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H.G. Wells The Shape of Things to Come [1]
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Date: 2025-01-15
The narrative follows in a condensed way the 100-year future history of The Shape of Things to Come but personalizes and localizes it much more in a specific city setting that looks a lot like London but is called Everytown. In the first part of the film, set in a near-future 1940, a wonderful montage establishes the typical daily life of a bustling city, busy people, smiling children, crowded traffic. Each beautifully composed brief image shows posters and newspapers lurking in the background with messages of looming war that no one heeds.
Wells’ vision of technology was the polar opposite of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis or Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights. Far from being dehumanizing, for Wells technology was the only hope to pull humankind out of the morass of economic failure, war and destruction. The script for Things to Come, like most of his work in the 1930s toward the end of his life was strongly didactic with only a few concessions to the drama that made his early fiction so memorable. Nevertheless, the medium of film drew out of him and his collaborators some powerful visual elements that have stayed with me ever since I first saw the film many years ago.
‘THINGS TO COME’ offered a very different vision of the future to Fritz Lang's German classic ‘Metropolis’ [1926], to which it was inevitably compared; H.G. Wells was scathing in his criticism of Lang's film, which offered a portrait of a world enslaved by science. By contrast, H.G. Wells saw science as a promise of mankind's salvation
Several of the performances are equally impressive, notably Raymond Massey as the messianic Cabal and Ralph Richardson as the thuggish “The Boss,” a role he modelled explicitly on Mussolini and the Italian dictator's response was to ban the film outright in Italian cinemas.
‘THINGS TO COME’ offered a very different vision of the future to Fritz Lang's German classic ‘Metropolis’ [1926], to which it was inevitably compared; H.G. Wells was scathing in his criticism of Lang's film, which offered a portrait of a world enslaved by science. By contrast, H.G. Wells saw science as a promise of mankind's salvation.
itsjustashow.com/...
A future history as scripted by the visionary writer H.G. Wells, “Things to Come” set a high benchmark for science fiction with its fantastic design, gigantic sets and spectacular special effects. Acknowledged as a landmark within the genre, Oscar-winning William Cameron Menzies creates an astounding vision of post-war desolation and utopian futurism.
Starring Oscar-nominated Raymond Massey as John Cabal and his descendants and the award-winning Ralph Richardson as The Boss, ‘THINGS TO COME’ showcase a gorgeous, and instantly recognisable, score by Arthur Bliss. Presented for the first time in High Definition, this version of ‘THINGS TO COME’ has been painstakingly restored from the remaining film elements and represents the most complete version known to exist.
It is Christmas 1940 and the people of “Everytown,” unprepared and ill-equipped, find themselves at war against an enemy who has been planning such a conflict for years. The land is devastated by the horrors of aerial bombardment as the war drags on for thirty years, causing a period of despair, with feudal tyrants ruling a downtrodden populace suffering famine and pestilence. Can the human race rise above its desperate circumstances and build a scientific utopia?
FILM FACT: All of Theotocopulos's scenes were originally shot with Ernest Thesiger in the role, but H.G. Wells found his performance to be unsatisfactory, so he was replaced with Cedric Hardwicke and the footage re-shot. Terry-Thomas, who would become known for his comic acting, has an uncredited appearance as an extra in the film, playing a "man of the future." It was his seventh film appearance.
Cast: Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman, Sir Ralph Richardson, Margaretta Scott, Cedric Hardwicke, Maurice Braddell, Sophie Stewart, Derrick De Marney, Ann Todd, Pearl Argyle, Kenneth Villiers, Ivan Brandt, Anne McLaren, Patricia Hilliard, Charles Carson, Patrick Barr (uncredited), Noel Brophy (uncredited), John Clements (uncredited), Anthony Holles (uncredited), Allan Jeayes (uncredited), Pickles Livingston (uncredited), George Sanders (uncredited), Abraham Sofaer (uncredited) and Terry-Thomas (uncredited)
Director: William Cameron Menzies
Producer: Alexander Korda
Screenplay: H.G. Wells (novel) (uncredited) (screenplay) (uncredited)
Composer: Arthur Bliss
Cinematography: Georges Périnal (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Mono Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 96 minutes
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