"Hold Back Tomorrow" is one of the stranger films I've ever seen. Not bad at all...just very strange. And, it's because the film is so unusual that I recommend you see it.

When the story begins, Joe (John Agar) is on death row...a day before his scheduled execution. Unlike most prisoners in such situations, Joe is not repentant and wants everyone to just shut up and leave him alone. But, after the warden offers to give him ANY last request, Joe decides he wants to have a woman spend his final hours with him. While this sounds like he wants to get some, he just wants someone to talk to.

At the same time, a seriously depressed woman tosses herself into the river. She is saved...and yells at the stranger who saved her. Ultimately, she is the woman who is asked to spend Joe's final night with him in his prison cell.

This is a very odd film. On one hand, the plot is completely ridiculous as wardens do NOT offer the condemned ANYTHING they want...no questions asked! And, having a stranger spend a the night with the condemned...well, that sure isn't gonna happen! But if you can suspend disbelief, the film is amazing. First, while about 95% of the story consists of the pair just talking in one room, it's never boring. Second, for years, John Agar has been known as one of the worst actors alive. But here, with the right material, he shows his acting chops. After playing most of the story angry in a one-note performance, later he changes and his depth of talent shows. Cleo Moore is also quite good as the girl. Overall, a film which really works once you stop worrying about the improbability of it all. A really nice low-budgeted movie...one which I almost gave a 9.

This is my favourite performance from the otherwise rather sterile John Agar. He is "Joe", on death row having been found guilty of strangling three women. He's decided to go out in Garbo style, wanting to be alone and angrily resisting any attempts from his family, or the priest, to comfort him as the big day nears. With twenty-four hours to go, though, he decides that the "company" of a lady might help ease his burden and obliged to help him out, the prison manage to recruit "Dora" (Cleo Moore). Now she's not in a very good place either - indeed had earlier tried to jump in the river; so a few dollars for a quickie with "Joe" didn't seem such a bad offer. Whilst there is certainly a predictability about the latter portion of this drama, it's still performed well and is tautly directed by Hugo Haas. Moore delivers an impassioned effort, indeed in many ways her character is far more intriguing than the sorry-for-himself "Joe". It is a bit dialogue-heavy, but for the most part that dialogue is worth listening to as we head towards the expected denouement - expected on just about every level. It does sail perilously close to melodrama at times, but it has a compensating grittiness and realism that I felt made this a much better than average tale to tell. You probably won't remember it for long afterwards, but it's enthralling enough when you watch.

An interesting mixture of film Noir and religious drama come together in a surprising package that left me completely surprised. Cleo Moore, one of the great blonde bombshell's of the 1950s, has dark hair here, obviously a metaphor to represent the darkness in her soul. She's an apparent prostitute who has just attempted suicide and is chosen out of the blue to visit death row inmate John Agar who is about to be hung for a series of strangling deaths of young women. At first, Moore and Agar do not see eye-to-eye and the awkwardness between them creates much tension. He becomes angry when she tries to analyze him, declaring that he never cries. Indeed, he does not, and with the clock ticking towards the time for him to be escorted to the gallows, their attitudes towards each other change. a car begins to reveal more about his inner self, and this brings more out of her shell as well. As the title theme song plays on the radio, they begin to dance and it becomes a very apparent that love has grown between this troubled couple who have only been brought together by the most bizarre of circumstances. It's through the writing of producer/director Hugo Haas that this takes on a unique perspective in an impossible situation.

While this film has definite implausibilities, as the two characters begin to reveal who they are underneath the surface, you can't help but begin to like them, even though he is a brutal killer and she is a troubled woman of the street. This shows that even the darkest of souls can have some sort of light once love comes into the picture, and the way the script presents the two of them together, it is not impossible to imagine this happening in a situation like this even though the circumstances are seemingly absurd. The two actors do an excellent job in making their characters flesh out, and because of that, it is easier to forgive the script for some of its ridiculous situations and some of the psychological babbling that occurs between the two as they argue and try to point out things that they see in each other. While the ending is obvious, there is a bit of Hope with what happens within the last 10 minutes that these seemingly dark souls will find light somewhere in the next World or in their continuing world on the planet that they reside in.