And Now Tomorrow

meningitis several years before--learned to read lips awfully fast but she was speaking...easier lipreading NOT that accurate didn't' ask people to say things twice disdain for Blairs

I have a different insight into this film than most viewers since I am the father of a deaf daughter. So, I realized there were a few mistakes...but they certainly won't bother the average viewer. So, when I laugh when I see a woman learn to PERFECTLY speech read (the newer term for lip reading)...as almost no one can do it like the character does in this movie and most other films featuring deaf folks. No, deaf people cannot magically and perfectly understand folks by watching their lips...just like blind people cannot read with their fingers like Daredevil!

When the story begins, Emily Blair (Loretta Young) is seeing yet another specialist who informs her they cannot cure her deafness. You see, she recently lost her hearing due to meningitis (and learned to read lips almost INSTANTLY). However, a very grouchy young doctor, Dr. Vance (Alan Ladd) MIGHT be able to help her. So she puts her life into his hands...which is tough since he HATES the Blair family and has a hard time separating that from Emily.

At the same time, Emily's fiancée (Barry Sullivan) is waiting and waiting...two years. And, not surprisingly, he's tired of waiting and has fallen in love with Emily's sister (Susan Hayward). But, because he wants to be a good and faithful guy he STILL plans to marry Emily...but his heart certainly isn't in it!

So what's to become of all this melodrama? See the film...you'll enjoy it. Overall, it well acted though I WISH they had Ladd play someone who WASN'T grouchy as he played a grouch in MOST of his films!! Still, despite this, Young and the rest are quite good and the film a nice date night film...provided your date likes old films. If she doesn't...dump her (I am kidding).

Loretta Young has lost her hearing due to a bout of meningitis. She meets a hollywood handsome doctor who has decided to try to cure her. He falls for her beautiful self, only thing is she's engaged to a man she loves. Unbeknownst to her the fiancé has fallen in love with her sister. Also unbeknownst to her she has fallen for the doctor. This is a melodrama made more interesting by the caliber of the actors, especially Susan Hayward.

Doctor Merek Vance returns to his hometown of Blairtown. He originally comes from the bad side of town and has a big grudge against the richest family in town. But then the deaf daughter of this family comes to him for treatment, which puts him in a dilemma. Partly because he has found a drug that can cure deafness.

At first the two do not get along very well but gradually something blossoms between them, the problem is that she already has a fiancé.

The strong point of the film is that more than enough time is spent on the character development of the two characters so that their love story seems credible, Derek initially has little respect for the rich family and Emily finds him rude , but gradually she learns to appreciate him more and more.

The chemistry between the two characters is strong and they play their roles ve.

I don't usually like Loretta Young, but I admit when actors or actresses I don't care for give objectively good performances. Loretta plays a deaf woman, ill with meningitis, and she's very good. Her eyes are glued to her fellow actors' lips, and when they turn away from her for a moment, she gets a bewildered look on her face until they return to face her. She wipes the fear and shame away and asks, even though it humiliates her to do it, them to repeat themselves. It's very realistic and natural.

When she falls ill, Loretta breaks her engagement to Barry Sullivan, so that his quality of life isn't diminished for having to care for a sick person. Alan Ladd, a new, unknown doctor, wants to experiment on Loretta to see if he can cure her, and in the many months of the treatment, Barry falls in love with Loretta's sister, Susan Hayward.

And Now Tomorrow is very similar to Dark Victory, so if you liked one, there's a good chance you'll like the other. Part medical drama, part love story, and chalk full of beautiful clothes from Edith Head, this is an overlooked classic that's great to watch with a bowl of popcorn on a rainy afternoon.

....must one (wo)man have Before he (she) can hear people cry ?(Dylan)

Emily may be deaf ,but as a spoiled child from the high society ,she is mainly deaf to her less fortunate fellow men,as her father and family were (the short Christmas flashback may seem irrelevant but it makes sense in that context).Good doctor Alan Ladd -a very Borzagesque character- is her contrary:he was not born silver spoon in hand ,he made it by the sweat of his brow and afterward ,he did not let the Poor down.Emily does not realize it ,but Dr Merek Vance is first a soul doctor.He tells him so several times but she's so selfish she is only busy looking after herself.The turning point in her life is the night the physician,with her by his side,saves a child's life .You can go as far as to say that ,beyond that point,she is not "deaf" anymore.

This is a fine melodrama,with a stellar cast including one of the future stars of the genre ,Susan Hayward as Emily's sister.

Like this? try these......

"Magnificent Obsession" J.M .Stahl,1935;Douglas Sirk,1954.

"Green light" Frank Borzage ,1937

"Doctor's wives " Frank Borzage ,1931