mraculeated
The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Ginger
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
Alex da Silva
Larry Stevens (Dick Powell) is a reporter who is mysteriously given the following day's newspapers by Pop Benson (John Philliber). At the same time, he begins to date Sylvia (Linda Darnell) who works as part of a stage act with Cigolini (Jack Oakie). Larry and Sylvia turn up to events that are yet to happen. What happens when Larry reads about his own death....?..The film has a good story and Dick Powell is funny as the reporter who knows it all. There are some funny scenes, eg, at the racetrack where he predicts all the winners, and when he is resigned to his own death and just has to accept it. Jack Oakie can be generally irritating but he is not so bad in this film. The cast all do well and the film is a slice of fun with a couple of twists at the end.
brunchie
I went on the message board for one of my favorite TV shows, "Early Edition" and discovered that this movie may have been the inspiration for that it. I went in trying to find the parallels between the two and instead wound up just going along for the ride. This movie worked on all levels. I wasn't expecting it to be the comedy that it was. The male lead was hysterical, sometimes just getting laughs from his facial expressions and the female lead was luminous. I always enjoy it when there's a movie that has multi-generational appeal. I watched it with my mom, who was 9 when the movie came out, and my daughter who was born the year "Early Edition" aired and all of us got a kick out of the movie. My daughter even said that she enjoyed the movie better than the show! I was worried that my daughter would be bored because b/w movies are much more talky than today's movies and lack the special effects now available but she cracked up out loud on several parts. For my mom, it was trip down memory lane seeing familiar actors from her past.
Irie212
Playing with time in marvelous ways, this sparkling comedy defies the very idea of "spoilers." Not only do the first five minutes foretell the ending by showing Powell and Darnell celebrating their 50th anniversary (the rest is flashback), but every single sequence begins with a revelation of how it will end.The witty screenplay, credited to seven writers, is drenched in references to time. Oakie and Darnell are music hall clairvoyants (bad ones who predict Bryan will be president, meaning the story is probably set in 1899). The key character, Powell, is an obituary writer who is handed tomorrow's newspaper by the spectral archivist who tells him, "Time is only an illusion." So, time after time, we know tomorrow's headlines, and time after time, they turn out to be accurate-- but all are cleverly set up as conundrums. Each time, the headline seems impossible or illogical given the preceding circumstances, so our curiosity is repeatedly piqued — and never disappointed. We can't wait to see how it plays out, because the script is so smartly written that what really matters—in this film and in life-- is not simply what happens to us, but how it happens.Time is the subject, but this movie also plays brilliantly with space. It compares with films like "The Third Man" and "Alexander Nevsky" in the way it makes use of maximum depth of field. Busy backgrounds remain in focus for a reason: action is going on, contributing to the sense of a whole world in motion. The screen has to be watched closely, ever inch of it; in fact, the film needs to be watched twice (time and again?) to really appreciate all the talent behind it.
mrmikel-2
In 1932 John Buchan the English author wrote A Gap in the Curtain. In it the participants in the event are asked to visualize a newspaper page one year ahead. Several stories are told of what happens to these people. Several of the events seem to be part of this movie. Did Dunsany get the story from Buchan or vice versa?Dunsany was a science fiction author and Buchan was known for his interest in the occult. The last story in this book is very similar in some ways to the movie, but the focus is different, since it focuses on comedy in the move, but the books reflects the inner struggle of a man who sees that he is going to die according to the newspaper. In both, the ending is happy.
