Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
(A. Edward Sutherland, US 1940, 84 min.)
Before IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, or THE BISHOP'S WIFE, there was BEYOND TOMORROW. Alone on Christmas Eve, three aging businessmen (Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith, and Charles Winninger) devise a plan to attract people to their house by tossing their wallets (lined with $10 and their personal cards) onto the sidewalk to see if any are returned. When Jimmy and Jean (Richard Carlson and Jean Parker) return two of the wallets, the men become matchmakers. Filling the house with joy, the couple embark on a romance that is interrupted abruptly by a tragedy that adds the "spirit" to Christmas Spirit. An overlooked gem, this film provides an interesting look into the Christmas movie genre prior to its explosion in the middle of the 1940s.
This video has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: NEH CARES.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this video, do not necessarily represent those of the NEH.
(A. Edward Sutherland, US 1940, 84 min.)
Before IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, or THE BISHOP'S WIFE, there was BEYOND TOMORROW. Alone on Christmas Eve, three aging businessmen (Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith, and Charles Winninger) devise a plan to attract people to their house by tossing their wallets (lined with $10 and their personal cards) onto the sidewalk to see if any are returned. When Jimmy and Jean (Richard Carlson and Jean Parker) return two of the wallets, the men become matchmakers. Filling the house with joy, the couple embark on a romance that is interrupted abruptly by a tragedy that adds the "spirit" to Christmas Spirit. An overlooked gem, this film provides an interesting look into the Christmas movie genre prior to its explosion in the middle of the 1940s.
This video has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: NEH CARES.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this video, do not necessarily represent those of the NEH.
