Hitchcoc
I always have trouble with this religious mumbo-jumbo. A group of people, killed by a German bomber, find themselves on board an ocean liner, seemingly alive. Two of them did not meet that fate but rather killed themselves. Of course, they are all white and don't know they are dead. They are bitter, mean spirited people. But the young pianist and his wife know the score. They weren't with the others when the ax fell. They are insufferable as are most of the others. There is a ridiculous, stereotypical priest who wants this pack of bandits, to pass time by playing games and other assorted activities. Eventually, Sydney Greenstreet shows up as "the Examiner." He decides who gets to go to heaven and the other place. There is much negotiating. Ultimately, old Sydney rejects his company orders and makes special cases. The whole thing is preachy and the dialogue stilted. I always like John Garfield, but even his antics got to me. The ending cheats us all.
jacobs-greenwood
Based on Sutton Vane's play, directed by Edward A. Blatt, with a screenplay by Daniel Fuchs, this above average fantasy drama features an all star cast which includes John Garfield, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet, Eleanor Parker, Edmund Gwenn, George Tobias, George Coulouris, Faye Emerson, Sara Allgood, Dennis King, Isobel Elsom, and Gilbert Emery. It's about a number of people on a cruise ship that eventually discover it's their transportation to another world, e.g. Heaven or Hell.Cynical foreign correspondent Tom Prior (Garfield) and his girlfriend "yet to make it" actress Maxine Russell (Faye Emerson), along with Merchant Marine Pete Musick (Tobias), Reverend Duke (King), Mrs. Midget (Allgood), and the wealthy Mr. & Mrs. Cliveden- Banks (Emery & Elsom) wait for the all clear in World War II ravaged London so that they can board their cruise ship for safe passage to America. Famous opportunistic wartime businessman Lingley (Coulouris) arrives at the terminal, angry that there are no seats for his bodyguards to accompany him on the voyage. Failed pianist Henry Bergner (Henreid) is upset that he cannot get a ticket at all, so he leaves to return to his apartment. Just as an air raid begins, and the passengers are loaded into a bus, Bergner's wife Ann (Parker) rushes to its window, calling Henry's name. But he is not inside, and as the bus pulls away, Ann witnesses it being hit by a bomb. She returns home to find her distraught husband; he'd tried to leave her, ashamed of his own failures, so that she might find happiness without him. She discovers that he's sealed the windows and extinguished the heater's pilot light, so that the room is filling with gas, in order to commit suicide. He pleads with her to leave him, but she refuses to go.The Bergners find themselves walking on the deck of a fog shrouded cruise ship. It takes them a moment, but they realize that they are dead when Ann sees the passengers from the bus through a window. The other passengers, other than noticing the dearth of other passengers or any more than one crewman, the bartender Scrubby (Gwenn), are blissfully unaware that they too are dead. Scrubby informs them that they are on their way to another world, their afterlife. He then instructs the Bergners not to inform the other passengers of this fact either, that it's better if they find out in their own time, that the Bergners know only because they died by their own hand(s). The sharp, quick tongued Prior is the first to discover it, but he too is asked by Scrubby, and then Henry (who Scrubby had asked to help him), not to reveal it. Prior is only too happy to keep the secret, and his primary joy seems to be derived from heckling Lingley, who he'd written about and exposed through his writing in "the first world". However, eventually he can no longer resist the temptation, and he delights in telling "his" secret theatrically.Naturally, each of the passengers has his or her own regrets about the lives they've led or where they were headed before they were killed. Unfortunately for actress Russell, she was heading for her first big chance, a USO tour of the United States, after having made bad choices (e.g. with men) earlier in her career. The Reverend too was making his first big venture, and trip outside of his village, to spread the word of God. Merchant Marine Musick, after surviving three torpedoed boats, was returning home to see his child for the very first time. Lingley insists he has no regrets, though he'd tried to seduce Russell and hire Henry as a bodyguard, and attempts to buy his way out of this fate. Scrubby, who provides a calming influence for everyone, informs him that he cannot escape his destiny and keeps the ship firmly on schedule until the white suited Reverend Tim Thompson (Greenstreet) arrives.Reverend Thompson, who was known by Reverend Duke in the other world, is the Examiner - judgment day has arrived for the ship's passengers. Greenstreet, like Gwenn, plays his other worldly role to perfection. One by one the passengers are relegated to Heaven or Hell, though those terms are never used. Instead, an indication as to whether they will be going to a paradise or another "place" to account for their sins is strongly suggested. It is then learned that the arrogant, class-conscious Mrs. Cliveden-Banks was cheating on her husband, assuming all along that he didn't know and therefore, since she wasn't hurting him, it was alright. The Examiner, and then Mr. Cliveden- Banks, informs her otherwise. Everyone else, after a their brief meeting, exits on their way to where one would expect until it's Prior's turn.Prior is saved by Mrs. Midget, who agrees to take care of him and be a good influence, enabling him to begin again as the little boy with big dreams of his future. After he's "left", it is revealed that Mrs. Midget was Prior's birth mother, unable to care for him, she'd had to give him up for adoption such that he never had her mothering influence before, but now will. Henry Bergner will have to stay with Scrubby, also a suicide, to serve future passengers on this ship or one of the many others. Scrubby urges Reverend Thompson to take Ann with him, that she shouldn't be made to stay because it was her love that led her to the fate that her husband had chosen. Henry pleads with Ann to leave, but she will not go. So the happy ending almost anyone could see coming is delivered - the breaking glass Henry keeps hearing is shown to be the window of their apartment, which let the gas escape as fresh air rushes in, so that Henry awakes and revives Ann - and they live happily ever after ... in London!
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.
Scott Amundsen
I had never heard of BETWEEN TWO WORLDS or the play OUTWARD BOUND on which it is based (it is in fact a remake of a 1930 version of the play), until it came on Turner Classic Movies last night. I found it thoroughly charming.The plot as it is summed up on IMDb is as follows:"Several people are killed in a London air raid. They each awake aboard a strange ship which will deliver each of them either to heaven or hell. Their lives and stories are revealed as they individually begin to realize where they are."That is a good description of a film that often feels like an extended episode of "The Twilight Zone;" the basic theme is that each of us creates our own heaven or hell while on earth, a highly workable premise for this type of story.Though clearly a B picture, it has an A-list cast. John Garfield, as a wise-cracking reporter, was not yet an A-list star, but he was only two years away from his breakthrough in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. Paul Henreid already had two major A-list blockbusters to his credit: NOW, VOYAGER and CASABLANCA; I don't know whether his role here was a contractual obligation or the actor himself simply wanted to do it, but as usual he is compelling. And Eleanor Parker, a great actress who spent far too many years on the B list, is perfection as Henreid's devoted wife.Also on hand are some of Warners' finest character actors: George Coulouris as a business tycoon, George Tobias as a merchant seaman who has survived five torpedo attacks at sea only to die on land during an air raid while on his way home to see his baby daughter for the first time, Sydney Greenstreet as a celestial "examiner" whose job is to interview each "passenger" and decide his or her fate (though not being God the film does hint that each character's fate is not really his decision), and Sara Allgood as an English charwoman with a poignant secret.Some might find the proceedings depressing, and admittedly it does drag a bit in the final fifteen minutes or so, but this kind of religious fantasy is a particularly difficult genre to deal with, whether you're talking novels, the theatre, or films. And BETWEEN TWO WORLDS is an excellent addition to the genre. It may be a B picture but it is an exquisite little gem that should not be forgotten.
