Film Snail

Things to Come
Things to Come

6.4

Things to Come

NR·1936·100m

Summary

The story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.

Crew

Director

William Cameron Menzies

Novel, Screenplay

H.G. Wells

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Geronimo1967

June 19, 2022

6

This is a rather fanciful adaptation of the HG Wells tale. Mankind is all but obliterated by war; reduced to tribal existences - under the overly theatrical leadership of Ralph Richardson and Margaretta Scott - fighting plague, tyranny and the elements. Then they encounter Daniel Massey ("John Cabal") who helps reconcile and rebuild society to an almost Utopian level. It manages to intertwine megalomania with human aspiration; an overpoweringly rousing score and some truly Shakesperian style soliloquy. It comes to force a future upon us that is eerily portentous of an Orwellian style dictatorship; of interstellar exploration to spread our plague of self-destructive ambition to other worlds - and all, broadly speaking with the consent of the masses. Sadly, i saw a colourised version which robbed this film of almost every element of potency; indeed it rendered it little better than a very poor cartoon. It's still just about worth watching; but Massey is no Olivier and I found it all rather preposterous.

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Keywords

future
progress
black and white
scientist
h.g. wells