Forever and a Day (1943)

The brilliantly designed, one-of-a-kind film manages to create legitimate speaking parts for six dozen famous actors and actresses. The 1943 production, designed to boost British morale during the War, explores the experiences of a family through several generations. Also written and directed by teams of talented screenwriters and directors, the 106 minute film is remarkably coherent and engaging, and, of course, the steady parade of stars doing their thing (Buster Keaton as an inept plumber; Eric Blore as a smarmy butler, Charlie Ruggles as a concerned father, Claude Rains as a villainous suitor, and so on, and so on) is an utter delight.
The black-and-white source material is somewhat worn down, with numerous scratches and other markings. The image is reasonably sharp most of the time and contrasts are fairly well defined, even when parts of the picture appear grainy. The film’s condition tends to reinforce its wartime origins and does not present an insurmountable detriment to the entertainment. The monophonic sound is adequate and the film is not captioned.