The Next Voice You Hear... is a 1950 fantasy where God takes to the radio. Actor James Whitmore is probably best remembered for his role in The Shawshank Redemption as Brooks, an elderly inmate befriended by Andy (Tim Robbins). Brooks is later pardoned after spending most of his life in prison but later commits suicide when he's unable to adjust to the outside world. Whitmore gave a poignant performance but his career spanned decades, including movies like Kiss Me Kate, Them!, Planet Of The Apes and The Relic.
James Whitmore was also noted for his resemblance to actor Spencer Tracy (The Devil At 4'O Clock), and in 1950 he earned a rare leading role in The Next Voice You Hear, where he plays a family man named Joe Smith. The movie was based on a short story of the same name and involves God taking through radios to spread a message to the world. Naturally, there are doubts the first time this happens, but over the course of a week, the planet starts to take it more seriously. The movie explores this event by focusing on the Smith family, which includes Joe's wife Mary (Nancy Reagan) and their son Johnny (Gary Gray, I Love Lucy).
The Next Voice You Hear smartly gets around the tricky issue of adding a voice to God by never actually having the voice heard onscreen, with characters reading back the radio messages instead. The concept itself is an intriguing one, but instead of the voice being a potential The Day The Earth Stood Still-style harbinger of potential doom, it instead preaches a message to humanity of turning away from materialism and coming to appreciate the smaller things in life.
Joe is slow to take this message onboard for much of The Next Voice You Hear since he's stressed out with bills and the impending arrival of his second child with Mary, who fears a difficult birth. Outside of unleashing some heavy rain that thankfully doesn't reach Noah proportions, the repentant Joe attends church with his family and neighbors to hear the final message - which doesn't come, since its the seventh day and God has rested. Thankfully, the world has taken the broadcasts to heart and have presumably become better people.
The Next Voice You Hear... is a real oddity and its main message is painfully on the nose. James Whitman gives a solid performance and the direction by William A Wellman (Across The Wide Missouri) is competent, but outside of its unique setup, it's a fantasy film that hasn't aged very well.