German boy Emil comes to live with his American uncle who tries to teach the former Hitler Youth to reject Nazism.German boy Emil comes to live with his American uncle who tries to teach the former Hitler Youth to reject Nazism.German boy Emil comes to live with his American uncle who tries to teach the former Hitler Youth to reject Nazism.
Skip Homeier
- Emil Bruckner
- (as Skippy Homeier)
Steve Brown
- Ray - Boy Scout
- (as Boots Brown)
Freddie Chapman
- Undetermined Role
- (unconfirmed)
- (uncredited)
Marvin Davis
- Dennis Butler
- (uncredited)
Tom Fadden
- Mr. Clyde - Mailman
- (uncredited)
Ralph Lee
- Undetermined Role
- (unconfirmed)
- (uncredited)
Mary MacLaren
- Woman on Sidewalk
- (uncredited)
Frances Norris
- Undetermined Role
- (unconfirmed)
- (uncredited)
Patsy Anne Thompson
- Millie
- (uncredited)
Ruth Warren
- Undetermined Role
- (unconfirmed)
- (uncredited)
Sonny Boy Williams
- Undetermined Role
- (unconfirmed)
- (uncredited)
Rudy Wissler
- Stan Dumbrowski - Paperboy
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe play opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 14 April 1943 and closed 17 June 1944 after 500 performances. The opening night cast included Skip Homeier as Emil and Edit Angold as Frieda (each of whom later reprised their stage roles for the film), Ralph Bellamy as Mike Frame, Shirley Booth as Leona Richards and Kathryn Givney as Jessie Frame. Producer Lester Cowan bought the rights to the play for $75,000 plus 25% of the gross, not to exceed $350,000. He wanted to change the title of the movie to "The Intruder," but a poll of exhibitors voted him down.
- GoofsWhen Emil appears in his Nazi uniform, the shirt and pants are those of the Hitler Youth (which is appropriate for someone his age). However, the armband is not that of the Hitler Youth (alternating red and white bands with a swastika inside a white diamond), but that of a regular party member (solid red background with a swastika in a white circle). He would not have been eligible for full party membership - and the party armband - until his 18th birthday.
- Quotes
Mike Frame: Jesse, you're my sister and I adore you; but, have you ever given five minutes thought to what's going on in the world?
- ConnectionsFeatured in Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004)
Featured review
Flawed but fascinating
This is an entertaining and interesting film, as much for what it doesn't say as for what it does.
Our depiction of small town middle American life circa 1944 is wildly inaccurate and glorified, but this is not at all unusual in films of the era. World War II era audiences would have considered themselves morally superior to the Germans and had no argument with life as seen in "Tomorrow, the World!". In reality, however, it is unlikely that a Jewish woman would have been a teacher in a largely protestant public school, and even less likely that she would have entered into an interfaith marriage with the only protest being raised by a small foreign boy. And if one considers how the story would have played out had the character of Leona been black, she not only would have never been teaching in a white public school, but had she and Mike Frame sought to be married, there likely would have been a response from the community that involved a lynching and thus our moral superiority over the Germans is exposed as being more imagined than real.
None of which particularly ruins the film. It requires no greater suspended-disbelief than Superman or Dracula, and on its own merits this film is an enjoyable experience. However sanitized, small town 1940's America is a place one almost cannot help but to long for. And into this idealized world enters Emil, a character that at first comes on ludicrously overplayed, and yet pulls you in just the same. The audience quickly becomes concerned for what will happened to the Frame family, and the guilty pleasure of watching this pre-"Bad Seed" demon will keep you on the edge of your seat.. After what Emil does to Pat, the vigilante justice meted out by Pat's school-mates is shamelessly gratifying to see. Throughout the story one keeps secretly hoping for Emil's redemption, and it is the film's greatest drawback that it attempts to grant this wish in a quick and unrealistic throwaway end. This inadequately explored issue as well as the intriguing and thoroughly under-utilized subplot of Emil's manipulation of Jessie leave the distinct impression that someone demanded a great deal of running time be shaved off of this film.
"Tomorrow, the World!" still gets major points for at least attempting a subject matter few films of its era, outside of propaganda newsreels, would dare touch, and it's worth a watch.
Our depiction of small town middle American life circa 1944 is wildly inaccurate and glorified, but this is not at all unusual in films of the era. World War II era audiences would have considered themselves morally superior to the Germans and had no argument with life as seen in "Tomorrow, the World!". In reality, however, it is unlikely that a Jewish woman would have been a teacher in a largely protestant public school, and even less likely that she would have entered into an interfaith marriage with the only protest being raised by a small foreign boy. And if one considers how the story would have played out had the character of Leona been black, she not only would have never been teaching in a white public school, but had she and Mike Frame sought to be married, there likely would have been a response from the community that involved a lynching and thus our moral superiority over the Germans is exposed as being more imagined than real.
None of which particularly ruins the film. It requires no greater suspended-disbelief than Superman or Dracula, and on its own merits this film is an enjoyable experience. However sanitized, small town 1940's America is a place one almost cannot help but to long for. And into this idealized world enters Emil, a character that at first comes on ludicrously overplayed, and yet pulls you in just the same. The audience quickly becomes concerned for what will happened to the Frame family, and the guilty pleasure of watching this pre-"Bad Seed" demon will keep you on the edge of your seat.. After what Emil does to Pat, the vigilante justice meted out by Pat's school-mates is shamelessly gratifying to see. Throughout the story one keeps secretly hoping for Emil's redemption, and it is the film's greatest drawback that it attempts to grant this wish in a quick and unrealistic throwaway end. This inadequately explored issue as well as the intriguing and thoroughly under-utilized subplot of Emil's manipulation of Jessie leave the distinct impression that someone demanded a great deal of running time be shaved off of this film.
"Tomorrow, the World!" still gets major points for at least attempting a subject matter few films of its era, outside of propaganda newsreels, would dare touch, and it's worth a watch.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Morgondagens värld
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 26 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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