Watch Things to Come For Free

Best movie of this year hands down!

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It's usually the case that just because a film happens to be on the old side, it is therefore not worth watching! My goodness, some people have no idea what they are missing! "Things to Come" is a loose adaptation of the novel by H.G Wells. His book had only been published three years before the release of this movie. It is interesting to note that although Wells himself wrote the screenplay, he didn't use much of his own original material. The acting honours go to Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson and Cedric Hardwicke. They, along with the rest of the cast, have some wonderful dialogue to work with. The film's plot is more of a series of stories that reflect mankind and how his own planet evolves throughout the ages. The setting begins in the year of 1940 and finishes round abouts the 1980s. Beginning with a long war, a plague that results from it and then the gradual development and advancement of progress via the latest technology, "Things to Come" offers a fascinating insight into the evolution that our world would supposedly undergo during that aforementioned time period. H.G Wells was right in one sense, in that a world war would indeed occur by 1940. In his other predictions however, he wasn't quite so accurate. Raymond Massey plays two characters - including the descendant of the character he plays at the beginning. He is one for leading the way in terms of man's technological advances, which he does but at a cost. Cedric Hardwicke is the leader of a group of rebels who openly oppose any plans for any further progress. Ralph Richardson is excellent as the rather ruthless and tyrannical leader who rules over a post apocalyptic world with an iron fist. He resorts to hinder any hopes of man advancing himself and society in general. The people under his rule, only have the most elementary means at their disposal, with regards to manufacturing clothing, food, shelter etc. This is a fairly lavish and expensive film by the British Film Industry's usual standards as the production values are first class. The sets - in particular those that represent the future - evoke such feelings of wonder and awe. Sets and any special effects in those days, could only be achieved the old fashioned way and better for it. No CGI nonsense. Don't miss this masterpiece, you won't be disappointed!

Released in 1936 and based on HG Wells' 1933 book, "Things to Come" envisions a future that suffers three decades of world war, a human-made plague and a new one-world order that opens the way for space travel. Wells' story was a fantastical hope for a future in which everybody will "come to Jesus" only to him "Jesus" was socialism and obeying a world government. To come to this point we must first endure a second world war that lasts 30 years and destroys the planet, thrusting us into a new Dark Age. As such, this is a post-apocalyptic movie with the corresponding 'mutants' (the plague victims) decades before that genre came into vogue.While I reject socialism (which is basically communism with a smile), there's a lot of truth to Wells' message, which was that the individual's life and actions are inconsequential when compared to the purpose and progress of the entire human race. Both the film's ideology and message are irrelevant to whether a movie is entertaining or not, for me anyway. The problem with "Things to Come" is the story itself, which focuses on three basic times: 1940 (which was five years in the future when the film was made), 1970 and 2036. The mid-section is the longest and dullest, focusing on an annoyingly pompous warlord called "The Boss" or "The Chief" (Ralph Richardson). The story structure simply isn't conducive to involving characters and movie-length drive. The last act is interesting not because of the story but due to its depiction of the future (2036), which is similar to the futuristic portrayal seen in 1976' "Logan's Run" and pretty much holds up. Wells was way off, however, in regards to humanity making it to the moon, which took place 70 years before his prediction.In its day I'm sure this was an amazing movie, dull characters & tale or not, but great films hold up over time, like 1933's "King Kong" and 1939's "The Wizard of Oz." "Things to Come" generally doesn't. Yet it's still worth checking out as a period piece. The film was shot in B&W, but there's a colorized version (which I viewed). It runs 100 minutes and was shot in Denham Studios, Buckinghamshire, England. DIRECTOR: William Cameron Menzies. GRADE: C-

When this movie opens, the setting is Everytown in 1940, and everyone seems to be caught up in the spirit of Christmas, even though there are signs (literally, signs) of an impending war to which people seem oblivious. Then we see John Cabal reading the newspaper, where the headline refers to the "air minister," whom the cabinet has given a free hand. Being produced in 1936, this movie was made at a time when a lot of people thought that airplanes would be the dominant factor in future wars. Cabal even has a large painting of an airplane hanging on the wall.Cabal's friend, "Pippa" Passworthy, is a naïve optimist that believes there won't be any war, but Cabal, whom someone refers to as an incurable pessimist, believes that war will come. Cabal does not like war, mostly because it interferes with progress, but Passworthy, always looking on the bright side, says that there is greatness in war, and it stimulates progress.Then comes a sneak attack by an unmentioned enemy, starting a war in which gas bombs are a major component. The war lasts until 1966, after which civilization has been reduced to rubble. In postwar Everytown, a frustrated mechanic complains that he is unable to repair the airplanes and that nothing will ever fly again, so once again we see how airplanes are symbolic of civilization and progress in this film.A plague called the wandering sickness spreads throughout the land, and there is nothing doctors can do, because there is no medicine left. A man takes charge, ruthlessly killing those infected and staggering around, until the plague is finally wiped out in 1970. He becomes the leader of Everytown, and is called "Chief" or "Boss." He wears a coat made of furs, looking like a barbarian warlord, and he is intent on waging war against the "hill people."Suddenly, John Cabal lands in a futuristic airplane in a futuristic flying outfit. He tells Dr. Harding, whom he knew before the war, that a bunch of engineers and mechanics have banded together to form the "brotherhood of efficiency, the freemasonry of science." When Dr. Harding enthusiastically embraces the idea, saying, "I'm yours to command," Cabal replies that neither he nor anyone else is in command, that there will be no more bosses. Rather, "Civilization is to command."When Cabal goes to talk to the Boss, the Boss says that his country is at war, to which Cabal replies, "We must clean that up." He tells the Boss that his organization is called "Wings over the World" (again the obsession with aircraft as the ultimate form of technology) and also "World Communications." In the course of their discussion, Cabal says, "our new order has an objection to private aeroplanes." And when the Boss says that his territory is an "independent sovereign state," Cabal says, "We don't approve of independent sovereign states."The gist of all this is a conservative's nightmare, and even liberals will find a little unease in all this talk about a world government that does not permit sovereign states, or individuals to have the freedom to own an airplane (because airplanes represent power, this is the equivalent of denying individuals the right to bear arms). And saying that this world government has no leaders makes us suspicious, reminding us of Marx's communist ideal in which the state withers away. Denying that anyone has power, asserting that one is merely executing the impersonal will of the organization for the good of mankind, sounds like a way of disguising its totalitarian nature.The Boss is portrayed as a brutish anti-intellectual, who thinks it is just as well they don't print books anymore, because they muddle thoughts and ideas. He doesn't trust scientists, but he needs them for his war effort, to make fuel and poison gas. He tries to get Dr. Harding to help with his war effort, but Harding refuses, because in this movie, scientists are good and politicians are evil.Eventually, the air force of Wings over the World drops the gas of peace on Everytown, which merely puts everyone to sleep, except the Boss, who conveniently dies. Then what follows is a montage of futuristic industry, in which everyone is hard at work. In fact, everyone seems to do nothing but work. We don't see people playing games, singing and dancing, or going to the movies. We begin to wonder, What is it all for, if all everyone is going to do is work?Finally, it is the year 2036, and everyone lives underground. This new civilization has not merely conquered nature—it has turned its back on it. An old man tells a little girl about the old days, when people had to live half out of doors, with windows to let the sun in, not realizing they could do without all that.Eventually, someone called Theotocopulos begins to protest this way of life, arguing that life was more merry and vigorous in the old days. Now, if he just wanted people to be able to have more fun and not work so hard, that would have seemed reasonable. But this movie naturally has to make him into a Luddite who opposes all progress. He addresses the people, who seem to agree with him, but since this futuristic civilization does not appear to be a democracy, what the people want is irrelevant, and they are thwarted.Oswald Cabal is the great-grandson of John Cabal. Even though supposedly there are no bosses in this new civilization, Cabal seems to have a lot of hereditary power as president of the council. When Passworthy (another descendant) says, "Oh God! Is there never to be any age of happiness? Is there never to be any rest?" Cabal dismisses rest as death. "It's the all the universe or nothingness," he declares. How about just half the universe and a little free time to enjoy life?

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.