Between Two Worlds

I have seen this film on and off over the years starting probably around 1960 when it first appeared on Australian television.

During World War Two, a small group of people sailing on a passenger liner from London find they are heading for an unexpected destination.

This film was made during the war. With the world in arms, audiences of the day would have been only too aware of the imminence of death, if not for themselves then for the ones they loved. I think this film would really have hit home, possibly in a reassuring way in as much as the film accepts that there is life beyond death.

There were a number of films made during the war or shortly after that dealt with death and beyond: "Here Comes Mr. Jordan", "A Guy Named Joe", A Matter Of Life And Death" and "The Horn Blows at Midnight". But "Between Two Worlds" was the most serious of them all. It delivered reassurance of an afterlife, but its premise was that a worthy life is essential for an easy transit to the next world - the quality that all religions from the ancient Egyptians onward stress more than anything else.

Completely studio bound whether on land or at sea, the film shows the influence of the 1923 stage play on which it is based. But that foggy, claustrophobic atmosphere gives the film a mood that is sustained from beginning to end.

"Between Two Worlds" features a couple of iconic stars: John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet. Both give minor variations on their familiar screen personas - Garfield the cynical, street-wise guy whose luck always seemed to be out, and Greenstreet whose rotund affability always masked a deeper agenda.

However Paul Henreid and Eleanor Parker give the most effecting performances as Henry and Ann Bergner. There are many lump-in-the-throat moments in the film, but the Bergner's doomed love affair and redemption is an emotional roller coaster.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold only produced 18 film scores in his career, and his work for "Between Two Worlds" was his personal favourite. This sumptuous, soaring score with its chimes and echoing notes cements the film together and directs the mood.

"Between Two Worlds" is a unique film. Thankfully, in Australia, we still have programs like "Bill Collins Golden Years of Hollywood" and "Turner Classic Movies" otherwise movies such as this would disappear from our screens all altogether.

I stumbled upon this film on TCM and found it engrossing enough to watch all the way through. It is a bit "talky," but that's what you want in a play, after all, so long as it's not boring!

Unlike some other reviewers, I found the music track intrusive and distracting and feel the movie would have worked more effectively without it, letting the words create their own "music," so to speak.

The performances are serviceable all around, with perhaps Edmund Gwenn the standout, as some have noted. I also enjoyed the "surprise ending," sort of a unique twist in this genre of "we're not-quite-dead" tales.

In any event, the next time this one comes around, I recommend it!

It's been years since I saw this on television, but it's one of the films I remember best. The plot deals with the most common cultural and spiritual views of the afterlife in a fascinating, allegorical way; it also deals with moral concerns about the way people live their lives. John Garfield is great, as usual. Some of the most wonderful, familiar character actors of old Hollywood bring much heart and integrity to well-defined roles.

This is a remake of the 1930 early-talkie "Outward Bound", which was based on the hit 1925 stage play. This version updates the period from the 1920's to the 1940's, and incorporates WW II elements into the story---a totally unnecessary tactic; the original play was quite good on its own and didn't need to have topical elements awkwardly sandwiched in. In fact,one of its strengths was that the entire unworldly experience seemed to take place in an unspecified time.

But this film has a very realistic beginning to it, and a war-related incident sets the plot in motion. The film's only serious blunder---though one that does not fatally affect it----is that we are tipped off as to what is really going on much too early in the film, in comparison to the 1930 film version, in which the characters realized their true situation at the same time as the audience did.

Aside from those objections, though, this is one of the few remakes which tops the original in nearly every department. Without exception, the actors in this version outdo the stiff, primitive early-talkie performances of their predecessors, and this may well be the only film in which Paul Henreid, normally not the most charismatic actor, gives a finer performance than the then-awkward Douglas Fairbanks,Jr. did in the same role in the 1930 film.

Especially outstanding are Edmund Gwenn as the ship's steward, Isobel Elsom as a rich, elderly, bitchy woman, Sydney Greenstreet as a mysterious character whose identity will not be revealed here, and Sara Allgood in one of the most sensitive performances of her career (she acts rings around Beryl Mercer from the 1930 version). George Coulouris, a reliable villain in those days (he was Orson Welles' nasty guardian in "Citizen Kane") is sinister and pompous as a greedy tycoon. And John Garfield is excellent in the Leslie Howard role, altered some to fit Garfield's tough, bitter on-screen persona rather than Howard's ultra-sophisticated, debonair one. (Garfield,though,does not go as berserk when he finds out the truth as Howard so hilariously did in the 1930 version.)

Although much of the dialogue in the first half has been changed and perhaps made slightly less "literary", the second half,which features Sydney Greensteet, is quite faithful to the earlier film and the stage play. Erich Wolfgang Korngold's music runs through nearly every scene, and, although verging toward the bombastic and melodramatic at times, lends plenty of atmosphere to the story.

One unfortunate aspect is that the photography in this version never becomes as eerie as that in the 1930 version, with its striking light and darkness effects. But none of these faults should keep you away from this film, which deserves far better than its relative obscurity in comparison to the other great Warner Bros. classics as well as other films dealing with the afterlife.

I have never seen this film until recently but I had heard about the original version Outward Bound years ago and was intrigued by the premise. After reading up about the film I rightly assumed by the cast, namely headed by Leslie Howard, not one of my favorite actors, and also by the year of release, 1930, that it would look and feel like a filmed play. Reviews did recommend the re-make as being a better film. It is an entertaining film about the fantasy, to some people, to others very real, of being caught between life and death, death being very much on the minds of most people at this time. It held to the early 40's notions of film content/style etc. so it held up to my expectations. Seeing Sidney Greenstreet in any role is always a thrill.