There's Always Tomorrow - Barbara Stanwyck

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Douglas Sirk
USA 1956

Douglas Sirk is best known for his highly stylized Technicolor melodramas, but he also did superlative work in restrained black and white. There's Always Tomorrow is a virtuoso study in tones, ranging from the blinding sunlight of a desert resort to the expressionist shadows of the suburban home where Fred MacMurray lives in unhappy union with Joan Bennett. Barbara Stanwyck is the old flame who turns up by accident, rekindling for MacMurray the dangerous illusion that happiness is still possible.

Excerpt from Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader

Between his twin masterpieces All That Heaven Allows and Written on the Wind, Douglas Sirk created this razor-sharp study of male crisis, both a glittering testament to love’s labours lost and his most unforgiving vision of suburban conformity.

Disregarded and neglected by his family, executive toy manufacturer Clifford Groves (Fred MacMurray) is unexpectedly reunited with his former co-worker Norma Miller (Barbara Stanwyck). As the old friends catch up on lost time, his children’s suspicions and hostility to the new relationship threaten to push their father away permanently and throw into disarray the lives of all concerned.

With crystalline, noir-tinged cinematography from Russell Metty (Touch of Evil) and heartbreaking performances by Stanwyck and MacMurray, reunited 12 years after Double Indemnity in their final on-screen pairing, There’s Always Tomorrow finds one of Hollywood’s greatest dramatists at his finest. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present this little-seen classic in a new special edition..

Excerpt from MoC website located HERE

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Theatrical Release: January 20th, 1956

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DVD Review: Eureka (Masters of Cinema) - Region 2 - PAL

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Masters of Cinema Spine #86 - Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	1:21:21 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.85:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.51 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Eureka Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Edition Details: • Days with Sirk, a 61-minute documentary from 2008 featuring rare interview footage with Sirk shot in 1982 (1:00:36) • Original theatrical trailer • Original dialogue and continuity script (in PDF form) • Booklet featuring an essay by Andrew Klevan, excerpts from a 1977 interview with Sirk and rare production stills DVD Release Date: February 22nd, 2010 Transparent Keep Case Chapters: 14

Comments:

There's Always Tomorrow also came out on DVD via Carlotta in France, November 2008, both individually and in Douglas Sirk, le maître du mélodrame hollywoodien - vol. 2 reviewed by DVDBeaver HERE. I can't tell any difference at all in the transfer quality between that and this Masters of Cinema edition - which makes me believe they are from the exact same source. For SD-DVD the image quality is exceptional. It is very clean with wonderful grain visible - dual-layered, progressive and anamorphic. I doubt it could look any better in this format. I understand there is an Australian DVD edition as well, but I don't own it to compare.

Audio is 2.0 channel and very clean and clear. Unlike the French version this has optional English (SDH) subtitles (sample below). As with the Carlotta I did notice the PAL speedup, which I am usually not that sensitive to, only because I have seen MacMurray/Stanwyck in Double Indemnity so many times (which is hard to forget).

There are different extras - the MoC has the magnificent hour-long, 2008, documentary on Sirk (Days With Sirk) - also found in the French boxset (on the All I Desire disc). It is excellent and covers a lot of ground. It's great to hear him speak in interviews and the foreign language parts (French or German) are optionally subtitled in English. There is also a theatrical trailer actually from an incomplete safety element (lacking on-screen text) and is not representative of the finished trailer audiences may have seen in 1956. Accessible via a computer on the disc is the original dialogue and continuity script (in PDF form) and the package includes another fabulous MoC booklet featuring an essay by Andrew Klevan, excerpts from a 1977 interview with Sirk and rare production stills. This is a huge bonus to have with the DVD.

A huge treat to, again, watch this film that gets better with repeat viewings. There is so much to examine even beyond the melodrama triangle, mid-life crisis and male-female dynamic for with both adults and adolescents. LOVED the 50's household - furniture and fashions (check out Stanwyck's black + white diamond vest). Very cool in so many respects and the good news is the healthy pre-order savings (hence our very early review). Highly recommended!

Gary W. Tooze

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