The film begins as a 50th anniversary celebration is about to begin. The husband (Dick Powell) and wife (Linda Darnell) are arguing, as he wants to tell all the assembled guests his big secret. What follows is a flashback showing his reasons for success.
Decades before, Powell is a struggling young reporter celebrating his promotion at the newspaper. He'll no longer be writing obituaries but feature stories. As he and his co-workers celebrate, he begins talking about what he'd be willing to give if he could see into the future. Well, oddly, the old man in charge of the paper's morgue (where they keep records and back issues) tells him he can. A bit later, the old guy gives him a paper--a paper that ends up being for tomorrow! And, naturally, the things in the paper all later come true that day! Each day, the old man shows up with the following day's paper and gives it to Powell--who naturally becomes a sensation on the paper.
This is a dark side to all this, however. Because he has inside information the police think that he's a crook--he just knows too much. Also, the old man tells Powell that no matter how wonderful this new gift is, it WON'T bring him happiness. Well, Powell doesn't seem to care and continues taking the papers--until he sees his own death in the next day's paper!! What is poor 'ol Powell to do?! This is especially troubling because he's planned on winning a fortune at the race track---but you can't enjoy the money if you are dead! There's a lot more to the story, but I'll leave that for you to see for yourself.
So is the film worth seeing? Yup. It's fun and quite clever. Sure it isn't very deep, but sometimes it's nice to see a light comedy that has such modest pretensions. Well worth seeing.
By the way, this film was expertly directed by the famous French director, René Clair. During the occupation of France and the Nazi years, several directors (including Clair and Fritz Lang) came to Hollywood to continue making films. In addition, if you love silent comedies look closely at one of the gamblers late in the film--one of them is Snub Pollard and sporting a very different sort of mustache.
Decades before, Powell is a struggling young reporter celebrating his promotion at the newspaper. He'll no longer be writing obituaries but feature stories. As he and his co-workers celebrate, he begins talking about what he'd be willing to give if he could see into the future. Well, oddly, the old man in charge of the paper's morgue (where they keep records and back issues) tells him he can. A bit later, the old guy gives him a paper--a paper that ends up being for tomorrow! And, naturally, the things in the paper all later come true that day! Each day, the old man shows up with the following day's paper and gives it to Powell--who naturally becomes a sensation on the paper.
This is a dark side to all this, however. Because he has inside information the police think that he's a crook--he just knows too much. Also, the old man tells Powell that no matter how wonderful this new gift is, it WON'T bring him happiness. Well, Powell doesn't seem to care and continues taking the papers--until he sees his own death in the next day's paper!! What is poor 'ol Powell to do?! This is especially troubling because he's planned on winning a fortune at the race track---but you can't enjoy the money if you are dead! There's a lot more to the story, but I'll leave that for you to see for yourself.
So is the film worth seeing? Yup. It's fun and quite clever. Sure it isn't very deep, but sometimes it's nice to see a light comedy that has such modest pretensions. Well worth seeing.
By the way, this film was expertly directed by the famous French director, René Clair. During the occupation of France and the Nazi years, several directors (including Clair and Fritz Lang) came to Hollywood to continue making films. In addition, if you love silent comedies look closely at one of the gamblers late in the film--one of them is Snub Pollard and sporting a very different sort of mustache.