Things to Come (1936): H.G. Wells's Vision of the Future

Things to Come (1936) was the most ambitious science-fiction film of the 1930s. H.G. Wells personally adapted his 1933 future-history book The Shape of Things to Come into a film screenplay, and Alexander Korda's London Films produced it on what was, for British cinema, an unprecedented budget. The picture predicted a second world war beginning in 1940 and continuing as a long "perpetual war" that would last until the 1970s — at which point a technocratic society of scientists would rebuild civilization. It's one of the most prescient and ideologically ambitious sci-fi films ever made.

The H.G. Wells involvement

H.G. Wells (1866-1946) was 70 years old when Things to Come went into production. He was already one of the most famous writers in the English-speaking world — author of The Time Machine (1895), The War of the Worlds (1898), The Invisible Man (1897), and dozens of other foundational sci-fi works. Korda offered him the unprecedented opportunity to personally adapt his own work into a film screenplay, with full creative authority over the script.

Wells insisted on the arrangement because he was deeply concerned about how his work was being handled by Hollywood. Previous adaptations — particularly the 1933 RKO production of The Invisible Man — had departed substantially from his novels, and Wells wanted at least one film that reflected his actual vision. Korda agreed.

The 1940-1970 war prediction

The film's central narrative spans 100 years and three distinct future periods. The first act (set in 1940) depicts the outbreak of a global war — bombings of British cities, refugees in chaos, the collapse of civilian order. The middle act (set in the 1960s) depicts a post-war Europe of barbarism, plague, and warlord rule. The final act (set in the 2030s) depicts the technocratic society that has finally rebuilt civilization through scientific principles.

Wells published the source novel in 1933. He invented the "1940 war" prediction partly as creative dramatization, partly as warning. When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939 and Britain declared war soon afterward, the war's actual timing came within months of Wells's prediction. The film became eerily prescient — and disturbing — in ways its 1936 audiences couldn't have anticipated.

The Korda production scale

Alexander Korda — the Hungarian-British producer who would become one of British cinema's most important figures — invested approximately £350,000 in the production (roughly $1.75 million in 1936 dollars, or about $40 million in 2024). The sum was extraordinary for British cinema, which generally operated on much smaller budgets than Hollywood.

The production hired German émigré designer Vincent Korda (Alexander's brother) and German émigré architect Erich Mendelsohn to design the futuristic sets. The 2030s sequences feature elaborate art-deco architectural creations that anticipate the visual sensibility of subsequent sci-fi cinema. The miniature work was technically sophisticated for 1936 — particularly the bombing-of-London sequences, which used scale models and matte paintings to remarkable effect.

Raymond Massey's performance

Raymond Massey starred as multiple roles across the film's century-spanning timeline. His three central characters — Cabal in the 1940 sequences, Cabal's grandson in the 1960s, and his great-grandson in the 2030s — gave Massey unusual opportunities to demonstrate his range. The performances are theatrical (Wells's screenplay favored declamatory dialogue) but committed throughout.

The political readings

Things to Come has been read politically across multiple framings. Wells was a Fabian socialist who believed in technocratic government by scientifically-trained elites. The film's 2030s society — orderly, peaceful, governed by the World Communications association — reflects Wells's actual political beliefs about how civilization should be organized.

Subsequent decades have read the film as both prescient (anticipating WWII, anticipating Cold War technological-arms-race themes) and disturbing (anticipating authoritarian-technocratic regimes that would have horrified Wells himself). The political ambiguity gives the film unusual layers for repeated viewings.

The contemporary reception

Things to Come received mixed reviews on its 1936 release. American critics generally praised the production values while questioning Wells's preachy dialogue. British critics were more enthusiastic about the political message and less critical of the script's flaws. The film performed modestly at the box office — Korda needed major hits to justify the production budget, and Things to Come didn't quite deliver them.

The recovery

Modern reassessment has placed Things to Come in the foundational canon of sci-fi cinema. The film influenced subsequent dystopian-future cinema directly — from Metropolis (1927) it had inherited certain visual conventions, but its narrative ambition (spanning 100 years across three distinct periods) was unprecedented and was inherited by subsequent works like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Blade Runner (1982).

Public-domain status

Things to Come is in the public domain through Korda's complicated post-1956 production-company rights situation. The film is freely available in restored prints; modern Blu-ray restorations (particularly the 2013 Network Distributing edition) are well worth seeking out for the best visual quality.

Where to start

Watch Things to Come in the best-quality restoration you can find. The film's 100-minute runtime is best experienced in a single sitting — the cumulative weight of the 100-year narrative arc is essential to its effect. The 2030s sequences in particular reward careful attention; the futuristic set design and miniature work hold up remarkably well 90 years after production.