Event 13
Things to Come (PG)
Presented by 3rd Festival of British Cinema
– Richard Booth’s Bookshop
For all the obvious artificiality of some of the special effects, the cut-glass accents and impeccable upper-class English manner of the juveniles and the hamminess of some of the acting, Things To Come, based on a H.G. Wells story (he also wrote the screenplay) remains a classic of science fiction cinema.
The first theme of the film is pacifism and hatred of war. Prophetically choosing 1940 as its starting date, the war drags on until 1966 and in its wake comes the collapse of civilisation. So the second theme of the film emerges – scientific planning, as the work of rebuilding goes ahead. A curiosity to be sure, but Things To Come is, nonetheless, a visionary work of compelling power, awesome imagination and uplifting optimism.
Coffee and tea available.
Director: William Cameron Menzies
UK 1936. 100 minutes.
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Sponsored by Backfold Books
