![[box cover]](../../reviewimgs/t/thingstocome.jpg)
Things to Come (1936)
Scripted by H.G. Wells himself, Things to Come is one of the few true "science fiction" movies ever made. It depicts the war-torn world saved by Science and scientists, personified (across two generations) by Raymond Massey. A visionary work that holds an important place in the history of SF cinema, it's imaginative, intelligent, and remains one of the few movies to honestly tackle the devastating consequences of international warfare. It's epic on a Cecil B. DeMille Bible movie scale. However, it's also didactic, preachy, slow-paced, and oh so upper-class English. Everyone has a speech to make and philosophically it's as naive and blinkered as the simpleminded breast-beating of Gene Roddenberry or Ayn Rand. Still, Things to Come is eyebrow-raising in its depiction of the blitz bombings of London in 1940 and of the war that followed.
Image Entertainment's bare-bones DVD is touted as a "pristine new film-to-video transfer from original source materials" and "beautifully restored from the original 35mm studio masters." However, those masters were themselves far from pristine. Blemishes, visible wear, and scratches remain plentiful, making the phrase "beautifully restored" more than a little disingenuous.
—Mark Bourne
