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Movies / On DVD / Things to Come
Things to Come

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Things to Come (1936)

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Reviews Counted:20

Fresh:19

Rotten:1

Average Rating:7.5/10

Consensus: Eerily prescient in its presentation of a dystopian future, Things to Come's special effects may be somewhat dated, but its potent ideas haven't aged at all.

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: In the years since they were published, H.G. Wells's words seem to have become prophecies... Society in 2036 has devolved into a leisure-saturated body of mass consumers. Important decisions... In the years since they were published, H.G. Wells's words seem to have become prophecies... Society in 2036 has devolved into a leisure-saturated body of mass consumers. Important decisions are relegated to an elite few. World wars have left parts of the globe in ashes; localized conflicts continue as a way of life. Social and medical epidemics rage. The comfortable bourgeoisie dwells like moles, living below sea level. Its members rest on cellophane sofas, inhale filtered oxygen, ingest preserved food, and entertain themselves by synthetic light. While the intelligentsia obliterates the sick to create a utopia for the earthlings who remain, others plan a mysterious trip to the moon, purportedly for humanity to reach the next rung on its evolutionary ladder. [More]

Starring: Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson, Cedric Hardwicke, Ann Todd

Starring: Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson, Cedric Hardwicke, Ann Todd, Margaretta Scott, Maurice Braddell, Sophie Stewart, Derrick De Marney

Director: William Cameron Menzies

Director: William Cameron Menzies
Screenwriter: H.G. Wells
Producer: Alexander Korda
Composer: Arthur Bliss

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Apr 1, 1999

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Things to Come

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Essential viewing today for anyone interested in the history of celluloid science fiction, but general audiences will most likely find it to be dull.

Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page | comment Comment
02/05/09
James O'Ehley
James O'Ehley
Sci-Fi Movie Page

Things to Come is an unusual picture, a fantasy, if you will, with overtones of the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon comic strips. But it is, as well, a picture with ideas which have been expressed dramatically and with visual fascination.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/31/07
Frank S. Nugent
Frank S. Nugent
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A truly epic work which continues to fascinate.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
05/31/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is England's first $1 million picture. It's an impressive but dull exposition of a bad dream.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
05/31/07
Variety
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Spookily prescient in many of its ideas, this is fascinating whilst being a little clumsy and dated, even for its time.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
05/14/07
William Thomas
William Thomas
Empire Magazine

In the realm of 'prophetic science fiction', it is a genre landmark.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

Wells' heart must have sunk as audiences avoided his impassioned and idealistic -- yet dour and didactic -- cri de coeur.

Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | comment Comment
04/06/06
Mark Bourne
Mark Bourne
DVDJournal.com

No review available.

comment Comment
06/29/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

comment Comment
06/27/05
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

An astonishing black-and-white visualization of Wells' view of the future.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
05/13/05
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

No review available.

comment Comment
04/13/05
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

No review available.

comment Comment
02/25/05
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

Landmark sci-fi achievement by Menzies, and still imitated.

comment Comment
10/15/04
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan

No review available.

comment Comment
02/08/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

No review available.

comment Comment
08/22/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

At once dated and weirdly modern, this may not be the film Wells wanted it to be, but it's still more ambitious and impressive than most fantasy cinema of the past 30 years.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
05/24/03
Jim Hall
Jim Hall
Channel 4 Film

No review available.

comment Comment
04/04/03
Nell Minow
Nell Minow
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

No review available.

comment Comment
10/11/02
Jeffrey Westhoff
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

Simplistic, but great looking and with a great Arthur Bliss score

comment Comment
08/07/02
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

[An] imaginative, only occasionally naive forecast of the age of nuclear warfare in 1936.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
01/01/00
Don Druker
Don Druker
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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