THE WORST WE CAN FIND - Christmas Advent Calendar: Day 22 - BEYOND CHRISTMAS

 

It’s Day 22 of The Worst We Can Find Christmas Advent Calendar and it’s time to return to Bridge and Mary Jo over at RiffTrax with the sweet, forgotten Christmas movie, Beyond Christmas

Beyond Christmas (1940)

Program: RiffTrax

Air-Date: December 15, 2017

 

The original movie poster (with original title) and the RiffTrax steaming artwork.

Movie Plot: Three older, successful businessmen live in the same house in the big city: Michael (Charles Winniger), who is the most joyous of the three; Allan (C. Aubrey Smith), who misses his son that died in the Great War; and George (Harry Carey), who is miserable and anti-social due to his past involvement in legal matters that has turned many against him. 

It’s Christmas Eve and a planned party looks to derail when the couple that was to join them declines because George will be there. To cheer everyone up, Michael stages a game where each throws a new wallet out their window to the busy sidewalk below. Each wallet contains $10 and their business card, with the objective to prove that people are ultimately good in nature. George’s wallet is picked up by Arlene (Helen Vinson), who takes the money and throws away the wallet.  The other two wallets are picked up people who return them: James (Richard Carlson, of Tormented fame) and Jean (Jean Parker). They are two young people new to the city and it is clear to the men that they have an eye for each other.

The trio have a great dinner with the pair and begin inviting them to various functions and outings to try to match them up. Their scheme works, with James proposing to Jean, and they arrive at the men’s home only to discover that the trio just died in a plane crash. Michael, in preparation for the two eventually getting married, left them several bonds and James is asked to stay at the home by the servant, Madam Tanya (Maria Ouspenskaya, who many of you may recognize as Bela Lugosi’s mom in The Wolfman).

Unknown to everyone, the threesome are soon back at the house as ghosts, with Michael determined to make sure that James and Jean stay together. James, however, has finally gotten a big break with his singing career and finds Arlene latching on to him, knowing he’s on his way up. Michael can clearly see the mechanics involved in Arlene’s attention and is upset to see James ignoring Jean, but there’s little he can do.

And little time left. It is George’s time and is called to Hell, which he does without reservations, feeling he would be a hypocrite if he tried to reform after death. Allan leaves soon after as well, but his destination is Heaven, where his son, wife, and all his friends from the past are ready for him. Michael finds himself left behind and finally gets the calling, but refuses to leave James and Jean in their time of need, even after being warned that to stay means no entrance into Heaven later and he will wander the Earth for eternity.

Arlene convinces James to join her on a vacation, quite aware that her ex-husband is stalking her. The Ex-husband arrives at a restaurant and shoots Arlene dead and gravely wounds James. As Jean waits outside the operating room, it appears James has died, full of regret over how he treated Jean and wanting to go back. Michael convinces Heaven to let James live. Michael is then invited into Heaven, along with George, who saw the light of his friends guiding him out of the darkness. They transcend to Heaven as the movie ends.

Thoughts: Beyond Christmas is commonly remembered as Beyond Tomorrow and only took on the Christmas title in the past twenty years. Most articles mention that another alternate title was And So Goodbye, but that appears to have been during the scripting phase and not when the movie was finally released.  While only the introduction of James and Jean take place at Christmas time, the otherworldly structure of the story leans towards the film being considered a Christmas movie, so the title change isn’t too outlandish here.

If you’re any fan of black and white Hollywood pictures, you’re bound to at least kinda recognize everyone in the cast, and certain MST3K fans will recognize Richard Carlson for obvious reasons (Bridget and Mary Jo even make direct reference to Tormented late in the riffing). As a movie from RKO that was aimed for second-billing status, there are times were the production teams can get away with things that you wouldn’t in A-pictures. The scene where George knowingly goes to Hell because he believes he should go there is very candid for the time and makes his redemption at the end a logical closure that would not have worked if somehow the production had to NOT allow him to go to Hell in the first place. The killing of Arlene and then the throw-away line that she had no soul to send onward is a bit shocking as well for the time. It’s moments like these and others that help make the movie stand out in a way that with a better-known cast or production may not have been available.

The reviews at the time called it preposterous and sappy, but the movie is a vastly warm, sweet little movie that ultimately works and wouldn’t be out of place in a double feature with Powell’s A Matter of Life and Death (especially with the ending operation scenes matching up in a way). What Mary Jo and Bridget bring to it is the chance to laugh at some of the minor inane things and the slower parts, but even these dedicated riffers congratulate the movie in the end for winning them over., making it a case of a good movie made even better with the riffing.

Favorite Riff: (a bell-ringing “Santa” is out on the streets, ringing for donations)

Mary Jo:  Ha, ho, ho! I need a new stereo. I mean give to charity!

The Riffing: Mary Jo and Bridget always team up in the movies and shorts that they do in such a way that it feels like sitting on the couch with a couple of old friends and hearing their gossip at times, more than a strict riffing of a movie. That possibly would not work for everyone, but and perhaps at times they can come across as being more gentle than necessary with a movie or short, but it makes for at least a pleasant diversion with every riff they do and nearly always a great one to watch (and if you haven’t checked out their work before, try one of the TEEN-AGERS movies they riffed for examples of how skilled they are at their game).

As mentioned, what makes this work even better here is that the pair at last give the impression that they gradually begin to like the movie they’re watching and invested in seeing what happens to the character. When George goes off to Hell, it would be easy to mock the movie for rather cheap effects, but they instead see the sadness in what is happening, even if it is a little confusing. The only real deflating part of the film is when we must sit through James’ rise in stardom, but Mary Jo and Bridget keep things moving along and we get over that bump back to the good parts of the plot. It all makes for an excellent combination and while it may not be the best ever work done at RiffTrax, it is certainly in the top tier and personally I considered the best riff done by the pair out of number of strong ones by them over time. 

Beyond Christmas is available on Amazon Prime and the RiffTrax site.  Check it out!