TOOMORROW (1970)
Label: Radiance Films
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 93 Minutes 47 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35.1)
Director: Val Guest
Cast: Olivia Newton-John, Roy Dotrice, Benny Thomas, Karl Chambers, Vic Cooper
Brit science-fiction musical Toomorrow (1970) is the ill-conceived brainchild of producers Harry Saltzman (007) and pop music impresario Don Kirshner (The Monkees) who sought to replicate the multi-media pop-culture success of The Monkees with a film that would introduce a new bubblegum-pop band to the world. The band was actually a real band, not a construction, consisting of band members Benny Thomas on guitar/vocals; Vic Cooper on keyboards; Karl Chambers on drums; and singer Olivia Newton-John. The film was directed by Val Guest (The Quatermass Xperiment, The Abominable Snowman), with special make-up designer Stuart Freeborn (Superman) and special effects by John Stears (Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope), and it was lensed by Dick Bush (The Blood on Satan's Claw), and a score by Hugo Montenegro (The Farmer).
The musical-minded film follow four London art college musicians whose songs catch the attention of an an androgynous alien race called the Alphoids, who just happen to have an alien observer stationed on Earth for the past 3000 years, John Williams (Roy Dotrice, Hellboy II: The Golden Army), who is tasked with recruiting the band and convincing them to travel to the alien's home world to perform. The main source of the good vibes seems to be a mix of heart and soul unique to the music, but also the particular effects of keyboardist Vic's "Tonaliser", a homemade creation of his own that imbues the music with a desired frequency the Alphoid's seem to groove on
The groovy slice of threadbare sci-fi pop euphoria is fun enough, the young cast are bubbly and fun, the band live in a communal house, and hang around a campus chock full of counterculture political and sexual activity, with appearances from Imogen Hassall (When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth), Tracey Crisp (Casino Royale), and blonde alien-construct bombshell Margaret Nolan (Goldfinger) as love-interests. With that said, the story is so shallow it won't wet you ankles while wading through it, but it is a fun bit of harmless and substanceless fluff. I might have liked it more, but the saccharine flower-power pop tunes did nothing for me, but it's hard to deny there's an effervescent charm about the young attractive cast particularly the the charming Olivia Newton John who is irresistibly cute.
The best part of this for me was the glimmering alien spacecraft which is a strobing crystalline construction with clear walls. The scenes inside the ship are my favorites with the aliens walking with a trippy looking phase effect, but I really found it to be a throwaway bit of pop confection. Now if the band was The Stooges or even Davie Allan and The Arrows, well, that would have pulled me right in, but not this weak-sauce bubblegum pop.
The story behind the troubled film is actually quite a bit more interesting that the film itself, it turns out that this was only in cinemas for a week when it was pulled because cheapskate Saltzman never paid director Val Guest for his work, so he took him to court and put an injunction on the film, and it ended up shelved and little seen for decades. This short theatrical window and lack of proper distribution would seem why the film is little heard of by most. It's home video releases prior to this Blu-ray were scarce, but die hard fans of Val Guest and Olivia Newton John should rejoice, for now this hard to come by rarity finally gets a proper restoration and HD release from Deaf Crocodile, thanks to a partnership with the BCI.
Audio/Video: Toomorrow (1970) makes it's debut U.S. release via Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen, having been restored by the British Film Institute and Deaf Crocodile from the original 35mm negative. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The film looks wonderful, there are some visible scratches and white speckling but the vibrant colors shine, with accurate looking skin tones, and strong blacks. The mono audio is solid as well, dialogue is always easy to understand, the Toomorrow band songs are full-bodied, as is the score by Hugo Montenegro.
Special features start off with a new Audio commentary by author & music historian Andrew Sandoval, a 65-min Archival video interview with director/writer Val Guest, conducted by The Guardian newspaper (1998), 8-min “The Nose Has It” (1942) which is a WWII propaganda short that warns against spreading germs, which was directed by Val Guest and stars comedian Arthur Askey (The Ghost Train), plus a 13-min“If I Could Turn You On” (1969, dir. Bernard Coyne), a black and white experimental film documenting an avant-garde performance at the Camden Roundhouse, which is one of the locations used in the film.
Next up, the 12-min “Toomorrow: Musical Humanism Through the Stars”, a new visual essay by film critic Celeste de la Cabra, plus a 10-min New visual essay by Someone’s Favorite Productions featuring a 1988 audio interview for the British Entertainment History Project with director Val Guest discussing his work on the film, moderated by Roy Fowler. The single-disc release arrives in a clear full-height keepcase with a two-sided non-reversible wrap featuring artwork by Beth Morris.
Special Features:
- New audio commentary by author & music historian Andrew Sandoval
- Archival video interview with director/writer Val Guest, conducted by The Guardian newspaper (1998, 1:04:57)
- “The Nose Has It” (1942, 8:04) – delightful WWII propaganda short about the danger of spreading germs, directed by a young Val Guest and starring comedian Arthur Askey.
- “If I Could Turn You On” (1969, 12:44, dir. Bernard Coyne) – stark experimental film documenting an avant-garde performance at the Camden Roundhouse, one of the locations used in TOOMORROW.
- “Toomorrow: Musical Humanism Through the Stars” – new visual essay by film critic Celeste de la Cabra (11:56)
- New visual essay by Someone’s Favorite Productions featuring a 1988 audio interview for the British Entertainment History Project with director Val Guest discussing his work on TOOMORROW, moderated by Roy Fowler (10:02)
Screenshots from the Deaf Crocodile Blu-ray:
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