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Too much of everything

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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 had never heard of BETWEEN TWO WORLDS or the play OUTWARD BOUND on which it is based (it is in fact a remake of a 1930 version of the play), until it came on Turner Classic Movies last night. I found it thoroughly charming.The plot as it is summed up on IMDb is as follows:"Several people are killed in a London air raid. They each awake aboard a strange ship which will deliver each of them either to heaven or hell. Their lives and stories are revealed as they individually begin to realize where they are."That is a good description of a film that often feels like an extended episode of "The Twilight Zone;" the basic theme is that each of us creates our own heaven or hell while on earth, a highly workable premise for this type of story.Though clearly a B picture, it has an A-list cast. John Garfield, as a wise-cracking reporter, was not yet an A-list star, but he was only two years away from his breakthrough in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. Paul Henreid already had two major A-list blockbusters to his credit: NOW, VOYAGER and CASABLANCA; I don't know whether his role here was a contractual obligation or the actor himself simply wanted to do it, but as usual he is compelling. And Eleanor Parker, a great actress who spent far too many years on the B list, is perfection as Henreid's devoted wife.Also on hand are some of Warners' finest character actors: George Coulouris as a business tycoon, George Tobias as a merchant seaman who has survived five torpedo attacks at sea only to die on land during an air raid while on his way home to see his baby daughter for the first time, Sydney Greenstreet as a celestial "examiner" whose job is to interview each "passenger" and decide his or her fate (though not being God the film does hint that each character's fate is not really his decision), and Sara Allgood as an English charwoman with a poignant secret.Some might find the proceedings depressing, and admittedly it does drag a bit in the final fifteen minutes or so, but this kind of religious fantasy is a particularly difficult genre to deal with, whether you're talking novels, the theatre, or films. And BETWEEN TWO WORLDS is an excellent addition to the genre. It may be a B picture but it is an exquisite little gem that should not be forgotten.

"Between Two Worlds" is one of the best examples of one of the rarest of move genres, a fantasy for grown-ups. I can't think of many other successful examples of this sort of thing off hand beyond, perhaps, Powell and Pressburger's "A Matter of Life and Death". By "adult" I do not, of course, mean that there is anything off-color or X-rated about the film. On the contrary, it's pretty tame by today's standards. This film is simply a fantasy for adults in the sense that it was not for or about children or adolescents. A small, ill-assorted group of people find themselves together at night on a fog-shrouded passenger ship with no other passengers, and no crew save for a single steward. Two of the passengers, who are slightly apart from the others, have committed suicide and are aware that they are dead. The others know nothing. The steward, who knows what is going on, caters to the passengers wishes and pretends that everything is normal.The film is very well done, with a first-rate cast of the sort of character actors they simply can't assemble anymore, wonderfully atmospheric sets, and set against an excellent Korngold musical score. I understand there was an earlier version with Leslie Howard, called "Outward Bound". I've never seen it, but it would be interesting to see it and compare it with this version.

"Between Two Worlds" is a remake of "Outward Bound" (1930), about a group of people aboard a fog-shrouded and otherwise-empty ship, seemingly sailing to nowhere. Paul Henreid and Eleanor Parker are lovers, John Garfield is a brash reporter, George Coulouris is a pompous and wealthy English industrialist, Faye Emerson is a gold-digging party girl, and George Tobias is a modest sailor in the Merchant Marine. They are joined by a society couple, a matronly older woman, and a priest. Many of the people find themselves on the ship after their car was nearly bombed during a WWII air raid, while Parker and Henreid have just attempted suicide via gas in an apartment.The ship's steward is Scrubby (Edmund Gwenn), who quietly makes everyone feel at home. Parker and Henreid's characters discover that the ship's passengers are actually dead, and are awaiting judgment from a mysterious person called "The Examiner". All of the passengers soon find out the truth, and nervously await the arrival of The Examiner, who soon walks through the door—in the rotund, massive form of Sydney Greenstreet! Taking the deceased priest as a trainee, Greenstreet judges each person one by one, and sends them to their respective fates, depending on how honorably they had lived their lives. All are judged except Parker and Henreid, who find that because they committed suicide, they are doomed to sail on the ship forever. The movie ends with Parker searching the ship for Henreid, hearing the sound of breaking glass, and suddenly waking up with Henreid, both of them quite alive.This is quite a heavy message movie, and is kept interesting by the charisma of the cast. In particular, Garfield, Coulouris, Gwenn, Tobias, and Greenstreet turn in convincing and at times poignant performances. In contrast, Parker and Henreid just look frightened the whole time, begging to stay together, while Emerson is not given enough screen time. I really enjoy the movie as a glimpse at people who know they are dead and are about to be judged by the highest authority, with generally fine acting and an intelligent story. However, the contrived "happy" ending seems completely out of place, and I think it really ends the movie on a false note. Not classic 1940s Hollywood, but pretty good on its own terms.