Raymond Massey stars in this intelligent film about war and progress based on the H. G. Wells story The Shape of Things to Come.
From our more environmentally-conscious viewpoint, this 1936 view of unbridled progress and conquest of the earth might seem naive. But the larger issue of whether humankind continues to strive or plays it safe is well-treated. This film could hardly be more timely in the wake of the recent space shuttle crash.
The "future war" scenes (set in a hypothetical 1940) while cheesy by today's standards, still make the point that when bombs and poison gas fall on people, they die.
So what is the solution to war? Things to Come suggests that by 2036 an technocracy of scientists and engineers could create utopia, given the power to do so. What the scientists overlook is the continuing power of the demagogue and the mob.
ObiwanBota
