story, the better. ~~~Viewed from today's perspective, Between Two Worlds looks a bit creaky. Until you realize when it was released, May 1944, there were so many people dying in the war, hit by bombs in air raids, on torpedoes ships, in battle, often in groups. People were probably a bit numbed by the incessant drumbeat of death, and this movie may have been a way to try to think through the meaning of it all, what it would be like to die in a group and face judgment together.In lesser hands, this might have been a turgid exercise in moralizing. As it is, there are plenty of stereotypes that look a bit simplistic today. But bear with it, because as other reviewers have said, there some nice twists to the story. I don't think it is giving much away to say that the business tycoon gets his due, which is perhaps even more satisfying in today's world, and gives it some contemporary relevance. But not all outcomes are so predictable. As another reviewer noted, there is some resemblance to the Twilight Zone TV series. The episode "Judgment Night" set aboard a doomed ship comes to mind. There are the Twilight Zone twists, and the satisfying moral outcomes. It is nice to see John Garfield get top billing, and does a good job. From today's perspective, Edmund Gwenn is the clear star, though, and the actor who has best stood the test of time, with his roles in Miracle on 34th Street and The Trouble With Harry. I watched it out of curiosity to see Eleanor Parker, whom I also watched recently in Scaramouche, and who appeared in The Sound of Music. She probably delivered the most inspired, passionate performance here, making Paul Henreid look pale by comparison, though their love for each other did seem credible. OK, spoiler alert.Actually, there is another connection, and that is to It's a Wonderful Life, and not an enormous surprise. That's the ultimate point, of course. But the outcome that I enjoyed the most was for John Garfield's character. And I doubt one in a thousand viewers would guess that ending. As to the music, Erich Korngold was among the best of the period, and his presence says something of the status of this film for Warner Brothers. Background music was used differently then, and was not supposed to be too melodic, unlike the more recent masterpieces of Jerry Goldsmith or John Williams. I didn't particularly notice it, but then it was supposed to be notice, and I'm used to old movies. Yes, it looks dated, but it's a joy to find an old movie that I haven't seen that's creative and so worth watching as this.
robertguttman
"Between Two Worlds" is one of the best examples of one of the rarest of move genres, a fantasy for grown-ups. I can't think of many other successful examples of this sort of thing off hand beyond, perhaps, Powell and Pressburger's "A Matter of Life and Death". By "adult" I do not, of course, mean that there is anything off-color or X-rated about the film. On the contrary, it's pretty tame by today's standards. This film is simply a fantasy for adults in the sense that it was not for or about children or adolescents. A small, ill-assorted group of people find themselves together at night on a fog-shrouded passenger ship with no other passengers, and no crew save for a single steward. Two of the passengers, who are slightly apart from the others, have committed suicide and are aware that they are dead. The others know nothing. The steward, who knows what is going on, caters to the passengers wishes and pretends that everything is normal.The film is very well done, with a first-rate cast of the sort of character actors they simply can't assemble anymore, wonderfully atmospheric sets, and set against an excellent Korngold musical score. I understand there was an earlier version with Leslie Howard, called "Outward Bound". I've never seen it, but it would be interesting to see it and compare it with this version.
