The Man Who Saw Tomorrow

[Mr_Vindictive]

Anybody remember this flick from back in '81?

I remember seeing it numerous times on HBO during the late 80s/early 90s.  The film had Orson Welles narrating the story of Nostradamus and his various visions throughout the years.

I remember in particular towards the end that they said Nostradamus predicted a nuclear war with vampiric humans rising from the war.  Also remember something about a leader of the middle east using numerous weapons.

Anyway, anyone else other than myself remember this flick?  I'll have to look for it on DVD sometime.  It'd be great to see this again.

[nobody]

They occasionally play this on the History Channel- ever since 9/11 and everyone's phony "nostradamus predictions" about the terrorist attacks.

The vision of the future in this show is very comical. The evil arab who's supposed to be the third (and final) great evil power looks goofy as all hell- wearing his silk blue turbin, leading a state of the art arab command center into ww3.

Other than the ending, however, this show doesn't offer much entertainment.

[Scott]

I remember seeing THE MAN WHO SAW TOMORROW. Always liked the end time type "documentary" type stuff. You can still find THE MAN WHO SAW TOMORROW with Orson Welles  in many video stores and I believe I've seen it recently in the Suncoast cheapie DVD section for under $10.00. Wouldn't mind seeing that one again sometime.

[The Burgomaster]

I remember watching it on cable a few times back in the 80s.  I wouldn't mind seeing it again.  Skaboi and nobody are right . . . the movie does say that someone from the Middle East wearing a blue turban would start a nuclear war.  But I think it was supposed to have happened in 1999.  Lucky for us Nostradamus was wrong.

[Yaddo42]

It has aired on History Channel during the past couple of years like nobody said, good for a laugh if nothing else. Between the evil arab launching his nuclear arsenal of missiles that look like leftovers from a Godzilla movie or an Ultraman episode, the usual Nostradamus nonsense, and seeing poor Orson Welles slumming for money yet again to try to fund his own films this one has much to laugh at.

At least they didn't rely on the old "Hisler = Hitler" argument even though the film claims he was legit.

Of course the double feature for it would be the Japanese Nostradamus "classic" - Last Days of Planet Earth. Reviewed here IIRC. Double the end time corniness. Would love to see the unchopped version of that one.

[Eirik]

During World War II, both the British and Germans dropped pamphlets on each other containing selectively translated Nostradamus quatrains predicting the others' doom.  Of course right after September 11th, bogus quatrains appeared from all over.  There was another bogus one claiming Nostradamus predicted a "fool" would lead the great world power into the thirs Millenia (ie. Bush).  The problem is that if you ACCURATELY translate the quatrains, they're pretty much all really vague and open to many interpretations.  The ones where he seems very specific about what will happen are way way way off - and clearly based on the current events of his times - stuff like the Turks invading Europe and pushing all the way to Flanders before being stopped... in 1985.  Additionally, the dates are all given in terms of astrological phenomena, not actual from-the-birth-of-Christ numbers.  And a lot of those phenomena happen regularly and frequently, making it impossible to say what year something will happen.

And the third anti-Christ specifically came from Persia... today's Iran.

It's a lot of hogwash.  The guy was an entertainer.

[Dave Munger]

How come people seem more impressed by Nostradamus than by Revelation and the OT prophets? Their track record is better, and they're really not as vague, read as a whole.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Just wanted to clarify that I didn't say that I belived anything that was said in the film but that from what I remember, it was entertaining and worth tracking down.

As for Revelation and the OT prophets, I believe just as much in them as Nostradamus, which means that it's all just literature to me.