User reviews

I have seen this film on and off over the years starting probably around 1960 when it first appeared on Australian television.

During World War Two, a small group of people sailing on a passenger liner from London find they are heading for an unexpected destination.

This film was made during the war. With the world in arms, audiences of the day would have been only too aware of the imminence of death, if not for themselves then for the ones they loved. I think this film would really have hit home, possibly in a reassuring way in as much as the film accepts that there is life beyond death.

There were a number of films made during the war or shortly after that dealt with death and beyond: "Here Comes Mr. Jordan", "A Guy Named Joe", A Matter Of Life And Death" and "The Horn Blows at Midnight". But "Between Two Worlds" was the most serious of them all. It delivered reassurance of an afterlife, but its premise was that a worthy life is essential for an easy transit to the next world - the quality that all religions from the ancient Egyptians onward stress more than anything else.

Completely studio bound whether on land or at sea, the film shows the influence of the 1923 stage play on which it is based. But that foggy, claustrophobic atmosphere gives the film a mood that is sustained from beginning to end.

"Between Two Worlds" features a couple of iconic stars: John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet. Both give minor variations on their familiar screen personas - Garfield the cynical, street-wise guy whose luck always seemed to be out, and Greenstreet whose rotund affability always masked a deeper agenda.

However Paul Henreid and Eleanor Parker give the most effecting performances as Henry and Ann Bergner. There are many lump-in-the-throat moments in the film, but the Bergner's doomed love affair and redemption is an emotional roller coaster.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold only produced 18 film scores in his career, and his work for "Between Two Worlds" was his personal favourite. This sumptuous, soaring score with its chimes and echoing notes cements the film together and directs the mood.

"Between Two Worlds" is a unique film. Thankfully, in Australia, we still have programs like "Bill Collins Golden Years of Hollywood" and "Turner Classic Movies" otherwise movies such as this would disappear from our screens all altogether.

I finally had an opportunity to see this largely "forgotten" film, one of my favorites dealing in a mystical way with the afterlife. A remake of "Outward Bound" ('30), it was updated to World War II and begins with an air raid in which several people are unable to seek shelter. Afterwards, they find themselves on a strange ship and only gradually come to realize they are all dead--and about to be judged by a man called The Examiner (Sydney Greenstreet). The disparate group of people include some of the dependable Warner contract players: John Garfield, Eleanor Parker, Paul Henried, Faye Emerson, Edmund Gwenn, Isobel Elmson and Sara Allgood.

Thoughtful and well written (though talky and showing its stage origins), it permits us to examine the passengers one by one as they reveal their fears and foibles--each having substantial roles in a series of vignettes that will lead to their ultimate destination--heaven or hell.

It's fascinating, handsomely produced amid low-key film noir lighting and the performances are all first-rate. John Garfield and Paul Henried give the strongest performances in the meatiest roles but the others are all more than competent, including the lovely Eleanor Parker.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score happens to be one of his personal "favorites" and I can certainly see why. It is melancholy, lyrical and mysterious--in keeping with the "otherworldly" elements of a film about passengers on their way to another world.

An oddly interesting film, thought provoking and well worth viewing. It's a wonder no one has produced a remake since the material lends itself to endless possibilities.

Sutton Vane's play Outward Bound was expanded and souped up considerably in this second screen version of the play, Between Two Worlds. The basic ideas of the play and first film have been extended and accommodated to World War II. Several new characters were introduced into the screenplay.

Paul Henreid and Eleanor Parker play a young couple who decide to take their own lives via a gas stove. Earlier in the day they saw several people killed when a bomb hits a bus during the Blitz. Parker and Henreid then find themselves on a fog enclosed ship with those same people they saw and a steward played by Edmund Gwenn.

In the original play these people were all British, but because of the wartime alliance some Americans got in on the act. Cynical reporter John Garfield, charwoman Sara Allgood, millionaire George Coulouris and his traveling companion Faye Emerson who used to have a thing with Garfield, vicar Dennis King, merchant sailor George Tobias, and a proper middle class British couple Gilbert Emery and Isobel Elsom.

It takes a while, but soon the others catch on to what Parker and Henreid know already that they're dead. Gwenn informs them that at the end of the voyage they will meet The Great Examiner.

Taking the place of Dudley Digges who played The Great Examiner on stage and in the first film version of Outward Bound is Sydney Greenstreet. The one guy who's relieved at this turns out to be King who recognizes him as an old chum from seminary. Apparently this is how clergy people are used in the next life.

Leslie Howard played the role John Garfield has on stage and in the first version. It was interesting seeing both films back to back to see how two very different actors interpreted and how the screenplay was adapted to fill John Garfield's rebel persona.

George Couloris's character is fleshed out a great deal more in this than in the original version. On screen Montagu Love played it and the man's sins were strictly mercenary. Here he's accompanied by his tootsie Faye Emerson and there's carnal lust in the mix as well as avarice.

Alison Skipworth played Isobel Elsom's part on screen first and in that version, Mrs. Cliveden-Banks is already a widow. Here her husband is brought into the plot, played by Gilbert Emery and her eternal fate is different from the original.

Daniel Fuchs in adapting and expanding the screenplay did manage to still preserve Sutton Vane's message about your eternal fate hanging in the balance of how you live life. Between Two Worlds is still an entertaining fantasy with a strong moral to it.

This is a remake of the 1930 early-talkie "Outward Bound", which was based on the hit 1925 stage play. This version updates the period from the 1920's to the 1940's, and incorporates WW II elements into the story---a totally unnecessary tactic; the original play was quite good on its own and didn't need to have topical elements awkwardly sandwiched in. In fact,one of its strengths was that the entire unworldly experience seemed to take place in an unspecified time.

But this film has a very realistic beginning to it, and a war-related incident sets the plot in motion. The film's only serious blunder---though one that does not fatally affect it----is that we are tipped off as to what is really going on much too early in the film, in comparison to the 1930 film version, in which the characters realized their true situation at the same time as the audience did.

Aside from those objections, though, this is one of the few remakes which tops the original in nearly every department. Without exception, the actors in this version outdo the stiff, primitive early-talkie performances of their predecessors, and this may well be the only film in which Paul Henreid, normally not the most charismatic actor, gives a finer performance than the then-awkward Douglas Fairbanks,Jr. did in the same role in the 1930 film.

Especially outstanding are Edmund Gwenn as the ship's steward, Isobel Elsom as a rich, elderly, bitchy woman, Sydney Greenstreet as a mysterious character whose identity will not be revealed here, and Sara Allgood in one of the most sensitive performances of her career (she acts rings around Beryl Mercer from the 1930 version). George Coulouris, a reliable villain in those days (he was Orson Welles' nasty guardian in "Citizen Kane") is sinister and pompous as a greedy tycoon. And John Garfield is excellent in the Leslie Howard role, altered some to fit Garfield's tough, bitter on-screen persona rather than Howard's ultra-sophisticated, debonair one. (Garfield,though,does not go as berserk when he finds out the truth as Howard so hilariously did in the 1930 version.)

Although much of the dialogue in the first half has been changed and perhaps made slightly less "literary", the second half,which features Sydney Greensteet, is quite faithful to the earlier film and the stage play. Erich Wolfgang Korngold's music runs through nearly every scene, and, although verging toward the bombastic and melodramatic at times, lends plenty of atmosphere to the story.

One unfortunate aspect is that the photography in this version never becomes as eerie as that in the 1930 version, with its striking light and darkness effects. But none of these faults should keep you away from this film, which deserves far better than its relative obscurity in comparison to the other great Warner Bros. classics as well as other films dealing with the afterlife.

The dead victims of a London bombing and two suicides are on a ship headed - well, they're not sure - in "Between Two Worlds," a 1944 film starring John Garfield, Sydney Greenstret, Paul Henried, Eleanor Parker, Edmund Gwenn, Faye Emerson and George Coulouris. The suicides, a married couple played by Henried and Parker, are the only ones at first who realize they're dead, but the others find out soon enough. Then they learn that "The Examiner" will be coming on board to evaluate them and decide their final destination.

The film employs a stark set for the ship, and it works beautifully as the tense passengers wait to learn their individual fates.

The acting is marvelous all around. Eleanor Parker reminded me very much of Gene Tierney - at first, I didn't recognize her until I heard her voice. She and Henried are excellent as the only two people who have chosen their destinies. Parker's role especially is written almost melodramatically so at times, she seems over the top, but the story seems to call for it. Greenstreet, with his powerful presence, makes a good examiner. Faye Emerson is lovely as an actress who made a lot of wrong choices, and John Garfield is strong as a belligerent no-good whose life didn't add up to much.

During World War II, it's not surprising that people were giving a lot of thought to the afterlife. After World War II, there were all kinds of films about people come back to earth and angels walking among us. The view of "Between Two Worlds" is that each of us makes our own heaven and hell on earth, that in the end, we sow what we reap, and that love is stronger than any other force. I loved it.

Interesting little film about a bunch of very diverse people dying and being judged whether to go to Heaven or Hell. The idea isn't new, and the script is way too talky, but the beautiful setting and superb acting more than compensates. With the exception of Garfield, Henreid and Greenstreet, there are no big names in the cast, but everyone is good and they all get their moments to shine. Worth seeing.

I have never seen this film until recently but I had heard about the original version Outward Bound years ago and was intrigued by the premise. After reading up about the film I rightly assumed by the cast, namely headed by Leslie Howard, not one of my favorite actors, and also by the year of release, 1930, that it would look and feel like a filmed play. Reviews did recommend the re-make as being a better film. It is an entertaining film about the fantasy, to some people, to others very real, of being caught between life and death, death being very much on the minds of most people at this time. It held to the early 40's notions of film content/style etc. so it held up to my expectations. Seeing Sidney Greenstreet in any role is always a thrill.

I haven't seen this movie for decades, but I still remember it well. It has a haunting 'twilight zone' twist to it and is very entertaining. I'm surprised, in this in this 'post Titanic megahit' time, that an ocean liner backdrop to an eerie, romantic story has not been recycled as was 'Death Takes a Holiday'. It might even be re-incarnated as a 'Fantasy Island' type TV series with new passengers every week.

You expect justice and good to win out in movies of this era. It's nice they left enough 'wiggle' room to do the right thing. And I think people take a comfort from a good movie showing us going on after death. It's a trip we all hope to take one day....

Between Two Worlds (1944) : Brief Review -

A brilliantly written fantasy that got too real about the conflict between "life and death" and "heaven and hell." We have all heard of going to heaven or hell after death, depending on what kind of life you have lived. Our universal notion says that for good ones, there is heaven, and for bad ones, hell awaits. Nobody knows if it's real because we get our answers only after death, and after death, we can't really tell anybody about it. That's some deadly business done by God, but that's his genius. So, this brilliantly written flick is about the same conflict we just discussed: "heaven and hell." It also adds another intelligent piece of conflict: "life and death." The first half is only about knowing what's going on and how the characters get to know they are dead. The second half is what makes this film special. We meet an examiner who will decide who's going where. But before he can speak about it, we know the answers because, by that time, we are well acquainted with every character and their nature. You know what's going to happen to them because you, as a viewer or as a human, have already judged them. That's how great this writing is. It makes you feel like somewhere inside you, you are the examiner. The best one is what happens to the couple who have committed suicide. They both get punished for what they have done-I mean, no valuing their lives, and I personally think that the movie should have ended there to leave us with a serious message. However, it goes on to fetch a happy ending, but the interesting part is that even that happy ending has a thoughtful process behind it. You just need enough brains to understand that. Between Two Worlds somehow manages to surpass the silent flick, from which it is remade. The silent film didn't really get into such detailed conversions, and the talkie effect did make a difference here. Overall, it's a very thoughtful movie, and it's highly commendable for being too early with such fictional ideas.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

BOne film is a mesmerising surreal experience whereas the other is an unbelievable overacted ridiculous compilation of cliches. Surprisingly it's OUTWARD BOUND that's the better film.

Despite what some people have said, OUTWARD BOUND is nothing like a filmed stage play. It is hampered by being made using Warner's cumbersome restrictive Vitaphone system but apart from that it has a fantastically atmospheric almost dreamlike quality which is exactly what such a story needs.

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS' style is just wrong for this type of picture. Yes it's filmed better, the story and characters are more fully developed but by trying to make it realistic, normal and natural, the premise comes across as ridiculous. For this to work, it can't be realistic, it can only be credible within a mysterious dreamworld where everyone is acting really weirdly - like they do in the original.

The acting in the older film is purposefully strange - after all they've just discovered that they're dead. Considering that it was his first film, Leslie Howard is superb and strangely believable as the tortured, troubled soul. John Garfield playing the same role in the remake however seems to think he's in a New York gangster flick and his cynical 1940s hard-boiled reporter is one of the most clichéd performances I've ever seen. That's the other problem with the 'new' version: everyone is a stereotypical caricature. The baddies are over the top nasty, the lovers are sickeningly sweet and as for the 'comedy vicar'! Worst of all is Sara Allgood as a dear little old Irish lady - I feel sorry for Garfield - eternity in the fires of hell almost seem preferable to having to live with her for ever.

It's understandable why the story had to be changed for the remake. Attitudes had changed hugely since the 1920s so it would not have made sense for the 1940s young couple to kill themselves for the same reason as their earlier incarnations. Being made in the middle of the Second World War again influenced that film's mood. Death then was a familiar visitor to us then so one can understand the over sentimental approach which was particularly appealing to a war ravaged world.

Although OUTWARD BOUND is more interesting with its moody, slightly stoned feel, the somewhat hammy remake has one significant advantage - the perpetually lacklustre Helen Chandler is replaced by Eleanor Parker. Not only is she a million times better as an actress, she is stunningly beautiful and a pretty face really does make an imperfect film more watchable.

The theme of ferrying the dead through the final judgment to the afterlife was actually done much better in the excellent BBC tv show, LIFE ON MARS / ASHES TO ASHES but nevertheless it's fascinating to see how such a theme was presented in the past.

Between Two Worlds was a 1944 remake of the 1930 Leslie Howard film, Outward Bound, which was a hit on Broadway. This allegorical tale about death was the perfect World War II film and boasted a super ensemble cast--each and every cast member is wonderful. The stars, John Garfield, Paul Henreid, Eleanor Parker, and Sydney Greenstreet, give top-notch performances, but the film also boasts high points in the careers of Isobel Elsom, Faye Emerson, Dennis King, Sara Allgood, Gilbert Emery, and Edmund Gwenn. Each actor gets a share of the spotlight as they slowly discover their fate and face the final judgment. Nicely directed with a good set, although the music picks up bits from Casablanca. Moody and yes maybe talky by today's standards, but very effective and moving. My favorite is haughty Isobel Elsom, the great British actress who came to Hollywood in the mid 30s, after being one of England's biggest silent-film stars. She has the role Alison Skipworth played in the 1930 version, but her imperious demeanor takes on a whole new meaning in 1944, set against the war. This is the kind of film that can't be made any more, and when film-makers try, their efforts sink from view very quickly. Powerful and touching film filled with great moments. This one is a must see.

"Between Two Worlds" is a preachy and simplistic moral fantasy film, but it's somewhat interesting, for me at least, to compare it to the film it's a remake of, "Outward Bound" (1930), both of which are based on the original play. I haven't seen the play and, of course, I didn't see it originally in the 1920s. Like the character Scrubby, I've sailed back and forth with these other characters in their (relatively) eternal afterlife of film, but I never knew them in life, or live theatre. And like the films' other suicides, Henry and Ann, we the spectators willingly enter this other world, but we don't belong.

One thing I like about this 1944 remake compared to the 1930 adaptation is that it adds a theatrical act within the film, with the characters performing and being spectators. It's a play-within-a-play. Tom Prior leads the performance to reveal, in his snarky way, to his fellow passengers that they're all dead. Unlike in the 1930 film, which also had no scene like this, the passengers' deaths are no surprise to us spectators of the film. The film is adapted to the then-current WW2, with most of the passengers dying from an air raid and the suicides being given a partially new reason, as well, as resulting from Henry's trauma from the war. Apparently, because of the Hays Code, the young couple are now married, and Tom Prior doesn't actually do much drinking on screen.

I'm fine with doing away with the surprise, which actually wasn't much of one in the 1930 film, either. I suspected as much before Leslie Howard's version of Tom Prior exposed it, but, then, I had the knowledge it was a Hollywood film, so the fantastic mystery wouldn't remain unresolved or obscure surrealism à la Luis Buñuel's "The Exterminating Angel" (1962), for instance. Classic Hollywood films such as "Outward Bound" and "Between Two Worlds" are too simple for that, and they're always resolved. Anyways, I wish this remake would've done away with the play's later surprise, too, involving the relationship of two of the passengers, because it felt tacked on and tacky in both films.

Another improvement upon the 1930 version is the evolution of film style since the infancy of talkies from which "Outward Bound" failed to overcome. Thus, "Between Two Worlds" has a brisker pacing, with an average shot length of about 9 seconds compared to about 12.8 for "Outward Bound," despite the 1944 film also featuring several long tracking shots, the first of which references the 1930 film and the play's title on a sign. Another tracking shot I liked was the one involving a mirror, which Maxine--a character absent in the 1930 film and rather superfluous here--uses to examine herself in.

Yet, "Between Two Worlds" remains almost as stage-bound as the former film. For most of it, we're stuck in ship rooms with lots of talking, regardless of the amount of editing and deliberate camera movement. Thus, a lot depends on the acting and the script, neither of which is especially divine here. John Garfield's Tom Prior is remade a journalist for the remake, which, I guess, is the reason for his barrage of rat-a-tat insults as though he's auditioning for "The Front Page" (1931) or "His Girl Friday" (1940). Meanwhile, Sydney Greenstreet turns in another airy yet dignified performance as the Examiner, which would've been just as appropriate had he been judging Humphrey Bogart in a noir setting.

The 1930 film had more foggy and dreamlike atmosphere to it, including an obscured view of some kind of Heaven. The 1944 film, however, relies for atmosphere upon its score--another thing, as with most early talkies, missing from "Outward Bound." Fortunately, it's a rather good score.

I stumbled upon this film on TCM and found it engrossing enough to watch all the way through. It is a bit "talky," but that's what you want in a play, after all, so long as it's not boring!

Unlike some other reviewers, I found the music track intrusive and distracting and feel the movie would have worked more effectively without it, letting the words create their own "music," so to speak.

The performances are serviceable all around, with perhaps Edmund Gwenn the standout, as some have noted. I also enjoyed the "surprise ending," sort of a unique twist in this genre of "we're not-quite-dead" tales.

In any event, the next time this one comes around, I recommend it!

I saw this movie for the first time in the 70s. It was, up to that point in my life, one of the few film attempts to tell us what happens to us when we die. Is there a place between our life on planet earth and whatever lies beyond? The point the movie does deliver well is that there is accountability, and people get more than enough chances to do the right thing.

John Garfield, Sydney Greenstreet and Eleanor Parker and Edmund Gwynn are all excellent in their roles.

It's a little slow aboard ship. but the movie has to weave the subplots, which it does quite well, bringing everything into judgment, as it were. Stick through it, there's a well done ending waiting for you.

The entire production is very "stagey", contrived, and dated; the dialog is trite; the very interesting and capable actors give performances which are all over the map (Garfield is out of control); the direction is just awful; and the sets look like left-overs from an old version of "Titanic". Never the less it is quite unusual and compulsively watchable, and will keep most people entertained and guessing; its a bit like a 1944 version of "The Twilight Zone". With the right director, it would have been dynamite. The fact that some of the characters know what has happened to them while others do not keeps things interesting. When Sydney Greenstreet appears, you start wondering if Humphrey Bogart is going to pop up next!

I happened to catch this the other day on Turner Classic Movies. It had some terrific major talent - John Garfield, Sydney Greenstreet, Paul Henreid, Edmund Gwenn, as well as some lesser lights in the acting world. I didn't know that this was a remake of an earlier version. It left me wondering whether or not this was ever a stage play, because it played as terribly theatrical and over-dramatic; rather creaky, really. It is lesson in morality, of course, and the things we supposedly take for granted in this life, but seems thrust at the audience so amateurishly. It is a curio from the best period for Warner Brothers, but not something I'd go out of my way to recommend.