Tomorrow We Live

Infobox Film
name = Tomorrow We Live


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director = George King
producer = S.W. Smith
writer = Dorothy Hope (story)
Katherine Strueby
narrator =
starring = John Clements
Godfrey Tearle
Greta Gynt
Hugh Sinclair
Yvonne Arnaud
music = Nicholas Brodszky
cinematography = Otto Heller
editing =
distributor =
released = 1943
runtime = 85 minutes
country = UK
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
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website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0035452

"Tomorrow We Live" is a 1943 British film, directed by George King, and starring John Clements, Godfrey Tearle, Greta Gynt, Hugh Sinclair and Yvonne Arnaud.

"Tomorrow We Live" was made during the Second World War, and the action is set in a small town in occupied France. The film portrays the activities of members of the French Resistance and the Nazi tactic of taking and shooting innocent hostages in reprisal for acts of sabotage. The "Croix de Lorraine", chosen by General de Gaulle as the symbol of the resistance, features prominently in the film. The opening credits acknowledge "the official co-operation of General de Gaulle and the French National Committee".

Historical background

Dorothy Hope is credited with "original story", and the storyline bears a striking similarity to her other wartime film, Candlelight in Algeria, in which an exceptionally strong heroine comes to the aid of a dashing fighter of tyranny. "Tomorrow We Live" opens with the arrival of a young French idealist (played by John Clements), who gives his name as Jean Baptiste, in "St Pierre-le-Port", a small town near Saint-Nazaire. The proximity of Saint-Nazaire, a major port on the Atlantic coast, is an important element in the film. The sound of distant rumbling at night prompts a German soldier to remark that "they're bombing Saint-Nazaire again", while Jean Baptiste explains to a member of the Resistance that "I come from Saint-Nazaire. I've details of the submarine base, the docks and power plant. If I can get them to England..." These references to Saint-Nazaire reflect wartime conditions at the time the film was made. After the surrender of France to German forces in June 1940, the port of Saint-Nazaire became a base of operations for the German Navy and was as such the target of Allied operations. A heavily fortified U-boat submarine base was built shortly after occupation, while the dry dock built for SS Normandie was the largest of its kind in Western Europe at the time. The U-boat threat to supply convoys across the Atlantic made Saint-Nazaire a constant target of Allied air forces, and in 1943 a firebombing raid by British and American aircraft burned the entire city to the ground.

Propaganda and British war films

'The story of the British cinema in the Second World War is inextricably linked with that of the Ministry of Information.' [Anthony Aldgate and Jeffrey Richards, "Britain can take it: the British cinema in the Second World War", Edinburgh University Press, 1994, p. 4.] Formed on September 4th 1939, the day after Britain's declaration of war, the Ministry of Information (MOI) was the central government department responsible for publicity and propaganda in the Second World War. It was the Ministry's function to 'present the national case to the public at home and abroad'. [Ian McLaine, "Ministry of Morale", London, 1979, p. 12.] The MOI was keenly aware of the value of commercially-produced entertainment films in furthering the national cause generally, and maintained close contact with film makers:

'The Ministry both advised the producers on the suitability of subjects which they had suggested, and proposed subjects which we thought would do good overseas. Whenever the Ministry had approved a subject we gave every help to the producer in obtaining facilities to make the film.' [Geoff Hurd (ed.), "National Fictions. World War II in British Films and Television", London, 1984, p. 15.]

As a result, the typical British war film attempts to construct a gripping suspense story which at the same time conveys propaganda ideas in support of the Allied cause, and "Tomorrow We Live" is no exception to this. Kenneth Clark, as head of the Films Division of the MOI, argued in 1940 that the public must be convinced of German brutality: 'we should emphasize wherever possible the wickedness and evil perpetrated in the occupied countries'. [Anthony Aldgate and Jeffrey Richards, "Britain can take it: the British cinema in the Second World War", p. 133.] Subsequently, the Home Planning Committee felt it essential to portray fully 'the evil things which confront us... to fortify the will to continue the struggle'. By 1942 the fear of invasion (as depicted in films such as "Went the Day Well?") had receded, and film makers began to turn to the brutal reality of life in occupied countries. "The Day Will Dawn" (1942) was a film about the Norwegian resistance, while "Uncensored" was a story of the Belgian resistance. "Tomorrow We Live" depicts the French Resistance and the heroism of ordinary French civilians, while "One of Our Aircraft is Missing" (1942) shows Dutch civilians risking their lives to help a group of British airmen back to England. (Both "Tomorrow We Live" and "One of Our Aircraft is Missing" contain almost identical scenes where British airmen or seamen, trying to get back to England from occupied countries, take advantage of an air raid to slip out to sea in a rowing boat, first saying goodbye to the local people who have helped them.)

The theme of German brutality in the occupied countries is present right from the start of "Tomorrow We Live". Jean Baptiste's arrival in St Pierre-le-Port is accompanied by cheerful orchestral music, predominantly strings and woodwind. Women are washing clothes at the town fountain in what seems a peaceful scene. A soldier is rinsing a cloth; he is kneeling with his back to the camera, but Jean Baptiste glances uneasily at him and hurries on, head averted. The soldier rises and is revealed to be wearing a German uniform. The music abruptly changes to harsh, menacing brass chords. The soldier takes his cloth and a bucket of water and begins to scrub a wall covered with graffiti: "Ecoutez la B.B.C.", "Vive De Gaulle".

After this opening, the first half of the film often has a lighthearted tone; the Germans are portrayed as bumbling and easily outwitted. (The German kommandant is first seen practicing dance steps on the carpeted floor of his office, while another officer reclines in an armchair and reads Clausewitz. Overweight and gullible, the kommandant bears a striking resemblance to Colonel Kurt Von Strohm in the British sitcom "'Allo 'Allo!".) After the Resistance successfully sabotage a German armaments train, however, the S.S. arrive and take charge of the town, and the occupation takes a brutal turn.

"Tomorrow We Live" contains a significant scene in a church, combining Christian symbolism, kneeling French patriots and the Croix de Lorraine. (The scene is significant because it has no plot function, and is clearly included for its symbolic value.) This scene strongly resembles the opening sequence in "The Next of Kin" (1942), which is also set in a church in occupied France. The description by Jeffrey Richards of the opening of "The Next of Kin" applies equally to the church scene from "Tomorrow We Live": 'The composition of the scene and the visual symbols all contrive to invest the Allied cause with divine sanction and damn the Nazi regime as anti-Christian.' [Anthony Aldgate and Jeffrey Richards, "Britain can take it: the British cinema in the Second World War", p. 105.]

"Tomorrow We Live" also looks forward to the liberation of France. Jean Baptiste sees a stockpile of weapons held by the French Resistance. "Where did that come from?" he asks. "The Boche didn't get everything, you know," the Resistance agent tells him. "We've got collections like that all over France." "When are you going to use it?" asks Jean Baptiste. "When the English come," replies the Resistance agent.

Notable dialogue

When Madame Labouche and Jean Baptiste emerge from her house into the street, they see a German car immobilized with flat tyres, the result of Resistance activity. Jean Baptiste begins to laugh, until admonished by Madame Labouche: "Whatever you do, don't let them see you laughing." "One is not allowed to laugh anymore?" asks Jean Baptiste. "Oh no," Madame Labouche tells him, "it's forbidden." This piece of dialogue has a curious resemblance to Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. (Samuel Beckett spent the war years in France and worked for the French Resistance.)

Cast

A strong cast was assembled for "Tomorrow We Live". John Clements (1910-1988) came to prominence as a film actor with South Riding (1938) and the immensely successful The Four Feathers (1939). He made a series of British war films including Convoy (1940) and Ships With Wings (1942).

The Mayor, who is ordered by the Germans to provide the names of fifty hostages, was played by Godfrey Tearle (1884-1953), a Shakespearean actor of note who had been cast by Alfred Hitchcock as the enemy agent with a missing finger in "The 39 Steps" (1935). He was cast as an RAF bomber pilot in "One of Our Aircraft is Missing" (1942), an aging World War I veteran in "Medal for the General" (1944), and as Franklin D. Roosevelt in "The Beginning of the End", MGM's 1946 account of the Manhattan Project.

The Mayor's daughter Marie, who appears to be collaborating with the Germans but is in fact directing resistance activity in the town, was played by Greta Gynt (1916-2000), a Norwegian-born actress who became an immense favourite amongst British moviegoers during the 1940's. Meanwhile an authentic French flavour was provided by Yvonne Arnaud (1892-1958), a French-born actress whose contribution to the British theatre was recognised when the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre was opened in Guildford, Surrey in 1965.

Music

Nicholas Brodszky is credited with the music for "Tomorrow We Live", while the orchestration is credited to Roy Douglas, an English composer who was much in demand as an arranger, orchestrator, and copyist of the music of others, notably Ralph Vaughan Williams and William Walton. However it is possible that Nicholas Brodszky actually contributed very little. In a memoir in the William Walton Archive, Roy Douglas writes: 'Brodsky was a so-called composer: I had actually composed entire film scores for him, which went under his name.' In a letter to Roy Douglas dated 23 December 1943, William Walton writes: 'I'm delighted about your picture. I'll have a good deal to tell you about Brodsky when I see you. In my capacity as music adviser to Two Cities [a film company] it is going to be my duty to have to tick him off!' ["The Selected Letters of William Walton", edited by Malcolm Hayes, Faber and Faber, 2002.]

DVD release

In 2008 the film was released on DVD by Odeon Entertainment as part of their Best of British collection.

References

;Notes;Bibliography
* Aldgate, Anthony and Richards, Jeffrey. "Britain Can Take it: British Cinema in the Second World War". Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2nd Edition. 1994. ISBN 0-7486-0508-8.
* Barr, Charles, ed. "All Our Yesterdays: 90 Years of British Cinema". London: British Film Institute, 1986. ISBN 0-85170-179-5.
* Murphy, Robert. "British Cinema and the Second World War". London: Continuum, 2000. ISBN 0-82645-139-X.

External links

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