Things to Come (1936)

If we can ignore the improbable and distractingly humorous space helmet of a visiting traveler, the relevance of this film’s messages can be highlighted. Based on H.G. Wells’ 1933 sci-fi story, The Shape of Things to Come, the film begins with the Second World War as predicted by the story. The human race practically destroys itself as the war rages on for decades, bringing with it various weapon technology and plagues. In the wake of the destruction, humans begin to rebuild that shattered civilizations of years past.

The humans are, in essence, starting over yet with prior knowledge of the way thing were before. The scientists do not have to invent technology, just re-imagine and rebuild it. They are soon visited by a group of earthlings whose progress is much farther along than theirs. The visitors, almost ironically, demand that the dictatorial leader step down and the democratic process rule the land. As the stories propels into what is still the future, advanced and monstrous mechanical advancements speckle the landscape. The set designers certainly put their 240,000 pounds to use in creating a giant gun that shoots its occupants into space. The sequence is rendered nostalgically pleasing as hundreds of tiny figures storm the machine.

The brunt of this movie’s enduring status can certainly be attributed to Wells’ original story, its handful of accurate predications, and its concern about the fate of human civilization. In the end, the remaining characters question their being, their pursuit of a reason, and their place in the cosmic order. And undoubtedly, like so many countless endeavors for an answer, the film does not provide one. We do get a healthy dose of questions yet receive the benefit of the doubt in not being preached to.

Diegetically, Wells’ story encompasses much time and change. Yet its content willextend beyond the end of the narrative and even past the years examined in the film. The search for an answer has not stopped since the recorded years of human history and makes no hint at doing so any time soon. We can never be sure just what the shape of things to come will be.