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''Tomorrow, the World!'' is a 1944 black-and-white film directed by
Leslie Fenton Leslie Fenton (12 March 1902 – 25 March 1978) was an English actor and film director. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1923 and 1945. Early life Fenton was born on 12 March 1902 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. He emigrated to ...
and starring
Fredric March Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary ''Variety'', April 16, 1975, p ...
,
Betty Field Betty Field (February 8, 1916 – September 13, 1973) was an American film and stage actress. Early years Field was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to George and Katharine (née Lynch) Field. She began acting before she reached age 15, and went ...
, and
Agnes Moorehead Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900April 30, 1974) was an American actress. In a career spanning four decades, her credits included work in radio, stage, film, and television.Obituary ''Variety'', May 8, 1974, page 286. Moorehead was th ...
, about a young German boy (
Skip Homeier George Vincent Homeier (October 5, 1930 – June 25, 2017), known professionally as Skip Homeier, was an American actor who started his career at the age of eleven and became a child star. Career Child actor Homeier was born in Chicago, Illino ...
) who had been active in the
Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
who comes to live with his uncle in the United States, who tries to teach him to reject
Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. It was based on the successful 1943
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
play of the same name. The title comes from
Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
's threat: "Today Germany; tomorrow the world."TCM.com.
Accessed January 16, 2011.


Background

The play ''Tomorrow, the World!'' opened on Broadway in New York City on 14 April 1943 and closed 17 June 1944 after 500 performances. The opening-night cast included
Skip Homeier George Vincent Homeier (October 5, 1930 – June 25, 2017), known professionally as Skip Homeier, was an American actor who started his career at the age of eleven and became a child star. Career Child actor Homeier was born in Chicago, Illino ...
as Emil and Edit Angold as Frieda, both of whom originated their movie roles in the play, and
Ralph Bellamy Ralph Rexford Bellamy (June 17, 1904 – November 29, 1991) was an American actor whose career spanned 65 years on stage, film, and television. During his career, he played leading roles as well as supporting roles, garnering acclaim and ...
as Mike Frame, Shirley Booth as Leona Richards and
Kathryn Givney Kathryn Givney (October 27, 1896 – March 16, 1978) was an American actress on stage and in films. Biography In 1928, Givney was a member of the S. E. Cochran Repertory Company. In 1930, she appeared in ''Stepping Sisters'' at the Hollywood Pl ...
as Jessie Frame.IMDB.com, trivia.
/ref> Producer Lester Cowan bought the rights to the play for $75,000 plus 25% of the gross, not to exceed $350,000. He wanted to change the title of the film to "The Intruder," but a poll of exhibitors voted him down.


Plot

Emil Bruckner (Skip Homeier), a young German orphan, comes to live in the United States with his American uncle (Fredric March). Although the American family reaches out to the boy, trying to make him part of their lives, he has been heavily indoctrinated in
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
from his years in the
Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
.RottenTomatoes.com
Accessed January 16, 2011.
His uncle is a "gently liberal university professor," while the young boy – even though he is an orphan with a father who was anti-Nazi – has become a parrot for the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, denouncing his late father as a
traitor Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
and being as nasty as possible to the professor's
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
fiancée (Field).NYT review.
Accessed January 16, 2011.
Emil's father, Karl Bruckner, had died after being sent to a concentration camp for opposing the Nazi regime. His uncle, Mike Frame, holds Karl in the highest regard for his ideas, commitment to the ideas of universal peace, and his courage. The Nazis, however, have taught Emil that his father was a coward, a traitor to the state, and committed suicide. Emil believes the lies and mutilates a highly prized painting of his father. All the characters have their unique perspectives and reactions in response to Emil's outlandish display of
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
sensibilities and most want to find the good in the boy- especially his loving and very tolerant cousin Pat (Joan Carroll). Emil, however, has other ideas, donning a Nazi armband soon after his arrival. Emil refuses to make friends, spouts propaganda he learned in the
Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
, and seeks to act as a Nazi agent on enemy soil, even attempting to recruit the Frames' German maid to his cause. He's horrified to find out that he's going to be mixing with kids of all backgrounds that he's been taught are inferior and that his teacher, Leona Richards- soon to be his aunt- is a Jew. He goes out of his way to mock a Polish boy and later ridicules the boy when he finds him hanging laundry. After first avoiding a fight, he pushes the boy into the mud from behind, and then slices the laundry line so that the clean linen will fall into the mud as well. When a shy girl sees what he has done he terrifies her into silence with the knowledge that her father is a prisoner of war in Germany, and threatens to have her father hurt. In an ironic moment, Emil is the one who exposes the incident to his teacher: unaware of the
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
custom of not squealing, he seeks to get his version on the record first and accuse others of lying. The resulting confrontation ends with Emil fleeing the school and scrawling anti-Semitic graffiti against his teacher, Miss Richards, on the sidewalk. Seeking to break the engagement between his teacher and his Uncle Mike, Emile finally provokes her into slapping him (by calling her a "Jewish tramp") and then attempts to manipulate his Aunt Jessie, whose jealousy of the relationship he had perceived, into an alliance to this purpose, but only forces her to confront her own guilt. Just before his birthday party is due to begin, Emil's cousin- Mike's daughter, Pat- catches him trying to break into a desk where he hopes to find classified documents. Following her to the basement, he attacks her with a fire iron and leaves her badly injured before fleeing the house. His schoolmates eventually apprehend him and bring him home to face the police. Before their arrival, he provokes his Uncle Mike with another threat against Pat, and Leona Richards intervenes to keep Mike from killing him. Alone with Emil, Leona forces him to open one of his birthday presents. Seeing his cousin Pat's thoughtful gift for him finally triggers Emil's first experience of remorse and guilt. Leona urges Mike to offer compassion and understanding rather than send Emil away. As Emil confronts his feelings about his father's death and his treatment at the hands of the Nazis, hope for redemption finally begins to appear and he remains with his new family.


Cast

*
Fredric March Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary ''Variety'', April 16, 1975, p ...
as Mike Frame *
Betty Field Betty Field (February 8, 1916 – September 13, 1973) was an American film and stage actress. Early years Field was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to George and Katharine (née Lynch) Field. She began acting before she reached age 15, and went ...
as Leona Richards *
Agnes Moorehead Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900April 30, 1974) was an American actress. In a career spanning four decades, her credits included work in radio, stage, film, and television.Obituary ''Variety'', May 8, 1974, page 286. Moorehead was th ...
as Aunt Jessie Frame *
Joan Carroll Joan Carroll (born Joan Marie Felt, January 18, 1931 – November 16, 2016) was an American child actress who appeared in films until retiring in 1945. Childhood career Carroll was born Joan Marie Felt to Wright and Freida Felt on January ...
as Pat Frame * Edit Angold as Frieda - the Frames' Maid *
Skip Homeier George Vincent Homeier (October 5, 1930 – June 25, 2017), known professionally as Skip Homeier, was an American actor who started his career at the age of eleven and became a child star. Career Child actor Homeier was born in Chicago, Illino ...
as Emil Bruckner (as Skippy Homeier)


Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
refers to the film as a "critically acclaimed World War II classic." This movie was the debut film for Skip Homeier. He had played the role on Broadway for 500 performances before making this movie. Homeier was praised for his performance and received good reviews playing opposite Fredric March and Betty Field as his American uncle and aunt. When he died at the age of 86,
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
wrote, "In 1943, a 12-year-old boy actor stunned Broadway audiences with his portrayal of a German youth indoctrinated into nazism. Brought to the US by an unsuspecting uncle, he soon threatens the family, then the whole community." Billed in the film as Skippy Homier , he is central to the movie and endows Emil with all the fanaticism and hate of a boy brought up with the poisonous Nazi ideology and fanatical devotion to the party. ''Tomorrow, the World!'' is one of the films highlighted in the 2004 television documentary, '' Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust'', examining the way Hollywood films dealt with the sensitive topics of the
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
and
anti-semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
. According to the website for
Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
, the film "was one of a small handful of films of the period, among them ''
The Seventh Cross ''The Seventh Cross'' (german: Das siebte Kreuz) is a novel by Anna Seghers, one of the better-known examples of German literature circa World War II. It was first published in Mexico by ''El Libro Libre'' In 1942. The English translation came o ...
'' (1944), that sought to depict the everyday German. Instead of focusing on cruel Nazi stereotypes, the film concerned itself with those who were misguided or victimized by Hitler's brutal regime."


References


External links


Lengthy synopsis of plot, from Turner Classic Movies.
* {{Internet Archive film, id=tomorrowtheworld 1944 films American black-and-white films American drama films American films based on plays Films about Nazis Films directed by Leslie Fenton Films scored by Louis Applebaum Films set on the home front during World War II Films with screenplays by Ring Lardner Jr. United Artists films World War II films made in wartime 1944 drama films 1940s English-language films