The Raging Moon

''The Raging Moon'' (released in the US as ''Long Ago, Tomorrow'') is a 1971 British romantic drama film starring Malcolm McDowell and Nanette Newman and based on the book by British novelist Peter Marshall. Adapted and directed by Bryan Forbes (Newman's husband), this "romance in wheelchairs" was considered unusual in its time owing in part to the sexual nature of the relationship between McDowell and Newman, who play disabled people. The film received two Golden Globe nominations, for Best Foreign Film (English Language), and Best Song for " Long Ago Tomorrow".

Plot

Bruce Pritchard (Malcolm McDowell) is a 24-year-old working-class man and amateur football player with a passion for life. All this changes when he finds himself struck down by an incurable degenerative disease which means he'll need to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He goes into a church-run home for the disabled, believing that his immediate family don't feel able to care for him. His bitterness at his fate and his dislike of the rules and regulations of the place only serve to make him more withdrawn and angry at his enforced imprisonment.

Pritchard gets to know a fellow patient, Jill Matthews (Nanette Newman), a 31-year-old woman from a wealthy family, who is also a wheelchair user, due to polio. Bruce begins to harbour romantic feelings for Matthews but, before he can make his feelings known, she leaves the institution to return home and marry longstanding fiancé, Geoffrey. However, Jill soon realises that Geoffrey is half-hearted about marrying her and so breaks off the engagement and returns to the institution.

Gradually, she is able to break through Pritchard's shell of cynicism and lack of respect for authority, bringing life back to his existence. In the process, the two fall in love and admit their feelings for each other, going on to get engaged. Bruce and Jill's difficult circumstances have resulted in them finding the love of their lives. Soon, though, Jill dies from a virus. Bruce almost returns to his depression but, because of the courage he has found within himself through knowing Jill, is able to go on living.

Cast

* Malcolm McDowell as Bruce Pritchard
* Nanette Newman as Jill Matthews
* Georgia Brown as Sarah Charles
* Barry Jackson as Bill Charles
* Gerald Sim as Reverend Carbett
* Michael Flanders as Clarence Marlow
* Margery Mason as Matron
* Geoffrey Whitehead as Harold Pritchard
* Chris Chittell as Terry
* Jack Woolgar as Bruce's Father
* Patsy Smart as Bruce's Mother
* Norman Bird as Dr. Matthews
* Constance Chapman as Mrs. Matthews
* Michael Lees as Geoffrey
* Bernard Lee as Uncle Bob
* Geoffrey Bayldon as Mr. Latbury
* Theresa Watson as Gladys
* Paul Darrow as Doctor

Production

It was based on a novel by Peter Marshall, who contracted polio when he was eighteen and lived the rest of his life in a wheelchair. (He died of pneumonia in 1972.) The novel was originally published in 1964. ''Kirkus Reviews'' called it "a short novel, written with a sharpness of intelligence and feeling, and it is altogether genuine, a word easily exploited and seldom justified." ''The New York Times'' called it a "fine, moving novel." In 1965 director Robert Butler bought the screen rights to it and another Marshall novel, ''Two Lives''.

The novel was adapted for television by the BBC
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