Things to Come – 1936 – H.G.Wells – Classic Movie

Posted on by womo



Things to Come (1936) is a British science fiction film produced by Alexander Korda and directed by William Cameron Menzies. The screenplay was written by H. G. Wells and is a loose adaptation of his own 1933 novel The Shape of Things to Come and his 1931 non-fiction work, The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind. The film stars Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson, Cedric Hardwicke, Pearl Argyle and Margaretta Scott.

The cultural historian Christopher Frayling calls Things to Come “a landmark in cinematic design.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_to_Come

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50 Replies to “Things to Come – 1936 – H.G.Wells – Classic Movie”

  1. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Tojo, Chang, a dozen or so more to a lessor degree. Nasty, horrible people; all gotten rid of with their regimes, usually fairly quickly. How you do get rid of the bloated, invasive, overtaxing, murdering bureaucracies pervasive in every western governent under the guise of "helping the needy?" Gladly have a huge military if they keep my own government and all others out of my wallet, home, and life.

  2. YES! We will be one planet! One people! One nation! Under the rule of one great leader! One ideology! We will be purified of the degenerate races! It will be a paradise in which all workers share equally in the production of mankind! One will, one resolve, one cause! It will be the grand unification of all thought! The grand purification! In our government we will trust!

  4. This film is an old favorite of mine, first seen by me on late night TV in Indianapolis in 1979 when I was visiting with my aunt and uncle. It's cheesy and surprisingly badly acted by all involved with the major exception of Ralph Richardson who does a remarkable impression of a British Mussolini, but it's still a fun film to watch.

  5. One thing that is overlooked by many is the first-rate, remarkable musical score written by Arthur Bliss. In the film it sounds terrible because of the primitive recording equipment available at the time. "High fidelity" recording didn't become available for about another 10 years. There are several modern recordings of the score available. Buy one and enjoy.

  6. "All the Universe, or nothing. Which shall it be?"– H.G. Wells
    "We are Star-stuff… We are the physical manifestation of the Universe trying to understand itself."– Carl Sagan
    Jesus of Nazareth would have understood both of these statements.

  7. This movie was an attempt to influence the politics of the time. To keep WWII from happening. The lesson you learn from this is that movies, movie stars or media in general are not fit or able to teach anyone moral lessons. If the world had not fought Hitler we would have had a worse nightmare than this film depicts. Some wars must be fought. Some evils can not/should not continue.

  8. Yes, because every nation is clearly all about being dictatorships. I'm surprised the special police haven't come along to haul you away by now. …Seriously, you're being a bit paranoid.

  9. The acting is of the period, where actors like Raymond Massey learned from the stage- to project. True, Ralph Richardson walks away with the film as the quotable Boss. It would have been to have let his character live and his grandson is running around in 1936 Everytown. I really recommend for you the Criterion "Things To Come" The restoration is outstanding- the film looks like it was filmed yesterday. Even as a Library Rental, I think you would enjoy it.

  10. The movie was scripted by HG Wells, a PR man for Cecil Rhodes' 'Circle', a secret cabal of powermongers dedicated to promoting world rule by white Anglo-Saxophonists & the Rothschilds.  It spawned the CFR, & haven't the bankers done well? Wells revives Platoi's ancient idea of an anti-democratic 'philosopher-king', but in this update, the philosophy is 'science'. End product, fascism using hi-tech instead of guns to control the ignorant masses. What we got, actually, is both.

  13. This is one of very few fillms most important at remembering to the world the horrors of a real war.most infANTS (under 16 have no concept of what war really is.  I say those children should be exposed to this film followed by th 1930 version of all quiet on the western front. This should scare people beyond scenes into preventing war from destroying our world. PLEASE YOU CHILDREN DO NOT FORGET THE PAST AND PREVENT THE HORROS OF WAR FROM DESTROYING YOURS ANS OURS FUTURE. fOR THE SAKE ALL MANKING THROUGHOUT THE WORLS… STOP ALL WAR BEFORE WE DESTROY ALL MANDKIND. gODSEND ALL OF YOU NEVER HAVE TO GOT THROUGH THE GASS.STOP THE HORROR THAT WILL COME IF …. YOU DON'T THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO YOUR PLANET . sAVE US ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  18. 40:25 Does he say that he flew from his headquarter in Basel? Basel Switzerland home of The Bank for International Settlements, the central bank of central banks.  

  20. That's not a helicopter, it's an autogyro minus it's wings. A helicopter has two rotors: the top has one (for lift), and a tail one for stability, which is mounted parallel to the tail. An autogyro has a vertical propeller and a forward (or rearward) propeller, and usually has wings like an airplane.

  21. Love the diatribes here. Someone found a new place to walk his pet dogma. Unfortunately, he doesn't clean up after himself, and you know the messes that an untrained dogma leaves behind. Especially on the front lawn of the Anglo-Saxophonists' Marching Band and Sewing Circle's meeting hall.

  25. Isnt is ironic. HG Wells said global war in 1940? Almost right. And Yet in the future (2036) we see flat screen TVs, portable communication devices on your wrist and helicopters. Plus buildings which look a bit similar to what we have today.  Fascinating film.

  28. Not only does it predict WW2, but how much is "The Walking Sickness" just like the Walking Dead/Romero-style zombies? How much is the new Dark Age amid ruins just like Mad Max, and all the other post-apocalypse stuff?

  33. I was introduced to Things to Come first in a second-run movie theater in my home town (it was double-billed with One Million Years BC, showing the breadth of mankind's progress a la cinema's version of reality). For years I hoped to catch the movie again but had no luck. Then in the very early days of The Learning Channel (now TLC), it was shown repeatedly. I guess they couldn't afford much programming and cable channels were still in their infancy. As a teenager, I saw the movie as a ray of hope for an eventual triumph of mankind over war and poverty and national partisanship, culminating in our voyaging beyond earth to reach the stars. I still see it that way. Bear in mind that when H. G. Wells wrote his novel The Shape of Things to Come, Europe was sliding toward the calamity of World War II and was quite visionary. The hopefulness of the film's ending after mankind had sunk into savage kingdoms of petty warlords was inspiring. I grew up in a generation of wars, first World War II and then the Korean War and had reached young adult status by the time the U.S. sent troops to Vietnam. The conflicts that continue today could well have sprung from the middle of the movie, and while we still purport to be a civilized nation we still have a long, long way to go before we can say we've overcome national politics and emerge as one united planet for the benefit of mankind. That message echoes again every time I watch Things to Come.

  36. Great movie for its time. But at 39:00 there is a political discussion that was very naive. The "good guy" tells the "boss" that "if I am delayed others will come to find me". In other words the "good guys" are willing to use force just like the bad guys do. And the "good guy" says "we don't approve of private aviation". That makes him a communist. But then again…"it's only a movie".

  40. A comic species (humanity) muddles it's way through half-baked myths with the purpose to keep the goal posts at infinity, thus providing enough impetus to kick-start a consumer techno-binge that leaves a chorus of screaming beggars asking the age old bait-n-switch clincher "Which shall it be?!"

  41. great movie – thought provoking and prophetic in some places – impressive visuals for its time thanks to director William Cameron Menzies – who was a set designer

    use to have several copies on old VHS – the challenge then was to find a good print

    thanks for posting

  43. I haven't read every comment on this post, but, if you read H.G. Well's original book, Poland, not Germany (the movie alluded to Hitler) started the war. Wells was a product of WWI. The gassing, the slaughter, the "stiff upper lip" attitude. The "never give up the ship" attitude that the English (and all country combatants) took in WWI is very much on display in this film. Wells believed this "never surrender, never negotiate" way of thinking would be the same in WWI as WWII. And, when the smoke (and gas!) disappeared, we'd have a "one world" socialist/communist state. I read that when Wells visited Stalin's Russia, there was plenty of food in the stores, plenty of this, plenty of that. After Wells went back to the UK, Stalin had all the necessities removed. Wells, and other so-called geniuses, believed Stalin's BS. There never was, and never will be, a Utopia.

  45. Re: Christmas: The Birth of The New
    The March of Time; The Conquest of Space-Time; Taking The Quantum Leap

    Compare the archetypes, metaphors, and paradigms of this film with A Child Is Born; The Day The Earth Stood Still; 2001: A Space Odyssey; and, Avatar.

    Iodine, Immunization, The Walking Sickness, Peace Gas, The Breakaway Civilization, and First Contact with The Hill People spell out a grim reality. A Mechanical Higher Order of Complexity Consciousness speaks volumes in this 'Future Studies: Things To Come' presentation. Star Trek: The Movie features V-jer: The Voyager.

    Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Olaf Stapledon, Lewis Mumford, and Joseph Farrell have explored the evolution of the City-State, Nation-State, and Full Spectrum Dominance of The Men In Black; in essence, The Black Monolith, The Birth of the Divine Child; The Star Child.

    The Persian poet Rumi stated the existential question of humanity in this way: “Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.”

  47. Did you know that war planners in the US expected the war to last until…1960? That's why today, SEVENTY ONE YEARS AFTER IT ENDED, you can STILL buy WWII surplus electronics from Fair Radio Sales in Lima, Ohio!

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