MORNING FOR MR. PROTHERO

A modernizing of the doubting Thomas theme, for Thomas Prothero, who has retired from surgery in 1918, who has been estranged from his wife, and in despair over his son, Andrew, a mental case of World War I, knows he is near death. But a Scots voice offers him a chance and he finds himself transported to his old Nanny's cottage, ""across the Border"", where hope for Andrew, and for his daughter, Mary with her husband, Ted, and their son, Michael, is given him when he is permitted to join those who watch over his family. His rational, logical mind refuses to admit he is dead; he visits Mary, is shown how Andrew is restored to normalcy by an accident; he becomes friends with Michael and tries to reassure old friends who are sunk in grief; through his prayers his family is saved when their watchers are unable to avert an established accident; he fails in trying to persuade his wife to join them across the Border; he is alerted to the advent of World War II and pressed into service; he is ready for the romance, and death, of Michael; and at last his eyes are fully opened to the continuity of life in the hereafter. For an audience which found enjoyment in Berkeley Square and The Snow Goose, this offers the hope that death does not finish everything and that potential crisis points are watched in another field. When not near-maudlin, this is sometimes affecting.