Tomorrow - The World

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Propoganda Piece
Review: "Tomorrow the World" was one of my favorites as a kid. We watched the movie every time it came on TV. Skip Hohmeier is a totally evil little Nazi. All the Americans are pure of heart, of course. You must remember that we were at war with Germany when this film was made. The film, while quaint, is also quite chilling in parts thanks to the masterful performance of Skip Hohmeier as Emil. I was disappointed that a couple of lines I remembered were missing from the film. Was there some political correctness in taking out Emil's threat- "Perhaps a little German persuasion may change your mind!" ? hmmm Quite watchable.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Propoganda Piece
Review: "Tomorrow the World" was one of my favorites as a kid. We watched the movie every time it came on TV. Skip Hohmeier is a totally evil little Nazi. All the Americans are pure of heart, of course. You must remember that we were at war with Germany when this film was made. The film, while quaint, is also quite chilling in parts thanks to the masterful performance of Skip Hohmeier as Emil. I was disappointed that a couple of lines I remembered were missing from the film. Was there some political correctness in taking out Emil's threat- "Perhaps a little German persuasion may change your mind!" ? hmmm Quite watchable.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Propoganda Piece
Review: "Tomorrow the World" was one of my favorites as a kid. We watched the movie every time it came on TV. Skip Hohmeier is a totally evil little Nazi. All the Americans are pure of heart, of course. You must remember that we were at war with Germany when this film was made. The film, while quaint, is also quite chilling in parts thanks to the masterful performance of Skip Hohmeier as Emil. I was disappointed that a couple of lines I remembered were missing from the film. Was there some political correctness in taking out Emil's threat- "Perhaps a little German persuasion may change your mind!" ? hmmm Quite watchable.

Rating:
Summary: I want an illuminated watch, with seventeen jewels...
Review: If you don't want to know anything about the plot of this movie 'til you watch it, stop reading right here. I shall not belabour myself over plot, but some details always get in anyway.

This was a good story of learning to adapt your ways and get rid of prejudices to make oneself agreeable to others so that everyone can live in peace. Skippy Homeier as Emil really did an excellent job and took the show away from Betty Field and Fredric March, and even the little girl who plays the daughter Pat, but I would definitely say that the story mostly centres on the children. Which is nice because there aren't many movies (fairly realistic ones) where the main action concerns children. Overall it is a very good movie. Emil does hit Pat on the head with a poker toward the end, but it doesn't really show anything, just his shadow as he wields the instrument.

The two main conflicts are Emil's hatred for his father (he was taught that Carl Bruckner was a traitor to the Third Reich, but in reality he was a good man who fought against it with his books) and the fact that Betty Fields' character was Jewish. The less important problems concern Stan being Polish and the fact that Emil wants to take charge and make everyone do things the way he knows to do them. The whole town (or neighbourhood) turns against Emil one by one, and at his birthday party Pat had to bribe three boys to come.

Of course, in the end, everything works out to the benefit of everyone involved, and they all lived happily ever after.

I think you should give this movie a chance at least because it's a good story.

Rating:
Summary: Move over, Patty--make room for Skippy!
Review: If you thought Rhoda in "The Bad Seed" was without peer in the annals of hateful screen tots, I submit for your consideration Emil in "Tomorrow, the World!" He should now take his place just behind her with the video release of this long unseen gem from 1944. True, he doesn't actually kill anybody during the course of the 82-minute running time, but anyone who would hurl racial epithets at sweet Betty Field or crack little Joan Carroll (of "Meet Me in St. Louis" and "Bells of St. Mary's" fame) over the head with a poker in the name of "duty" is clearly capable of just about anything. I had always wanted to see this movie because Fredric March is one of my favorite actors, but although Mr. March is of course sincere and admirable in his role, the real attraction here is the mesmerizingly manic performance of Skippy Homeier as the menacing and manipulative little storm trooper. His "reformation" at the end is a little abrupt and not entirely convincing, but that's more the fault of the writers than of the amazing Master Homeier. As for the DVD quality, the print of the film definitely shows some wear, but at least the picture is sharp and there are no "jumps" or missing bits of film that I noticed. There are no "extras" on the DVD, but in this case I'm just glad that the folks at Image have made this golden oldie available again as they did with "The Story of G.I. Joe" last year. I highly recommend this movie both as a tour de force for a remarkable if forgotten child actor and as a reminder of what it must have been like when the Hitler youth movement was still a source of grave concern.


Rating:
Summary: Move over, Patty--make room for Skippy!
Review: If you thought Rhoda in "The Bad Seed" was without peer in the annals of hateful screen tots, I submit for your consideration Emil in "Tomorrow, the World!" He should now take his place just behind her with the video release of this long unseen gem from 1944. True, he doesn't actually kill anybody during the course of the 82-minute running time, but anyone who would hurl racial epithets at sweet Betty Field or crack little Joan Carroll (of "Meet Me in St. Louis" and "Bells of St. Mary's" fame) over the head with a poker in the name of "duty" is clearly capable of just about anything. I had always wanted to see this movie because Fredric March is one of my favorite actors, but although Mr. March is of course sincere and admirable in his role, the real attraction here is the mesmerizingly manic performance of Skippy Homeier as the menacing and manipulative little storm trooper. His "reformation" at the end is a little abrupt and not entirely convincing, but that's more the fault of the writers than of the amazing Master Homeier. As for the DVD quality, the print of the film definitely shows some wear, but at least the picture is sharp and there are no "jumps" or missing bits of film that I noticed. There are no "extras" on the DVD, but in this case I'm just glad that the folks at Image have made this golden oldie available again as they did with "The Story of G.I. Joe" last year. I highly recommend this movie both as a tour de force for a remarkable if forgotten child actor and as a reminder of what it must have been like when the Hitler youth movement was still a source of grave concern.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely entertaining propaganda!
Review: Made during WWII to show American audiences what their boys were fighting against, the Nazis brainwashing children into godless, goosesteppers of death, "Tomorrow the World" attempts to show what would happen if one of these children of Hitler was let loose upon Smalltown USA.

As a film, "Tomorrow the World" is pretty pedestrian. The usually terrific Frederic March and Agnes Moorehead are really constrained by their weakly written characters. The direction is bland. The sets are cheap looking. And the melodramatic musical score is just awful! Overall, this is a grade B wartime propaganda movie with the usual white picket fence, mom's apple pie view of America and Americans.

However, there is one thing that keeps this movie eminently watchable and entertaining long after its propaganda purpose has ceased to exist and that is the over-the-top performance of Skippy Homeier as the Nazi orphan from hell, "Emil Bruckner." This kid is one bad apple. He walks around in his Hitler Youth uniform while spying on his relatives. He threatens a classmate, whose father is a POW in Germany, by claiming that he can have her father killed if she informs on his wickedness. He writes graffiti that says his teacher and soon-to-be aunt is a "Jewish tramp." He clubs his cousin over the head with a fire poker. He tries to knife a boy, but then, in the most vicious fight I've ever seen between two child actors, gets pummelled unconscious by his intended victim. And, finally, his own uncle tries to strangle him to death. Normally, watching one child knock out another child with repeated blows to the face and then seeing an adult try to strangle a child would cause revulsion, but Mr. Homeier's character is such a detestable little weasel that you'll be cheering as he gets physically assaulted. It takes one heck of a performance to overcome one's digust at child abuse and Skip Homeier delivers it in this movie.

I did not know that Mr. Homeier was a child actor before I saw this movie. I'm mostly familiar with him as a young man when he played the detestable, punk, wanna-be gunfighter in the terrific 1950 western- "The Gunfighter" with Gregory Peck. Boy, that kid knew how to play creeps!

Rating:
Summary: An American family adopts Emil, a Hitler Youth fanatic
Review: Skippy Homeier was a hit on Broadway at the age of 13 with his performance as Emil Bruckner in "Tomorrow the World" (as in "Today Germany..."). The play, written by James Gow and Armand D'Usseau, was quickly brought to the screen in this 1944 film directed by Leslie Fenton. A member of the Hitler Youth, young Emil is orphaned and ends up in the Midwestern home of his American uncle, Professor Mike Frame (Fredric March). When Emil launches into a hateful attack on Leona Richards (Betty Field), the Jewish fiancee of his uncle, the professor tries to re-educate the boy with love and kindness to the principles of democracy. But Emil is trying to convert those people he does not despise to the National Socialist way of thinking. It is made clear that Emil has been conditioned to be a little hatemonger: his father, Karl, was a Nobel prize-winning opponent of the Nazis who died in a concentration camp, and Emil has been told he is the son of a traitor. But as Emil has a series of disturbing incidents with the neighborhood children and an ugly fight with his cousin Patricia (Joan Carroll), Uncle Mike has to consider that maybe the boy cannot be saved. The resolution to this problem is somewhat melodramatic and Emil's conversion rather abrupt, but you have to admire the attempt by "Tomorrow the World" to explore the serious topic of re-educating those who were conditioned by the formidable Nazi propaganda machine. At the very least the film makes clear that the threat of fascism would not end when the Nazis were defeated. March and Homeier turn in nice performances in this film, as does the wonderful Agnes Moorhead, who plays the maiden aunt. Final Notes: Ralph Bellamy and Shirley Booth played the adult leads on Broadway, while the screenplay was written by Ring Lardner, Jr. and Leopold Atlas.

Rating:
Summary: An American family adopts Emil, a Hitler Youth fanatic
Review: Skippy Homeier was a hit on Broadway at the age of 13 with his performance as Emil Bruckner in "Tomorrow the World" (as in "Today Germany..."). The play, written by James Gow and Armand D'Usseau, was quickly brought to the screen in this 1944 film directed by Leslie Fenton. A member of the Hitler Youth, young Emil is orphaned and ends up in the Midwestern home of his American uncle, Professor Mike Frame (Fredric March). When Emil launches into a hateful attack on Leona Richards (Betty Field), the Jewish fiancee of his uncle, the professor tries to re-educate the boy with love and kindness to the principles of democracy. But Emil is trying to convert those people he does not despise to the National Socialist way of thinking. It is made clear that Emil has been conditioned to be a little hatemonger: his father, Karl, was a Nobel prize-winning opponent of the Nazis who died in a concentration camp, and Emil has been told he is the son of a traitor. But as Emil has a series of disturbing incidents with the neighborhood children and an ugly fight with his cousin Patricia (Joan Carroll), Uncle Mike has to consider that maybe the boy cannot be saved. The resolution to this problem is somewhat melodramatic and Emil's conversion rather abrupt, but you have to admire the attempt by "Tomorrow the World" to explore the serious topic of re-educating those who were conditioned by the formidable Nazi propaganda machine. At the very least the film makes clear that the threat of fascism would not end when the Nazis were defeated. March and Homeier turn in nice performances in this film, as does the wonderful Agnes Moorhead, who plays the maiden aunt. Final Notes: Ralph Bellamy and Shirley Booth played the adult leads on Broadway, while the screenplay was written by Ring Lardner, Jr. and Leopold Atlas.