Almost the entire movie is told in flashback, as the reminiscences of a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Flashing back to the late 1800s, we see Dick Powell as a young reporter who comes into possession of a few newspapers that have tomorrow's news a day early. He uses this advance knowledge to become a success and woo his girl (Linda Darnell). They have several hair-raising adventures, and the girl's father, a stage illusionist who uses his daughter in a fake clairvoyance demonstration, at first does not approve of the relationship. But Dick Powell's character wins the day, and fortunately, the news of his untimely death proves to be a reporting error. (You know this from the outset, since the story is told in flashback, but it's still quite exciting.)
I think the movie would have been more interesting (to me) if the story had NOT been told in flashback and had been set in modern times. Without the opening scenes from the present time, letting us know that the main characters survived, the ending would have been more suspenseful. I wonder if the writers/producers had a possible sequel in mind, since they left the first half of the 20th century open to play with in a subsequent film. It would have been a fun history exercise to choose the most interesting day to gain advance knowledge of. On the other hand, this movie was made in 1944, and there was a lot of war news at that time that no one would want a day early. Maybe the 19th century setting made the story comfortably far from those grim events.
René Clair directed this, and I found it similar in many ways to his previous film, I Married a Witch--both films make use of a supernatural element, madcap adventures, broadly drawn characters, and a light touch. However, many people consider I Married a Witch to be a screwball comedy, but I don't see how one could squeeze It Happened Tomorrow into that category.
