The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1981)

Just perfect...

A Masterpiece!

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

(This review is in essence a spoiler, so if you have not seen it yet, don't read this.) This "documentary" is really a docudrama.Nostradamus did not see tomorrow, nor did the interpreters of his writings. There are countless books on his writings, and they differ in their interpretations of the future, sometimes even on past events. The docudrama is entertaining though, just as long as you suspend disbelief. What is said about the past that supposedly came true, was after those events came to pass. What is said of the future... well, you be the judge. When I first saw it, I was fresh out of high school. It made an impact on me. But it has been more than 35 years, and the predictions of the future as interpreted at the time of the movie was made, have not panned out. I don't remember anything that has come to pass as interpreted in the movie. I would watch again to see if I discover or remember anything of importance, but it would be a waste of time.

I saw this movie in 1998 and warned my family and friends not to be near NYC in 1999. I felt a bit foolish until 9/11 happened 2 years later. the date was actually based on some planetary alignment predicted 500 years ago. New city of man made mountains, Fireballs, A secret leader from the middle east, terror terror terror.He further predicts that the leader will not be caught but will go into hiding and then emerge after forming an alliance with the dragon (asian nation?)If Osama bin Ladin doesn't form an alliance with (the dragon) then I will have to admit that this movie is just a big coincidence and cant be used to warn us of the future. I recommend watching this movie and decide for yourself.

In my view, "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow" makes an even better argument than it intends to, due to things that have happened since the movie came out. Michel de Nostradamus prophetized that the people's princess would get killed in a moving metallic object. We just recently passed the 25th anniversary of Grace Kelly's death and the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death, both in car wrecks.But there's more. According to Nostradamus, the third Antichrist (the first two being Napoleon and Hitler) would rise to power in the Middle East during the period of about 1994-1999 and launch an attack on a great city near the 45th parallel, which narrator Orson Welles says would probably be New York. How true it all came, even if this is all a matter of interpretation.Overall, the movie leaves it up to us to decide whether or not we believe that Nostradamus was right. Although you gotta admit that they make a pretty convincing case. Welles, speaking in a no-nonsense tone and smoking a cigar, creates a rather eerie feeling...the kind of eerie that makes you truly respect the work that they must have done to put this movie together.So, I recommend this one. While some of Nostradamus's prophecies obviously didn't come true, it's truly scary how accurate others turned out to be. As for the third Antichrist - presumably Osama bin Laden - plunging the world into a massive war, the Bush family's business ties to the bin Laden family have certainly turned the world into a powder keg. As for the future, we'll just have to see how things turn out. Worth seeing.PS: this was the second time that Orson Welles narrated a movie. The previous one was the 1975 documentary "Bugs Bunny Superstar", a look at the early days of Termite Terrace, padded with nine classic cartoons.

I saw this "documentary" on HBO in the early '80s when I was an impressionable youth. It, too, scared the hell out of me. But then I grew up, and realized that though history DOES repeat itself; it's only because blind human nature and ignorance leaves the steering-wheel to chance all too often...and the side-show master, Mr. N, was intelligent enough to realize this. It's far easier to open your ass to prophesy than to assert your will.The fact that The History Channel deigned this hour of tripe as being worthy of airing astounds me. I would never imagine that a reputable outlet of education would broadcast this fantasy within a couple of months of the horrors of September 11, 2001. Perhaps the Jihadi have it right when they condemned us to death for being Godless (or is it Allahless?): we readily consume this freakish "entertainment" instead of respecting the sanctity of our dead. Hooray! I have something to pontificate about at the water-cooler on Monday! As if I had an education and some social bearing.Then we have other morons who will spout the quatrains as fact. Like that idiot reporter in NYC on the DAY of the 9/11 attacks; with the smoldering wreckage of the WTC in the background, he quoted the fiction of Mr. N. I imagine this ass-lick was attempting to improve his career. Congratulations! I hear Santa and the Easter Bunny are plotting Apocalypse too. Next time, try to respect the slaughtered before manufacturing drama. I suppose it was all `inevitable' though.right?If you have any respect in yourself, your fellow man, and free will; view this fiction for entertainment purposes only.And please, PLEASE, shun the ignorant. In your heart, you know what need be done.