This post is part of Comfy, Cozy Christmas, a feature that Erin with Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs suggested. You can find a link-up page at the top of the page and can link up your own holiday-related posts.

This week as I get ready for the Christmas season, I decided to look for Christmas movies from the 1930s and 1940s I’d never seen before. I scanned the list that came up after I typed “1930’s and 1940s Christmas movies” in the search bar and found one I hadn’t heard of, Beyond Tomorrow. It was also apparently called Beyond Christmas at one time.

I also found an article that listed several “forgotten Christmas movies” from that era and I plan to watch a couple more over the next three weeks.

Beyond Tomorrow was released in 1940. It was also titled Beyond Christmas. The movie is a bit quirky in some ways, but also very sweet. I’ll try not to summarize too much or give away too many spoilers so don’t fret if you haven’t seen it. I won’t tell you everything.

The movie follows the story of three old men (Michael O’Brien, George Melton, and Allan Chadwick) who served together in the army and are living in the same house and looking back on their lives with some sadness and regret. They want to help others to make up for some of their regrets, and we learn that they have given away wallets for Christmas.

There is a Russian woman living with the men named Madam Tanya. Toward the beginning of the movie, she gives the men an award that would have been an honor in her old country and says to them, “Joseph, when I had jewels and land and purses, I was often greedy and discontent. When everything was taken away, except my life, I learned that the way to be really happy is to serve others, to be needed, so don’t be sorry for me or for what was lost.”

The household is a buzz as we begin the movie because it is Christmas Eve and some special visitors are coming for dinner. They are a couple who have traveled the world extensively and two of the men are excited but George, a rather morose fellow, is not happy because he isn’t every happy it seems. In fact, when the movie opens he mumbles something about Christmas being a silly holiday.

When the couple eventually cancels, George blames himself and says it is because of some scandal he was involved in in his past.

It’s never really elaborated on what that was but the other men say they are sure it has nothing to do with that. Michael then suggests they take some of the extra wallets they handed out for charity, slide their cards inside with $10, and toss the wallets out the window onto the street and see if three honest people will pick them up and come back to the house to return them.

Whoever returns the wallets with the money in them will be invited to the dinner that is already ready for them.

George doesn’t think anyone will show up but eventually two people do.

First, we have James Houston (who I swear said John Houston when he was first introduced), a cowboy from Texas. He came to New York City for a rodeo and ended up staying around but will be heading back to Texas again soon.

Next, we have Jean Lawerence and when James Houston sees her he smiles and is clearly enchanted. Love at first sight.

The young couple agrees to stay for dinner and after dinner, James amazes everyone with his singing voice, especially Jean. As soon as he sings with that caroling group that stops by she has eyes only for him.

“I dream of Jeannie with the light brown hair,” John sings right to Jean and she is mesmerized

Michael O’Brien is also mesmerized. He gets very teary in one of the sweetest breakaways I’ve seen in a movie. He sincerely looked touched.

During a scene where everyone sings Jingle Bells, we see the diversity in the house from the Russian countess and butler, a German or Swedish maid and an Italian chef.

Before the couple parts ways, Jean invites the men and countess to come to the children’s hospital the next night to sing carols. Jean is a Kindergarten teacher and teaches and entertains the children while they recover.

Jim arrives and meets up with Jean and they connect more, clearly falling in love.

Events develop from there, is all I’ll say, but tragedy strikes, and the three men must work hard to keep the couple together in a very unconventional way.

After the tragedy the movie becomes a bit of a supernatural movie with ghosts and dark clouds and voices from beyond the grave, but for very good reasons.

The movie was considered a “B-movie” at the time so it did not feature any big-name actors.

Veteran actors Harry Carey (real name), Charles Winniger, and C. Aubrey Smith star in the movie, which was directed by A. Edward Sutherland.

All three men looked vaguely familiar to me. An article on the TCM site explained why each man might look familiar to some.

Wittinger, playing an Irishman, looked especially familiar to me.

According to TCM, “Charles Winninger’s cherubic face graced many a picture in his long career from 1915 to 1960, including Nothing Sacred (1937), Destry Rides Again (1939), and State Fair (1945). His best-known role, which he created on Broadway before playing in the first film version, was as Cap’n Andy in Show Boat (1936).”

Carey was originally a silent film star and would star in a John Ford film, Three Godfathers, in 1948.

Smith was a very well-known character actor. Films he would be known for include:

From the TCM article:  “Already over 50 when he began his film career in 1915, his amazing longevity and ability to convey his specific type of stock character in a wide range of stories carried him through more than 100 pictures up to his last, at the age of 85, Little Women (1949). When he wasn’t busy standing up for the Empire in such films as Clive of India (1935) and The Four Feathers (1939), he could be seen supporting the likes of Katharine Hepburn in Morning Glory (1933), Jean Harlow in Bombshell (1933) and China Seas (1935), and Irene Dunne in the war melodrama The White Cliffs of Dover (1944), his upper lip stiff for another dark time in English history.”

The movie was not well received by critics in its time, but I found the movie heartwarming with many sweet and memorable moments and quotes.

I watched the movie for free on Tubi, but it is also free on YouTube and Plex and available for rent on many other streaming services.

Here are some of the other movies that are considered “lesser known” which I plan to pick one or two from to watch.

https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/lesser-known-classic-christmas-movies-from-the-1940s