SciFi film, Things to Come, 1936, London Film Productions, 91 minutes.
From the 1933 book by H.G.Wells, The Shape of things to Come.
This book was written, and the movie made, while the diplomats of England and France were busy convincing their governments to not take Hitler and the Nazi juggernaut seriously as an invading force (not to them, anyway) and only Winston Churchill alone stood in his seat in the House of Lords and railed his warnings of the Teutonic madman to the east. Because of this Churchill was considered a bit daffy, a laughing stock, and relegated to the back benches for his efforts. Not until the “Phony War” in 1939 and the million-Nazi troop build-up along the French border did the British government begin to take Churchill seriously—and even then they thought they could still make a separate deal with Russia through Molotov, sell British ally Poland down the river, and appease Hitler.
The film, written throughout 1934, is notable for predicting World War II and the Blitzkrieg, being only 16 months off by having it start on Christmas 1940, rather than 1 September 1939. Its graphic depiction of strategic bombing in the scenes in which the fictitious English city of Everytown is flattened by air attack and society collapses into barbarism, echo pre-war concerns about the threat of “the bomber will always get through”. Wells was an air power prophet of sorts, having described aerial warfare in Anticipations (1901) and The War in the Air (1908).
The use of gas bombs is very much part of the film, from the poison gas used early in the war to the sleeping gas used by the airmen of Wings Over the World. In real life, at the start of the Second World War, there was much concern that the Germans would use poison gas, which was used by France, Germany and Great Britain during the Great War. Civilians were required to carry gas masks and were trained in their use. When war did break out, however, the Germans did not use gas for military purposes.
This is an amazingly accurate 100-year prediction by Wells, taking place between1940 and 2040 (but originally written in 1933) covering missle warfare, post-war space travel, travel to the moon, the emergence and danger of technocracies, etc., and a nice old B&W to boot with an all-star cast and crew. It is a Classic produced by the great Alexander Korda.
Director:
William Cameron Menzies
Writers:
H.G. Wells (novel), H.G. Wells (screenplay)
The film stars Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson, Cedric Hardwicke, Pearl Argyle and Margaretta Scott.
Wikipedia
IMDB
Free film download from the Internet Archive HERE
(The 512Kb MPEG4 download option works best with the standard Windows Media Player, or just watch it right off the site.)
I like these old movies and some really good ones (along with some really, really bad ones!) are available on the Internet Archive. Enjoy.
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