From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a film review for you.
Today I'll be reviewing the movie Things To Come released in 1936.
Starring:
Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman, Ralph Richardson
Directed by:
William Cameron Menzies
Genre:
Drama, Sci-Fi, War
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA):
Not Rated
Budget:
£300,000 (estimated)
300,000 British pounds, but with an approximate exchange rate of 5 US dollars for every 1 British pound at the time, the budget was 1.5 Million US Dollars.
Current IMDb Rating When Reviewed:
6.7
The Synopsis is:
This is the story of a proposed future for mankind from 1936 spanning a devastating war, the social gathering of the survivors, and reaching out to conquer space.
Story:
The film is an adaptation of the very famous science fiction book predicting the future of humanity, The Shape of Things to Come by H. G. Wells, published in 1933. In many ways this film is his brain child as he also wrote the screenplay and had a very constructive role in the making of the film throughout.
In fact it was rumored that he began as the film’s director until it was obvious that a director with experience was needed to bring this incredible epic to the screen. William Cameron Menzies took over as director, who is famously known for his fantastic production design career.
H.G. Wells however, made it known that whatever happened he didn’t want the film to resemble Fritz Lang's film Metropolis released in 1927, which was the only other well known futuristic sci-fi epic at the time. Wells famously hated the film.
Right away, the film had to deviate from the book because of the way it was written to tell the accounting of the past by a man from the 22nd Century. There were really no characters to follow and it doesn’t read as a novel, but as a fictional sociology book in my opinion.
The original timeline began from 1933 until the year 2106. The film shrunk it down a bit from 1940 to 2036.
The timeline is broken up on screen into 4 distinct sections: 1940 where things begin to stray during Christmas as the mighty war begins, 1966 the time after the war when humanity was faced with a plague, 1970 when small territories were forming, and 2036 when humanity strives to travel into space.
Oddly, another famous science fiction motion picture with a similar story telling scheme in time segments not following any particular character is 2001: A Space Odyssey released in 1968, directed by Stanley Kubrick. As a side note, to prepare for the film co-writer, Arthur C. Clarke had Stanley Kubrick watch Things to Come but the he did not like the film.
The story begins as we follow 1940’s businessman turn military pilot, John Cabal and later his grandson doppelganger and ruler of the future world of 2036, Oswald Cabal.
The underlying story is that the progress of mankind is always being challenged by those who do not want change or can’t imagine the greater good progress can do.
Within the film, William Cameron Menzies snuck in a nice tribute to H.G. Wells as there is a scene where a newspaper states the war in the film ends on the 21st of September 1966, on what would have been Wells’ 100th birthday.
Pacing:
At an hour and 40 minutes, it feels like 3 hours. There are a lot of scenes that are repeated to drive home an idea we got so many times before.
Challenge:
The challenge is not really any one villain or evil but war, human nature and evolution that all transpires in a town called Everytown to drive home the concept that these events could happen anywhere in the world.
War breaks out during Christmas in 1940, with an unnamed enemy. This war is fully demonstrated with a declarative march of the army, explosions and the visible destruction of Everytown. It’s a real threat as we see it’s carnage leaving behind the corpses of the fallen and the desolation of a once thriving city.
It sends the country into a depressing dystopia by 1966 when the war ends. 26 years of war, takes its toll on the survivors, but the struggle is not over. The countryside is plagued with a highly transmissible disease they call the wandering sickness that essentially turns its victims into zombies. The zombies then spread the sickness to others. Unfortunately, they must be killed in order for humanity to survive adding to the psychological stress they are facing.
At about 1970 humans of Everytown are finally beginning to build a social structure from the ruins under the leadership of Rudolph, also called the Chief.
It is then that the Chief becomes the central evil or at least that is what the film wants you to believe. There is no doubt about it, he is very selfish and rules more like a dictator, but the towns people really love him.
They are really grateful to him for how he has led them into a better organisation. After all that they’ve been through, he’s out to preserve what they have and get his hands on more technology…. mainly guns and airplanes to protect themselves.
His cruelty is mostly directed to treats from the outside world, such as the Hill people and a strange visitor who arrives in an airplane. But one gets the idea that his power is going to his head and will most likely lead to massive injustices. But he hasn’t gotten to that level of harm yet. He’s not a bad guy.
His advisor is his girlfriend or possible wife, Roxana Black. She is a fascinating character, but she doesn’t really pose a challenge except to support the Chief and to provide a fantastic monologue describing her dreams of adventures elsewhere in the world.
Ultimately her character flip flops side so much she works more towards the side of the protagonist. However, she is such a dynamic charismatic character that I really enjoyed seeing her on screen.
In the last sequence of the film in the year 2036 and man has advanced so far technically that he attempts space travel with a new invention, the space gun. A sculptor, Theo toco pulos, (we’ll call him Theo) wants mankind to have a period of “rest” as he calls it and put aside progress for a while.
And initially I laughed a little because, why would anyone want to put aside progress. He himself is not living in the ruins just above ground in Everytown. Why does this bother hims so much?
But then I thought about our world now and all of this really seems quite understandable, not evil. There are many people that have decided to unplug from technology and get in touch with nature. It’s a normal desire actually.
Theo talks to the crowds in the city of Everytown about his ideas and many of them are listening, especially the older generation. In the film, the space gun really seems to rub people the wrong way in this culture because it means that the subjects going to space will be risking their lives for the endeavor.
Death is a rare happenstance so they are willing to destroy the technology in order to preserve their emotional stress to death. They are afraid of change as well even though it may assist mankind.
They are not evil, but they mean to destroy the space gun machine to save the lives of the pilots.
Empathy:
I can’t say that I felt much empathy for the Cabal character whether he is depicted as John or his grandson Oswald. His delivery is pretty cold. There is nothing warm and friendly about him and yet he is our protagonist.
And I know why, He is supposed to be our messenger, driving home the ultimate message the film wants to convey through his monologues.
However, his message is delivered with maniacal rigidness that doesn’t always appeal to me as a viewer. I am not sure what it is exactly, but something about his delivery is over the top. Maybe it’s his eyes, his tone of voice, the repetition of it.... It dances on the fine line of being inspiring or frightening.
We are first introduced to John Cabal before the war and we learn how life was like. Even then there was a comment of how simple life was and how it has become messy and complicated with progress.
We meet John Cabal again, much older in 1970 where he is a pilot for Wings Over the World based in Basra, Iraq and have outlawed independent nations to prevent wars. It’s a great idea. One nation, no wars between nations.
However, it is a forced law to abide, ignoring the free will. This is the part that is very hard for me to be on board with during the film. John Cabal warns Everytown that the Wings over the World will take over their world for the better good for mankind.
This new world order actually acts more like Star Trek’s feared enemy, the Borg, or even colonialism ready to gobble up and assimilate smaller weaker cultures. It seems to be inevitable as we see this happening in our own world today under the umbrella of a democratic society thriving off capitalism and cultural appropriation becoming more the normal than ever.
I suppose all countries, races and cultures will eventually be one big mixed community. It sounds wonderful, but only if it happens in a way that is gentle and allowing people to choose this of their own free will.
Wings Over the World are doing this all by force, although they are presented as good in this film. And yes, they do some good by ridding the world of Everytown’s Chief and other such warlords who relish in a savage bullying of the weak.
John Cabal says of the Chief’s death, "Dead, and his old world dead with him... and with a new world beginning".
It seems very strategic to me, annihilate the competition while they are young and at a state of savagery before they can be a threat to the utopia they are hoping to build.
This is very important because the answer to humans surviving the wandering sickness during the prior years was to kill the infected. This film has a very finite solution for unfavorable beliefs or situations.
It lacks tolerance and it’s hard to get on board with Cabal’s message completely.
Another interesting connection to the Borg that is presented in the film is the way that John Cabal never uses his name in 1970, but always refers himself as “we” and speaks as if his life alone means nothing, but his actions are connected to the benefit of his people. There is no selfishness in his view.
In 2036 John Cabal, has died a hero and his grandson Oswald is in charge of things. Oswalds daughter and a youngman are going to take part in some space travel experiments and he has to convince the youngman’s father Raymond Passworthy of the good that will come of it.
This is when we get the closing message of humanity’s incessant desire to make progress and that is truly inspiring.
Technical:
The first time I saw this film, I was blown away by the detail and the craftsmanship put into this film in each section of the film.
A lot of the storytelling is done visually through graphic montages and the use of text to explain things. I enjoyed the detail that was put into this and I found it to be easy to follow and maybe too easily, because some of it was a pinch too redundant to me.
But the time, money and staging is visibly put into each scene featuring great textures and art design. The detailing in the throne room and bedroom of the Chief is a great example of that where you can vividly see there was once great opulence in these war torn settings.
There were obvious places where models were used and they look pretty good to show how expansive the world is and the transformation of this undetermined place Everytown.
The costumes were pretty amazing to me especially the costume for the different groups of people in the 1970 segment. The towns people were in rags, but were slowly trying to figure out some kind of style. The main characters were more put together. Roxana had a very primal sexy gypsy look as she schemed on the sidelines. The Chief had a very savage yet regal look with a military flair and dirty furs draping him to denote his complex personality traits.
We have this black alien design of John Cabal’s costume in the 1970s segment contrasting the citizens of Everytown. His presence there is scary as they resist the change and his clothing reflects that. He is wearing rigid torso armor to reflect his firm stance on this views. He really does look like a creature from the future. What wonderful creativity.
I remember loving the look of his costume when I first saw it.
The costumes of 2036 were a futuristic mix of Mediterranean togas and Japanese samurai inspired wear.
Even Though H.G. Wells gave instructions for the filmmakers not to do anything reminiscent of Fritz Lang’s epic futuristic film Metropolis released in 1927, William Cameron Menzies couldn’t help himself as he confessed that he modeled the montage of the building of the utopia in Everytown after some of the montages he saw in that film.
Performances:
The performances are pretty good. There is a specific style to it that was prevalent to the era, but I always seem to enjoy that.
Two actors of note are Ralph Richardson and Margaretta Scott who gave scene stealing performances.
Ralph Richardson said that he intentionally modeled his character after the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini.
Margaretta Scott was especially great as Roxana Black and it seemed as if she may have had more scenes I didn’t get to see in the version I saw because she is also credited as being Rowena Cabal, Oswald’s wife in 2036. There are even a few photos of her in the role. But so far, I’ve watched several versions of the film and have not had any luck finding those scenes.
And this brings me to the next segment.
Best:
I really enjoyed Roxana Black’s monologue. She describes that she craves adventure and being a woman is holding her back from being great based on the world she’s living in. I just really enjoy the excitement she has when she says, “Oh, if I were a man.”
I liked the idea of the gas of peace, where the battle is won without violence and loss of life.
Because of my propensity for science fiction, I especially enjoyed the 2036 segment most of all as well as all of the building scenes of the utopia.
I loved the things in the film that predicted the flat-screen and smaller screen technology we actually use today.
The ending:
The ending is pretty climactic with a citizens trying to chase down our protagonists to stop them from using the space gun. The gun is fired and sends the two pilots into space. Oswald is comforting the father of one of the pilots that their children will return and even if they don’t their lives would not be in vain.
His closing monologue is fantastic, yet maybe a little fanatical, that mankind is destined to keep seeking answers in the unknown and achieve progress for the species. It’s very hopeful and quite inspirational. There is just a matter of knowing that the story is meant to be a little hard hitting to get this point across.
Wish List:
I wish the film had better pacing because it would have made it easier for most people to follow.
I wish that there was an explanation for Rudolph the Chief dying. The gas puts everyone to sleep, but it kills him. And there could be an excuse that he fought the effects of the gas and that killed him. But in truth, it’s a plot contrivance possibly suitable for 1936, but not for today’s age.
I also wish I could have seen the deleted scenes from the film featuring Rowena Cobal to get a full understanding of who Roxana was supposed to represent in the story as they did with John and Oswald.
I also wish that free will was considered in the events of 1970. The chief wasn’t really an outright evil threat, but you could see the potential. Somehow, in my eyes, the Wings over the World seems in the wrong for hijacking small settlements and adopting them into their society against their will.
Enjoyment:
According to an article published in Variety, this was the first million-dollar picture produced in England and it is included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
Film historians consider this to be one of Great Britain's first major science fiction films.
I enjoyed this film for the inspiring message it contains at the very end and the incredible visuals of a wonderful future world. I absolutely love future utopia visuals and I think the first one that I ever saw must have been Logan’s Run released in 1976, which has a similar style and many similar moving images.
I hadn’t even heard of this film until a few years ago when I was doing research for a lo-fi sci-fi project I was doing and had thought for years that Metropolis was the only science fiction black and white film out there. I was wrong because there are a good handful of them with great ideas and visuals that have blown me away.
If you have some patience and some time definitely check this one out. I feel that it is very important for us as a culture to remember these old science fiction films so we can understand where the genre started from, appreciate how far we’ve come, and much like the film’s message, imagine how far we can progress with it in the future.
My Rating:
8.5
That sums up my review. I hope you liked it. This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off! Take care movie lovers! I'm off to the next review!
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