I saw "It Happened Tomorrow" quite a long time ago when I was young and my memory of it was that it fell into the fantasy genre category, akin to a Twilight Zone episode. Having just seen it again at the ripe old age of fifty-eight, it's quite clear that the 'fantasy' element is probably the best aspect of the narrative, but truth be told, this film is primarily put together as a romantic comedy. It's a charming little film with a strong opening Act 1 and a very engaging Act 3 climax. It only falters during the long-winded second Act, where some of the comic digressions fall flat.
'It Happened Tomorrow' is at its best when the reporter protagonist, Larry Stevens, charmingly played by Dick Powell, encounters 'Pop Benson', the mysterious old man (winningly played by John Philliber) who provides Larry with tomorrow's newspaper. Ironically, Philliber died the same year (1944) the movie was released. And here he plays a character (who we learn at the end of the film) has been handing Larry the newspapers after his purported death, shortly after offering up some enigmatic comments on the nature of time to Larry and his cronies down at the newspaper office.
You'll notice that director Rene Clair doesn't have Larry discover right away, the fact that the first newspaper Pop has given him, is from one day in the future. He cleverly has Larry's acquaintance in the restaurant read the weather report, indicating unseasonal snow in May. Then Larry realizes just what Pop has given him when he looks through the restaurant window, and discovers indeed that the snowflakes are coming down in May. The acquaintance has been looking for a job and runs over to another restaurant only to find a female employee denying that her boss is looking for new help. The acquaintance stalks out, leaving Larry witness to the firing of a 'butter fingered' dishwasher, confirming that indeed the boss had placed a want ad in tomorrow's late edition.
The next sequence is even more exciting. After making the acquaintance of love interest Sylvia Smith (played by Linda Darnell who is saddled with a completely pedestrian part), Larry brings her to the opera where he knows from the newspaper that a robbery will take place. Director Clair displays his craftsmanship by showing the robbery through the perspective of the round glass windows inside the theater where Larry and Sylvia are standing, watching the opera. Only after the robbery is over does the camera zoom in to capture the police mop-up operation (the same technique is used in Act III after the shooting in the St. George Hotel).
Things slow down considerably in Act 2. Larry is accused by the police inspector of being an accomplice to the robbers and too much time is spent having Larry continually deny his guilt while the others, including the inspector (along with Larry's boss) remain incredulous in the face of the unlikely story Larry has been trying to peddle.
There's more long-winded stuff including too much time spent at the nightclub with Sylvia trying to pass muster as the resident psychic for her uncle, the great "Cigolini", played by an over the top Jack Oakie. Larry doesn't actually take possession of the second late edition; Pops merely relays information through Larry's jail cell that he's called a hero, for attempting to save a woman who jumps off a bridge. It turns out Sylvia is trying to make good on her prediction back at the nightclub that a woman will indeed jump off a bridge that evening. Before the big 'surprise', we're treated to a decidedly unfunny sequence where Sylvia, having been forced to wear Larry clothes after getting her dress drenched in the river, must break into her own apartment and fend off a gaggle of octogenarians, who believe they've witnessed a burglary in progress.
Things really pick up again when Larry reads his own obituary in the last edition he manages to obtain from Pops. After getting married, there's a great scene at the race track, where Larry picks the four winners, only to appear more and more gloomy after each victory (note that after the third horse wins, Larry sits cross-legged, totally dejected which mirrors his same pose following the shootout at the St. George). Larry believes he has a short respite after the fourth horse is declared a loser, only to have his worse fears confirmed again, after the winner has been disqualified.
The climax is filmed as an exciting chase sequence. I don't know which actor played the man who stole Larry's race track winnings, but he is truly menacing as a determined criminal. Larry and the robber face off inside a stairwell, on a rooftop and then finally inside the lobby of the St. George Hotel where Larry manages to dodge bullets flying in every direction. The money aptly disappears and Larry and Sylvia manage to walk off without a twinge of regret that the money was never recovered. The worst thing that happens is that Larry's colleague is unable to prevent the false news report of Larry's demise ending up in the evening paper.
While I didn't care much for the awkward 'anniversary' opening and ending scene, Larry and Sylvia's "B" story as well as Uncle Oscar's and Inspector Mulrooney's bumbling machinations, there is something downright neat about the idea of a man who reads a report of his own death in tomorrow's edition of a newspaper and can't decide whether he should try and prevent what supposedly is meant to be or simply accept his fate.
'It Happened Tomorrow' is a charming enough fantasy to hold your interest despite the distracting presence of low grade slapstick humor, typical of the romantic comedies of its day.
