Toomorrow (1970)

For many years Toomorrow (1970) was, in effect, a 'lost' film, pretty much unavailable to the public after having played for only seven days in London in 1970, (apart from an isolated screening in LA in 2000).  Much of the continued interest in the film, despite its unavailability, is the fact that it represents the feature film debut of Olivia Newton-John, (she had previously appeared in an Australian TV film musical).  But her appearance in Toomorrow isn't as the solo artist she was to become known as, but rather as the lead singer of the short-lived group 'Toomorrow'.  If you've never heard of the group, then that isn't surprising, as this self-titled film was supposed to be their debut.  Apart from the little seen film, the only other evidence of their existence is the movie's accompanying soundtrack LP and two singles which didn't much trouble the charts, also released in 1970.  'Toomorrow' were, like the 'Monkees', a manufactured pop group, created by Don Kirshner and while the 'Monkees' had been launched and publicised via an eponymous TV series, the plan was to launch 'Toomorrow' through this eponymous movie.  

Co-produced by Jame Bond co-producer Harry Saltzman and with a 'zany' style tapping into the UK youth culture of the late sixties, not to mention a then fashionable space based plot (the first moon landing had been in 1969 and the US space programme was still in full swing), on paper, at least, Toomorrow had all the ingredients to be a success.  To be fair, it wasn't withdrawn from cinemas because it was a critical, financial or popular failure, (it wasn't in cinemas long enough for audiences to be able to make up their minds as to its merits), but rather due to a legal dispute.  Not only had Kirshner reportedly fallen out with Saltzman over the direction of the project but, most crucially, neither director Val Guest nor other members of the production crew, been paid for their work on the film.  Guest consequently took out an injunction preventing the movie's further distribution until he and the crew had been paid.  He apparently never was, so the film stayed in the vaults until a DVD release was licensed by Guest's estate in 2012.

Having finally seen this version, the question is, of course, is Toomorrow actually any good?  The first thing to note is that the version released on DVD is of pretty low quality, looking as if it has been transferred from a video tape and it is in mono rather than stereo.  If you can get past the slightly fuzzy, low resolution, picture and the flat sound, though, the film does have some points of interest.  Like all movies of its era, it captures a snapshot of late sixties London youth culture, complete with student protests, although the protest that plays a central pat in the film's plot is of the peaceful type, involving sit ins and lots of marching around with placards, rather than the violent kind that gripped many campuses at this time.  We also get an intriguing look at the 'Roundhouse' venue and a very vivid portrayal of typical student accommodation of the time - the sort of grotty accommodation I remember my older sister living in when she moved to London in the early seventies: a decaying Edwardian town house crudely subdivided into tiny bedrooms with shared cooking and bathing facilities, with integral peeling paint and damp.  The students themselves, as is usual in such films, are all far too old to be at art college, (even Olivia Newton-John was in her early twenties), not to mention too clean cut.  'Toomorrow' themselves are carefully constructed to cover as wide a demographic as possible: the pretty Australian girl singer, the American guitarist, the, as we'd say nowadays, geeky British keyboard player and the black American drummer.  Just like 'The Monkees', they all use their real names as character names and all, despite their individual quirks, are essentially inoffensive.  Even the womanising guitarist, who's knocking off one of his lecturers as well as just about any other girl who crosses his path.

Also like 'The Monkees', 'Toomorrow' were intended to be a multimedia phenomena, their music embedded in a series of 'whacky' adventures of the sort that sixties and early seventies youth indulged in, (or so middle aged TV, music and film producers supposed).  Hence, the film Toomorrow has them involved with aliens.  Indeed, the film opens quite strikingly, with a pillar of light moving across London early in the morning, finally halting in the garden of a large house, where it is used by the occupant to 'beam up' to a flying saucer.  On arriving, the apparently human occupant takes off his skin, to reveal that, like the saucer's other occupants, he too is an alien.  Whereupon, we have the plot laid out for us, as it turns out the newly 'beamed up' alien is an observer who has been on earth for thousands of years, who wearily informs his compatriots that nothing has changed and that mankind has still made no worthwhile steps toward maturity.  He is, however, told that their race, the Alphoids, are becoming immune to the 'cosmic vibrations' which are essential for their existence, but that a new type of harmonic vibration has been detected on earth. Needless to say, it comes from the music of 'Toomorrow', most specifically from an electronic instrument made by that geeky keyboard player, called a 'tonaliser'.

With the plot this set up, the rest of the film involves the efforts of the aliens to abduct the band in order for them to play to the universe, interspersed with the band's own attempts to get to a pop festival at the 'Roundhouse', where they have been booked as a last minute replacement act, all the while being distracted by their various romantic entanglements and the ongoing student protest at their college.  While it is clear that the intent was for the film's action to evoke not just 'The Monkees' TV show, but also the earlier 'Beatles' films, most specifically Help!, in truth they reminded me more of some the early seventies children's TV series and Children's Film Foundation films that used to turn up on British TV.  In particular, much of it reminded me of The Double Deckers, albeit with an older cast.  That said, it is all well staged and the effects work is pretty good for this kind of film and era.  In particular, the scenes aboard the flying saucer are surprisingly effective, with some striking production design, while aliens themselves are surprisingly effective. Nonetheless, they feel jarring in comparison with the depictions of the band's regular antics, as if two different films have been awkwardly cut together.  It is all directed with the smooth professionalism one would expect from a veteran director like Guest, (who, while never a 'big name' or critically lauded director, had enjoyed successes across a wide range of genres, from Hammer films in the fifties -including the first two Quatermass adaptations - to spy thrillers in the sixties and even sex comedies in the seventies), who moves it all along at a good pace, juggling the various elements thrown up by his own script quite deftly.

Some of the plot elements do seem to come from left-field though, often giving the impression that their main function is to pad out the running time.  This is particularly true of the sub-plot involving 'Johnson', the alien in female form, (to whom all men look alike), that the observer sends to distract the keyboardist from his romantic complications with his ballerina girl friend, (but not before familiarising her with earth mating customs by taking her to see several sex movies that 'she' finds hilarious).  While these scenes are, undeniably, amusing, they are also pretty much superfluous.  'Johnson' is played Margaret Nolan, a familiar face to sixties and seventies audiences, appearing in a number of Carry On films, not to mention Goldfinger, invariably playing the sort of sexy blonde temptresses she parodies here.  She is one of a number of familiar faces whose performances enhance Toomorrow immensely:  Rot Dotrice is excellent as 'John Williams', the alien observer, gradually loosening up to embrace youth culture as the film progresses, while Imogen Hassell is the ballerina girl friend, Tracy Crisp - in contrast to her usual roles - is a music lecturer and Roy Marsden is unrecognisable as the alien Alpha.  Also to be seen amongst the student body are Diane Keane and Shakira Caine.  While the supporting cast are unusually strong, the film's biggest asset is undoubtedly Olivia Newton-John: beautiful, talented, sweet and likeable, she has magnetic screen presence.  Indeed, by comparison, the rest of the band are bland and easily forgettable, despite the script's attempts to give them distinct characters, (only drummer Karl Chambers, of the other three, went on to a successful musical career, working with the likes of Gladys Knight and other Philadelphia based acts; keyboardist Vic Cooper seems to have vanished without trace, while guitarist Benny Thomas later enjoyed some success as an actor in US daytime soap operas).

In the final analysis, while Toomorrow is an enjoyable enough film, its problem is that it is entirely inoffensive and has no real feel for the actual youth culture of its era.  Which is hardly surprising as, like many other 'youth' orientated pictures, it was made by middle aged men whose idea of 'modern' music was jazz, (supposedly 'turned on' young characters in seventies exploitation films frequently listen to jazz, hang out in jazz clubs and attend jazz festivals).  In fact, its attitude to actual youth culture becomes apparent early on when, confronted with his first look at 'Toomorrow', the observer cynically comments that they are far too clean looking to succeed.  Which is why it is questionable whether the group would ever have enjoyed musical success in the seventies, even if the film had been released properly - popular music was changing rapidly as the seventies dawned, with stuff like heavy rock, prog rock and glam rock gaining ground.  'Toomorrow;, on the basis of what we see and hear of them in the film, seemed just too inoffensive and middle of the road to make any real impact.  There's nothing really distinctive about them.  Which isn't surprising, as they were a manufacture band embedded in a film presenting a manufactured and sterilised version of sixties youth culture.   As I said, Toomorrow is enjoyable in its own way, but its constant juggling of different genres is not only distracting but also self defeating as it never feels satisfying as either a science fiction musical or a 'madcap' pop adventure along the lines of Help! or The Monkees TV series.