| | Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:20 pm | | | | Comments: 0 Views: 241 |
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Cohesion : 9
Composition : 10
Contrast : 5
Dynamics : 8
Humor : 1
Intelligence : 8
Production : 5
Quality : 10
Cohesion : 9
I discovered HG Wells' "Things to Come" on google video where I watched the entire movie. I've placed the link to the film at the end of this review.
It's easy to gawk at the fake looking special effects and acting and call this film a dud, however, I think it is a remarkable accomplishment for 1936 cinema which is overshadowed by the better known "War of the Worlds"; a better known production but not a better film. The look and feel of "Things to Come" is excellent even if dated.
Composition : 10
"Things to Come" is a masterful play on a theme of civilization written in the wake of World War I and made into a film just before World War II. In it Wells tells three short stories that take place at three distinct times between 1936 and 2036. Central to the film's motives are progress, society, and reason which are portrayed in accordance with a distinctively early 20th century prospective.
This is better science fiction than even "War of the Worlds", which is essentially a fantasy movie about aliens attacking earth - hardly any different than writing a story about angels descending from heaven in my opinion. The story is also immensely more interesting as a commentary than "War of the Worlds" can even hope to be in 1938. "Things to Come" is also much more in the vein of "The Time Machine" and has many similar ideas written into it.
The story and themes in "War of the Worlds" are almost completely out of touch by the time the film was released in 1953 (it's out of date by the famous radio broadcast in 1938) because Colonialism was already on the way out the door. In contrast "Things to Come" is in the theaters of the British Isles one year before violence breaks out in Asia and 3 years before it consumes Europe. While you're watching keep in mind that when the story was written Nazi power was beginning to take hold in Germany and it was made into a film only 8 years before the end of WWII.
Contrast : 5
It's not exactly fair to give a score for contrast. While I was watching this film on Google Video I couldn't stop thinking about how annoying it is that these old films deteriorate so much. I don't think it detracts from how good the movie is that much, it's just a shame that the sound and film quality isn't better.
Dynamics : 8
The stories in this film follow a family over the course of 100 years through the fall and reconstruction of civilization. They are highly dynamic and engaging stories with very interesting sets and and visual abstractions. To be honest, I really want to give this film a 10 for dynamics but that would be a little too inconsistent with other films I've been rating. Dynamics refer to visual and thematic variation. While the thematic variation is excellent for the time period for obvious reasons it can't possibly be compared to modern films. 70 years ago I would have given this film all tens (minus humor).
Humor : 1
There's no humor here. Wells is characteristically serious.
Intelligence : 8
There's a fair amount of rebelliousness going on in "Things to Come". Wells is looking at men and man kind critically and he isn't afraid to say so. It's not a protest against government so much as mobs and intellectual depravity; it paints reason as all that is good. I think Wells comes off as emotionally attached to the idea of reason more than he's actually willing to be reasonable, but that perspective only comes from the benefit of hind site.
You've got to give the film smart points just for the association with HG Wells, if he hadn't written the screen play I probably wouldn't have watched the film. So, some of the high intelligence score comes from hero worship that I'm having trouble squashing, but I also respect the the large perspective that the story takes. You can't tell me I'm influenced by hero worship too much since I've basically said that "War of the Worlds" was basically a giant puddle of stupid by 1938.
Production : 5
This is another unfair rating. At the time this film was produced it would have scored an 11 for production and now it's garbage. This score doesn't mean anything. It's a great movie that is extremely dated.
Quality : 10
I shouldn't have to explain why I gave this a 10 for quality if you read the whole review.
The entire movie can be viewed at :
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8876180018878952272&q=things+to+come&total=11155&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
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