Let's be realistic.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Copyright 31 December 1945 by International Pictures, Inc. Released through RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Winter Garden: 21 February 1946. U.S. release: January 1946. U.K. release: 18 February 1946. Australian release: 1 August 1946. 9,501 feet. 105 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Working wife thinks her husband has been killed in WW1. In reality, he has been crippled and disfigured.NOTES: Although this film is often cited as the debut of Natalie Wood, in point of fact she had appeared three years earlier under her real name, Natasha Gurdin in 20th Century-Fox's Happy Land.One of the domestic market's top 36 boxoffice movies for 1945-46.COMMENT: An unrelievedly gloomy soaper, this movie has a major saving grace in the charismatic performance of Orson Welles who invests his role with such authority and conviction he has us almost believing in the familiarly melodramatic story. The other players are also competent enough, though none can stand anywhere near Welles. In fact it could be claimed that they tend to rely too much on their customary mannerisms, whereas Welles subjects his to the demands of his role. Pichel's direction is more fluid than usual, taking advantage of the film's unexpectedly large budget with its massive sets and heaps of extras. Valentine's photography as usual is a major asset. Even at its most hackneyed or depressing, the picture is always most attractive to look at. Other technical credits are likewise "A"-grade through and through. It's a pity all this money and expertise has been thrown into such a well-worn and unintentionally ridiculous old gaslight plot. No matter the realistic cleverness of Lenore Coffee's up-dated dialogue, you simply can't disguise a basically unbelievable story-line. Though Welles gives it a great try - and almost succeeds! OTHER VIEWS: A sudsy melodrama of disappearing husbands and unrequited love, made watchable by Orson Welles' powerful presence and Joseph Valentine's atmospheric photography. Pichel's direction is occasionally stylish, but often plodding and pedestrian. Even Steiner's score seems second-rate, despite the movie's lavish production values. - John Howard Reid writing as George Addison.

My brother, Joe, joined the Marines right after Pearl Harbor, as an underage boy with false papers. So did his cousin. Now it's over seventy years later and for the first time I realize the anguish of my mother and all mothers when their sons went to war. Claudette Colbert stole my heart as she made me understand what my mother, and all mothers then and today, must have been going through when their sons (and now their daughters go to war). I was 3 1/2 years old in 1942, and so during the war, while he was in the South Pacific, I heard my mother's stories about 'Brother Joe,' that she told so that I would understand that I had a brother and he would eventually come home and live with us. Natalie Wood is a wonderful surprise as a tiny war orphan, perhaps eight years old; Orson Welles was at the top of his form, but Claudette Colbert was the brightest star of this film.This is not an anti-war film, it's much more a 'why we must go to war film.' There's a lot of philosophy buried in the script, but it never slows the film. Warning, bring at least two handkerchiefs to "Tomorrow is Forever".

Sharp, well-produced variation on the frequently filmed "Enoch Arden" plot. Herein, Claudette Colbert (as Elizabeth MacDonald) is informed that husband Orson Welles (as John Andrew MacDonald) is a Great War causality. Ms. Colbert is devastated, and pregnant with his son, who grows up to be Richard Long (as John "Drew" Andrew). Colbert marries comforting boss George Brent (as Lawrence "Larry" Hamilton); and, they have a happy life. But, first husband Welles really didn't die - he was only badly wounded. After two decades, Welles goes home - but, he has a surgically altered face, and walks with a limp.Directed by Irving Pichel, Colbert and Welles are great fun to watch; with their fine performances, you can read some ambiguity into the film's ultimately flawed storyline (which has to do with recognition). Mr. Long is quite impressive, in his film debut; he had a long, successful, and far too under-appreciated television career. Eight-year-old Natalie Wood is cute as Welles' foster daughter "Margaret". If only it were more plausible... ******* Tomorrow Is Forever (1/18/46) Irving Pichel ~ Claudette Colbert, Orson Welles, Richard Long

This is an astoundingly good movie.I'm neither a big Claudette Colbert fan nor one of Orson Welles -- I find her usually too cloying and chick-flickish and him too morose and self-important -- but they are fabulous together in this wonderful film. The characters treat each other with great respect and dignity, the dialog is marvelous, sensitive subject matter like war is dealt with honestly and non-ideologically.The "triangle" of Welles, Colbert and Brent is very good. Added bonus: Jarrod Barkley from Big Valley in his first role (he looks exactly the same 20 years earlier).I don't know why TCM gave this only two stars. Perhaps it's not trashy enough for their devolving ethos...Ten Stars!