Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Kev11sky Not necessarily a spoiler after the first 40 minutes -- toxic gas attacks and an artificial plague have demolished civilization.After decades of continuing savage warfare and death, the UK is reduced to an 18th century dictatorship.However, a few scientists and technocrats have survived -- and have developed highly advanced aeroplanes which span the earth.A representative from somewhere else in Europe arrives to offer a promise of worldwide communication, the redevelopment of trade, and a new world order of peace, and space travel..."Wings Over the World" indeed! The only thing missing is thermonuclear warfare. HG Wells predicted atomic bombs, too -- but that's not part of this movie.Pretty good for a movie released in 1936!

mb52chrys I saw this film as a young boy and really enjoyed it as a kid. I saw it again several more times as an adult and through the eyes of a b/w movie lover. This movie will always stand great through the passage of time. The plot , story line of this movie is so predicting of our actual future that it is incredible. Then again H.G. Wells is well known for his genius of fantasy and creativity. The acting was very accommodating for the story they were playing out. I was fortunate enough to recently find that this movie had been high quality colorized which made it even more interesting to watch. The color seems to add to the details of the picture. I can highly recommend this movie to old movie buffs. I couldn't live without it. It is one of thousands of movies in my collection but it will always stand out as one of my favorites. It is a great si-fi futuristic movie of the 1930's.

SnoopyStyle It starts in 1940 Christmas Everytown. The world is at the brink of war. Once it starts, war lasts for decades destroying civilization along the way. Diease and pestilence are spread. The world collapses into a dark age of perpetual war rule by warlords and limited resources. There's even an epidemic of zombie-like sickness. In the end, the world is conquer by a new world order of peace and prosperity as human beings launch into space.Sometimes the story drags with clunky dialog, and clunkier acting. There aren't any standouts. The characters change through the years, and it's hard to maintain interest in one single character. The characters aren't that compelling. And the story just doesn't have an emotional impact.The special effects are using all the old silent era movie tricks. Also there are big sets and big props. They're using real planes as well as miniatures. Director William Cameron Menzies is using everything within his arsenal. It's interesting to see the predicted world through the years. Some of it is outlandish and unrealistic. However there are some fun production designs. This is an interesting look at H.G. Wells predictions as well as a big production with special effects.

jojodyne Sci-Fi movies more often than not reveal more about the time they were filmed than about the future they depict. H.G. Well's "Things to Come" from 1936 is a prime example picking up on political, social and scientific vibes of it's time. Born in the golden-age of science - physics making great strides with the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics; electricity was establishing itself in many households and everyday live - the movie provides a grand testament (spanning not less of one hundred years of mankind's future "history") to the idealistic spirit of technological progress. At the same time it is well routed in contemporary politics and social circumstances - predicting a world war in the aftermath of an economic depression and failed "pacifist" appeasement.The visuals are grand in scope - ranging from destroyed wastelands, future war machinery to vast utopian cities - and fantastically well executed. While special effects usually age quickly, i would dare to say that the effects in this movie from 1936 have not been surpassed until the early 70s.The ambition of H.G. Wells to demonstrate scientific and technological progress as the solution to many of the adversities future mankind is predicted to face is a little simplistic and doesn't reflect well in some of the wooden and trite dialog in the movie. He throws in a world war, a pandemic called the "wandering sickness" and conservative forces that want to halt progress in a more or less utopian technocratic society built by engineers. This is meant as his ultimate warning that any status-quo, as desirable as it might seem to society remains vulnerable to the "unkown unknowns" with the pursuit of technological progress with all the associated risks as it's only insurance.This naiveté should not distract anybody from the movies virtues. Amibitous Sci-Fi grand in scope touching on social, political and scientific ramifications are a rare breed. I for one laud H.G.Wells for realizing his vision and providing food for thought instead of a barrage of action beats and sub-woofer exercise (paraphrasing the flash gordon serials of the time). The movie feels strangely honest about H.G. Wells convictions and in a weird way personal to him. What other movies now or then can say that for themselves.