Tomorrow We Live

Edward G. Ulmer used to make his films in a haphazard way as efficiently as possible and as fast as possible, and so he made no masterpieces but rather the contrary, some great number of cheap B-features at best, but sometimes he actually left off some interesting things, like the amazing "Detour", but his stories are usually just shabby to say the least. This film is about a mad gangster who for some reason is an expert at survival, he always gets what he wants even if he has to wreck everything to get it, and thus he has an untold number of ruins behind him wrecked on purpose. He manages to build a new empire around a night club in the desert, "Dunes", which is a success, he prospers but goes too far and thinks he can get any lady in his way into the bargain. But this lady has a daddy who says no, and although he kills him, he does not get away with it. This is one of the worst Ulmer films, and not even his excellent choice of film music can save it.

After an opening sequence featuring stock footage so dark and dupey that its difficult to tell what we're seeing, the film proper begins (and lightens up to acceptable visual quality) and moves into Pop Bronson's (Emmett Lynn) desert diner. We find Pop in mid-conversation with his daughter Julie (Jean Parker, who also starred in Ulmer's BLUEBEARD) who has just dropped out of college. Pop has been sending her money for years to put her through school and he's understandably upset about her sudden, inexplicable dropout. The scene is deliberately disorienting, as it takes a while before we understand the context of their conversation. When Julie accuses her father of black marketeering (this is war time, after all), Pop gives her a vicious slap. The whole scene prepares us for an unsettling experience which the film does not deliver until it's more than half over, settling in to long soap opera conversations filmed in uninteresting master shots. We meet Ricardo Cortez, gangster owner of a desert night club, who has earned the moniker of "The Ghost" for his survival of two attempts on his life. Thirty-five minutes into this barely 63 minute movie, the guns start blazing, the camera begins to move and the editor wakes up. Julie's Army boyfriend shows up to give The Ghost a major dressing-down, comparing him to Hitler and warning him that the honest little people will soon beat his pants off. Instead of the little people, its a rival gangster who beats The Ghost nearly to death and burns down his club, driving the man mad. The film now races to a speedy, suspenseful conclusion. In his career-spanning interview with Peter Bogdanovich Ulmer described this as a horror film influenced by Grand Guignol (which it is not), but its opening scene, final 30 minutes, odd patriotic imagery and good performances from Cortez and Parker make it worth seeing for anyone interested in Ulmer's career of making something out of nothing.

Ricardo Cortez and Jean Parker horrible copy from Alpha--way too dark and blurry 2 Samuel 1:27 says "How the mighty have fallen" and this is an often quoted phrase. In the case of Ricardo Cortez and "Tomorrow We Live", it is very fitting. That's because in the early part of his career, Cortez was a hot commodity in Hollywood--having starred in such notable films as the first "Maltese Falcon" in 1931 and receiving top billing over Greta Garbo in "Torrent" in 1926. However, his career never really reached the heights after this and his career was a very slow downward spiral--resulting, by 1942, in him starring in some very low-budget B-movies. As for Cortez, this actually turned out to be a blessing, as he soon retired and moved into a Wall Street job and made a small fortune! So, although his career had definitely fallen by the 40s, it all worked out well for everyone--everyone except for audiences hoping to see him in good films!

As "Tomorrow We Live" began, I cursed myself for watching this Alpha Video copy. That's because Alpha never restores their DVDs at all--and often they use the lousiest of prints. And, in the case of this movie, the print is horrible! It's very blurry and dark--and looks really ugly.

The film begins with a racketeer (according to one astute reviewer, Ricardo Cortez's character was based on Bugsy Siegal) noticing a nice young lady (Jean Parker). While she isn't interested (since she is a nice girl and already has a boyfriend who is in the service), Cortez isn't about to take no for an answer. Additionally, Cortez has a hold over her father--but exactly what it is the audience doesn't know. All this eventually leads to murder and a VERY heavy-handed message that equates gangsters to the fight against international fascism.

So why do I give this film only a 3? Well, two main reasons. First, the message lacks subtlety and is never handled gracefully or deftly. Second, and more importantly, Cortez's character has a HUGE meltdown at the end that just comes off as silly and unbelievable. Could this movie have been better? Of course, but based on the limp plot you couldn't have done much more with this picture.

I see so far I'm in a minority here for some folks are finding all kinds of murky and mysterious meanings in Tomorrow We Live. All I'm looking at is a Grade Z piece of melodramatic claptrap. Poor Ricardo Cortez's career had come to a pretty pass here for a guy who was the last player billed OVER Greta Garbo back in silent days. And a rival in the Latin lover department to Rudolph Valentino besides.

Cortez's character 'the Ghost' is a veiled reference to Lucky Luciano who got his nickname by surviving a hit attempt as did Cortez. He's got himself a nice little gambling spot out on the desert in some unnamed western state that I think we can assume is Nevada. He's got the hots for Jean Parker and he's also got a hold on her father Emmett Lynn who runs a nearby truck-stop greasy spoon like café. The kind that Cecil Kellaway had in The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Anyway Cortez has Lynn working in a black market tire racket and Parker submitting herself to his Snidely Whiplash advances. She actually throws over her all American soldier boyfriend William Marshall for Cortez. But Marshall tells off Cortez that he's going overseas to fight guys like him.

Anyway the film was made too soon because Lucky Luciano due to efforts by the War Department got himself paroled and deported to Cuba for allegedly setting up contacts with the Italian Mafia for OSS operatives in Italy. That came after Tomorrow We Live was inflicted on the movie going public which does give this film a certain amount historical curiosity.

But definitely not worth the little over an hour of my life I'll not get back.