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sThings to Come (1936)
Things to Come (1936) starring Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson, directed by William Cameron Menzies and written by H.G. Wells.
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- themovielord's Grade: A-
- Things to Come
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Reddit‘Things to Come’ (1936) starring Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson, directed by William Cameron Menzies and written by H.G. Wells.
Spanning almost hundred years in time (1940 to 2036) is the tale of a nation (unknown if it is Great Britain or the United the States) and its people that must deal with war, peace, science, and disease. H.G. Wells tells a tale that both captures the imagination and questions the vitality of the human spirit.
The film begins on a night of hope, Christmas Eve, although immediately the real headlines of the day are taken into immediate consideration. What was going on in Europe at the time with Hitler and the Nazis is food for thought in this tale. What will happen if we get involved? Can we remain neutral? In Wells’s day it was probably the First World War, but here it fits nicely. The film quickly erupts into a fantastic nightmare as the bombings begin and the war does come to this country.
The odd part about watching this film, in 2007, is to see what a 1936 film maker would envision what life would be like in a post apocalyptic 1968. As the years pass on and our characters and our country change there is one constant and that is that with out peace and with out technology things will only get worse. Disease is what follows after the war and we get the first Zombie like plague called the “wandering sickness”. The whole world has turned into the middle ages. So in some respects the film has a “The Postman” quality to it. Society with all of its problems wants to turn around but with a Warlord like Ralph Richardson keeping the world under his heel, hope for the future seem all to bleak.
Enter Raymond Massey, the futurist and his secret society of flying men (very Flash Gordon esq.). They having been hiding since the beginning of the war and protecting the great minds of the world so when the world was ready to start over they would be there. Massey is completely brutally honest as the futurist, in a good way. His cold eyes deliver a complete truth behind all that he says to Richardson and his barbarian ways. It is Massey that brings this dark fable to life and a close to the first half when his flying men arrive to take the world back.
The fantastic nightmare of war is replaced in the second act with a shining montage of technology that brings us into the future. Interestingly enough, Massey plays his own descendent in 2036. A man who has to live up to his father and father’s father; his fight is for peace and truth. In the future people question if technology is going too far? Must we walk on the moon? Can we answer every question that we have with science? A rebellion is about to begin that could usher in a new era.
“Things to Come” was a different film… different that it was made in 1936 before the United States was in the Second World War. It could be seen as a pro-war film to get the United States into the war. That the U.S. was just as vulnerable at Britain and they too could be facing the nightmare that was the Nazis. Outside of when the film was made, ‘Things to Come’ is a film about two possible futures. One future that is easy and a nightmare and totally possible if we let those that shouldn’t be in power take control of the world; the other is a future that has to be earned with perseverance and hard work. ‘Things to Come’ is a forgotten classic that must be experienced and remembered.
