102. Things to Come (1936)

Running Time: 93 minutes
Directed By: William Cameron Menzies
Written By: H.G. Wells from his novel The Shape of Things to Come
Main Cast: Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman, Ralph Richardson, Margaretta Scott

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME

I was able to squeeze this one in last night, but after sitting through it and being bored and preached to for ninety minutes, I didn't have the energy to write the review. "Things to Come" was a tough watch and I'm glad that this one is behind me.

The film starts out in Everytown in the year 1940 at Christmastime and war is about to break out. We're not sure who the war is breaking out between, but just that there is a war on the horizon. We zoom in on a few central characters, including John Cabal, Mr. Harding and a fellow by the name of Passworthy. They discuss the war and Cabal and Harding seem frightened at the thought of a war, while Passworthy soothes them and tells them that war will never happen and that if it does it will not amount to anything. Well, Passworthy was wrong, as later that night, the men, along with some of their family members, see planes in the sky firing their weapons and soon after it is announced that there is a general mobilization and that everyone must clear the streets, due to the coming air raids. War has begun!

The film then flashes forward several years, all the way to the year 1965, to be exact and the war is still going, but slowing down. Instead of war worries, it is now the threat of a pestilence that is sweeping over the nation and killing anyone who contracts the virus. We then fast forward to the year 1970 and we come across John Cabal once again. He's certainly older now and with gray hair, he lands in Everytown, all the way from Basra, Iraq, where a group, known as "Wings Over the World" has been formed, a group that hopes to exterminate the possibility of war and is made up of former engineers and pilots. Cabal squabbles with the new Chief of Everytown and is eventually taken as a hostage.

The film eventually takes us to the year 2036, one hundred years after the release of this film and while the film covered the span of 100 years, at only ninety some minutes, I certainly felt every minute of it. This was a flat out bore to sit through, however I did keep thinking that this movie would make a really good thirty minute episode of "The Twilight Zone". I mean, I get the whole idea: War is bad and no matter what changes we make and how good life is, the governments of our nations will always end up throwing us into wartime. It seemed as though this film was being very preachy and about what, I can't put my finger on. I just had this feeling that the makers of the movie were trying to tell me that I needed to change and that war was bad and that I was living in a corrupt system and all that jazz. Maybe, I'm wrong, maybe it wasn't preaching about anything, but I'm not wrong about the boring part, it was certainly that and I'll say it again...I'm glad it's over.

RATING: 2/10 I gave it a few points for some nice set pieces and costumes, but that CERTAINLY wasn't enough to redeem this picture.

NEXT UP: The Story of a Cheat...I love that title and a little birdie told me that I could find this one on YouTube. I should be back around later with the review.

February 15, 2010 12:23pm