Things to Come
Encyclopedia
Things to Come is a British
science fiction film
produced by Alexander Korda
and directed by William Cameron Menzies
. The screenplay was written by H. G. Wells
and is a loose adaptation of his own 1933 novel The Shape of Things to Come
and his 1931 non-fiction work, The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind. The film stars Raymond Massey
, Ralph Richardson
, Cedric Hardwicke
, Pearl Argyle and Margaretta Scott
.
The cultural historian Christopher Frayling
calls Things to Come "a landmark in cinematic design."
from 1940 to 2036. It is set in the fictional British city of 'Everytown'. Successful businessman John Cabal (Raymond Massey
) cannot enjoy Christmas Day, 1940, with the ominous news of possible war. His guest Harding (Maurice Braddell) shares his worries, but over-optimistic friend Passworthy (Edward Chapman
) believes it will not come to pass, or even if it does, it will do good by accelerating technological progress. A bombing raid on the city that night results in general mobilization and global war.
Some time later, Cabal, now piloting a biplane
, shoots down a one-man enemy bomber. He lands and pulls the badly injured enemy (John Clements
) from the wreckage. As they dwell on the madness of war, they have to put on their gas mask
s, as poison gas drifts in their direction. When a little girl runs towards them, the wounded man insists she take his mask, saying he is done for anyway. Cabal takes the girl to his aeroplane, pausing to leave the doomed man a revolver. The man dwells on the irony that he may have gassed the child's family and yet he has saved her. He then shoots himself.
The war continues for decades, long enough for the survivors to have forgotten why they are fighting in the first place. Humanity enters a new Dark Age. The world is in ruins and there is little technology left apart from the firearms used to wage war. In 1966, a plague called the "wandering sickness" is spread by the unnamed enemy using its last few remaining aircraft. Dr. Harding and his daughter Mary struggle to find a cure, but with little equipment, it is hopeless.
By 1970, a local warlord called the "Chief" or the "Boss" (Ralph Richardson
) has risen to power in the south of England and eradicated the sickness by shooting the infected. He dreams of conquering the "hill people" to obtain coal and shale to render into oil so his biplanes can fly again.
On May Day 1970, a futuristic aeroplane lands outside the town. The sole pilot, John Cabal, emerges and proclaims that the last surviving band of "engineers and mechanics" have formed a civilization called "Wings Over the World". They are based in Basra
, Iraq
, and have renounced war and outlawed independent nations. The Boss takes the pilot prisoner and forces him to work for Gordon, a mechanic working on repairing the few remaining aeroplanes. Together, they manage to fix a plane. When Gordon takes it up for a test flight, he flees to alert Cabal's friends.
Wings Over the World attacks Everytown with gigantic aeroplanes and drops sleeping gas bombs on the town. The Boss orders his biplanes to attack but they are shot down. The people of Everytown awaken shortly thereafter, to find it occupied by the Airmen and the Boss dead.
A montage follows, showing decades of technological progress, beginning with Cabal explaining plans for global consolidation by Wings Over the World. By 2036, mankind lives in modern underground cities, including the new Everytown.
However, all is not well. The sculptor Theotocopulos (Cedric Hardwicke
) incites the populace to demand a "rest" from the rush of progress, symbolized by the first manned flight around the Moon
. The modern-day Luddites are opposed by Oswald Cabal (Massey again), the head of the governing council and great grandson of John Cabal. Cabal's daughter Catherine (Pearl Argyle) and her boyfriend Horrie Passworthy insist on flying the spaceship. When a mob rushes to destroy the space gun
used to propel the spacecraft, Cabal launches the ship ahead of schedule.
Cabal then delivers a speech about Progress
and humanity's quest for knowledge, asking, "And if we’re no more than animals, we must snatch each little scrap of happiness, and live, and suffer, and pass, mattering no more than all the other animals do or have done. It is this, or that. All the universe or nothing. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?"
Cast notes
was published in 2007.
Wells originally wanted the music to be recorded in advance, and have the film constructed around the music, but this was considered too radical and so the score, by Arthur Bliss
, was fitted to the film afterwards in a more conventional way. A concert suite drawn from the film has remained popular; as of 2003, there are about half-a-dozen recordings of it in print.
After filming had already begun, the Hungarian abstract artist László Moholy-Nagy
was commissioned to produce some of the effects sequences for re-building of Everytown. Moholy-Nagy's approach was partly to treat it as an abstract light show but only some 90 seconds of material was used, e.g. a protective-suited figure behind corrugated glass. In the autumn of 1975 a researcher found a further four sequences, which had been discarded.
The city of 'Everytown' in the film is based on London
: a facsimile of St Paul's Cathedral
can be seen in the background.
, being only 16 months off by having it start on Christmas 1940, rather than 1 September 1939. Its graphic depiction of strategic bombing
in the scenes in which Everytown is flattened by air attack and society collapses into barbarism, echo pre-war concerns about the threat of the bomber
and the apocalyptic pronouncements of air power prophets. Wells was an air power prophet of sorts, having described aerial warfare in Anticipations
(1901) and The War in the Air
(1908).
The use of gas bombs is very much part of the film, from the poison gas used early in the war to the sleeping gas used by the airmen of Wings Over the World. In real life, in the build-up to the Second World War
, there was much concern that the Germans would use poison gas, which was used by France, Germany and Great Britain during the Great War
. Civilians were required to carry gas mask
s and were trained in their use. When war did break out, however, the Germans did not use gas for military purposes.
Wings Over the World is based in Basra
, in southern Iraq
, from where it begins a new civilisation. Southern Iraq was also the home of one of the world's first known civilisations, Sumer
, which began about 6,000 B.C. and invented the wheel
, among a host of other things.
The single world government having engineers, scientists and inventors as the rulers mimics the ideology of the concept of Technocracy
where those of the greatest skill and intellect in various vocations would be the leaders.
in 1948, and then to 92m 42s subsequently by the removal of one more segment. A continuity script exists for a 104m 41s version of the film, which contains all the material in the 96m 24s and 92m 42s versions, plus a number of other sequences. It is not known if a version of this duration was actually in circulation at any time.
For many years, the principal surviving version of the film was the 92m 42s print. From at least the late-1970s until 2007, this was the only version "officially" available from the rights holders in the UK, and has been widely available via home video
and television screenings, both in the UK and elsewhere (in countries using PAL
or SECAM
video systems, it runs to 89m exactly).
In the United States, although the 92m 42s version is most prevalent, a version is also in circulation that includes the four pieces of footage that were in the 96m 24s print, but not the 92m 42s version, although due to cuts elsewhere, it actually runs shorter than the latter. A cut version of the 92m 42s print was digitally restored and colorized
by Legend Films
, under the supervision of Ray Harryhausen
, and released on DVD in the United States in early 2007.
In May 2007, Network DVD
in the UK released a digitally-restored copy of the 96m 24s version, which to date is the longest version available on DVD anywhere in the world. The two-disc set also contains a "Virtual Extended Version" with most of the missing and unfilmed parts represented by production photographs and script extracts.
in the United States in 1964, copyright
remained in force in the UK, the European Union
, and elsewhere. In the UK, film copyright subsists for seventy years after the year of release, or the death of either the director, the writer (or author of original story), or the composer of original music, whichever is the latest. As the composer, Arthur Bliss, did not die until 1975, copyright will not expire until 2045. The film came back into copyright in 1996 in the United States under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), which, among other measures, amended US copyright law to reinstate copyright on films of non-US origin if they were still in copyright in their country of origin. The URAA was subsequently challenged in Golan v. Gonzales, initially unsuccessfully, but later with partial success.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction film
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
produced by Alexander Korda
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...
and directed by William Cameron Menzies
William Cameron Menzies
William Cameron Menzies was an Academy Award-winning American film production designer and art director who also worked as a director, producer, and screenwriter during a career spanning five decades...
. The screenplay was written by H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
and is a loose adaptation of his own 1933 novel The Shape of Things to Come
The Shape of Things to Come
The Shape of Things to Come is a work of science fiction by H. G. Wells, published in 1933, which speculates on future events from 1933 until the year 2106. The book is dominated by Wells's belief in a world state as the solution to mankind's problems....
and his 1931 non-fiction work, The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind. The film stars Raymond Massey
Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
, Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
, Cedric Hardwicke
Cedric Hardwicke
Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years...
, Pearl Argyle and Margaretta Scott
Margaretta Scott
Margaretta Scott was an English stage, screen and television actress whose career spanned over seventy years. She is best remembered for playing the eccentric widow Mrs...
.
The cultural historian Christopher Frayling
Christopher Frayling
Sir Christopher John Frayling is a British educationalist and writer, known for his study of popular culture.-Biography:Frayling read history at Churchill College, Cambridge and gained a PhD in the study of Jean-Jacques Rousseau...
calls Things to Come "a landmark in cinematic design."
Plot
Things to Come sets out a future historyFuture history
A future history is a postulated history of the future and is used by authors in the subgenre of speculative fiction to construct a common background for fiction...
from 1940 to 2036. It is set in the fictional British city of 'Everytown'. Successful businessman John Cabal (Raymond Massey
Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
) cannot enjoy Christmas Day, 1940, with the ominous news of possible war. His guest Harding (Maurice Braddell) shares his worries, but over-optimistic friend Passworthy (Edward Chapman
Edward Chapman (actor)
Edward Chapman was an English actor who starred in many films and television programmes, but is chiefly remembered as "Mr. Wilfred Grimsdale", the officious superior and comic foil to Norman Wisdom's character of Pitkin in many of his films from the late 1950s and 1960s.Chapman was born in...
) believes it will not come to pass, or even if it does, it will do good by accelerating technological progress. A bombing raid on the city that night results in general mobilization and global war.
Some time later, Cabal, now piloting a biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...
, shoots down a one-man enemy bomber. He lands and pulls the badly injured enemy (John Clements
John Clements
Sir John Selby Clements, CBE was an English actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.Clements attended St Paul's School and St John's College, Cambridge University then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet's Shakespearean Company. He made...
) from the wreckage. As they dwell on the madness of war, they have to put on their gas mask
Gas mask
A gas mask is a mask put on over the face to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Some gas masks are also respirators, though the word...
s, as poison gas drifts in their direction. When a little girl runs towards them, the wounded man insists she take his mask, saying he is done for anyway. Cabal takes the girl to his aeroplane, pausing to leave the doomed man a revolver. The man dwells on the irony that he may have gassed the child's family and yet he has saved her. He then shoots himself.
The war continues for decades, long enough for the survivors to have forgotten why they are fighting in the first place. Humanity enters a new Dark Age. The world is in ruins and there is little technology left apart from the firearms used to wage war. In 1966, a plague called the "wandering sickness" is spread by the unnamed enemy using its last few remaining aircraft. Dr. Harding and his daughter Mary struggle to find a cure, but with little equipment, it is hopeless.
By 1970, a local warlord called the "Chief" or the "Boss" (Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
) has risen to power in the south of England and eradicated the sickness by shooting the infected. He dreams of conquering the "hill people" to obtain coal and shale to render into oil so his biplanes can fly again.
On May Day 1970, a futuristic aeroplane lands outside the town. The sole pilot, John Cabal, emerges and proclaims that the last surviving band of "engineers and mechanics" have formed a civilization called "Wings Over the World". They are based in Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, and have renounced war and outlawed independent nations. The Boss takes the pilot prisoner and forces him to work for Gordon, a mechanic working on repairing the few remaining aeroplanes. Together, they manage to fix a plane. When Gordon takes it up for a test flight, he flees to alert Cabal's friends.
Wings Over the World attacks Everytown with gigantic aeroplanes and drops sleeping gas bombs on the town. The Boss orders his biplanes to attack but they are shot down. The people of Everytown awaken shortly thereafter, to find it occupied by the Airmen and the Boss dead.
A montage follows, showing decades of technological progress, beginning with Cabal explaining plans for global consolidation by Wings Over the World. By 2036, mankind lives in modern underground cities, including the new Everytown.
However, all is not well. The sculptor Theotocopulos (Cedric Hardwicke
Cedric Hardwicke
Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years...
) incites the populace to demand a "rest" from the rush of progress, symbolized by the first manned flight around the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
. The modern-day Luddites are opposed by Oswald Cabal (Massey again), the head of the governing council and great grandson of John Cabal. Cabal's daughter Catherine (Pearl Argyle) and her boyfriend Horrie Passworthy insist on flying the spaceship. When a mob rushes to destroy the space gun
Space gun
A space gun is a method of launching an object into outer space using a large gun, or cannon. It provides a method of non-rocket spacelaunch.In the HARP Project a U.S...
used to propel the spacecraft, Cabal launches the ship ahead of schedule.
Cabal then delivers a speech about Progress
Social progress
Social progress is the idea that societies can or do improve in terms of their social, political, and economic structures. This may happen as a result of direct human action, as in social enterprise or through social activism, or as a natural part of sociocultural evolution...
and humanity's quest for knowledge, asking, "And if we’re no more than animals, we must snatch each little scrap of happiness, and live, and suffer, and pass, mattering no more than all the other animals do or have done. It is this, or that. All the universe or nothing. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?"
Cast
- Raymond MasseyRaymond MasseyRaymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
as John Cabal/Oswald Cabal - Edward ChapmanEdward Chapman (actor)Edward Chapman was an English actor who starred in many films and television programmes, but is chiefly remembered as "Mr. Wilfred Grimsdale", the officious superior and comic foil to Norman Wisdom's character of Pitkin in many of his films from the late 1950s and 1960s.Chapman was born in...
as Pippa Passworthy/Raymond Passworthy - Ralph RichardsonRalph RichardsonSir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
as Rudolf a.k.a. The Boss - Margaretta ScottMargaretta ScottMargaretta Scott was an English stage, screen and television actress whose career spanned over seventy years. She is best remembered for playing the eccentric widow Mrs...
as Roxana Black/Rowena Cabal - Cedric HardwickeCedric HardwickeSir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years...
as Theotocopulos - Maurice Braddell as Dr Edward Harding
- Sophie StewartSophie StewartSophie Stewart was a British actress. She was born in Crieff, Perthshire on 5 March 1908. Died 1977. In 1937 she starred in Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel as Lady Blakeney.She was married to the actor Ellis Irving.-Selected filmography:...
as Mrs Cabal - Derrick De MarneyDerrick De MarneyDerrick De Marney was an English stage and film actor and producer, of French and Irish ancestry.-Actor:On the London stage from 1922 and films from 1928...
as Richard Gordon - Ann ToddAnn ToddDorothy Anne Todd was an English actress and producer.She was born in Hartford, Cheshire and was educated at St. Winifrid's School, Eastbourne. She became a popular actress from appearing in such films as Perfect Strangers and The Seventh Veil...
as Mary Gordon - Pearl Argyle as Catherine Cabal
- Kenneth Villiers as Maurice Passworthy
- Ivan Brandt as Morden Mitani
- Anne McLarenAnne McLarenThe Hon. Dame Anne Laura Dorinthea McLaren, DBE, FRS, FRCOG was the daughter of Henry McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway and Christabel McNaughten. She became a leading figure in developmental biology. Her work helped lead to human in vitro fertilisation...
as Child (2036) - Patricia Hilliard as Janet Gordon
- Charles CarsonCharles Carson (actor)-Selected filmography:* The Loves of Ariane * Dreyfus * Many Waters * Marry Me * The Chinese Puzzle * Monsieur Albert * Men of Tomorrow * Leap Year...
as Great-Grandfather (2036) - Patrick BarrPatrick BarrPatrick David Barr was a British film and television actor.Born in Akola, India, Patrick Barr went from stage to screen with The Merry Men of Sherwood . He spent the 1930s playing various beneficent authority figures and "reliable friend" types...
as World Transport official - John ClementsJohn ClementsSir John Selby Clements, CBE was an English actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.Clements attended St Paul's School and St John's College, Cambridge University then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet's Shakespearean Company. He made...
as Enemy pilot - Antony Holles as Simon Burton
- Allan JeayesAllan JeayesAllan Jeayes was a British stage and movie actor.He starred as Howard Joyce in the original 1927 Broadway production of The Letter and played Sir Lawrence Wargarve in the 1943 London production of And Then There Were None.Jeayes made his film debut in the 1918 Nelson as Sir William Hamilton...
as Mr. Cabal (1940) - Pickles Livingston as Horrie Passworthy
- Abraham SofaerAbraham SofaerAbraham Sofaer was a stage actor of Burmese-Jewish descent who became a familiar supporting player on film and television in his later years. He was born in Rangoon, Burma...
as Wadsky
Cast notes
- All of Theotocopulos's scenes were originally shot with Ernest ThesigerErnest ThesigerErnest Frederic Graham Thesiger CBE was an English stage and film actor. He is best known for his performance as Dr...
in the role, but Wells found his performance to be unsatisfactory, so he was replaced with Cedric Hardwicke and the footage re-shot. - Terry-ThomasTerry-ThomasThomas Terry Hoar Stevens was a distinctive English comic actor, known as Terry-Thomas. He was famous for his portrayal of disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads and toffs, with the trademark gap in his front teeth, cigarette holder, smoking jacket, and catch-phrases such as...
, who would become known for his comic acting, has an uncredited appearance as an extra in the film, playing a "man of the future." It was his seventh film appearance.
Production
Wells is assumed to have had a degree of control over the project that was unprecedented for a screenwriter, and personally supervised nearly every aspect of the film. Posters and the main title bill the film as "H. G. Wells' THINGS TO COME", with "an Alexander Korda production" appearing in smaller type. In fact, Wells ultimately had no control over the finished product, with the result that many scenes, although shot, were either truncated or not included in the finished film. The rough-cut reputedly ran to 130 minutes; the version submitted to the British Board of Film Censors was 117m 13s; it was released as 108m 40s (later cut to 98m 06s) in the UK, and 96m 24s in the United States (see below for later versions). Wells's film treatment and selected production notes were published in book form in 1935, and was reprinted in 1940 and 1975. An academic edition annotated by Leon StoverLeon Stover
Leon Eugene Stover was an anthropologist, a Sinologist, and a science fiction fan, who wrote both fiction and nonfiction. He was a scholar of the works of H. G. Wells and Robert A. Heinlein.-Scholarly career:...
was published in 2007.
Wells originally wanted the music to be recorded in advance, and have the film constructed around the music, but this was considered too radical and so the score, by Arthur Bliss
Arthur Bliss
Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO was an English composer and conductor.Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army...
, was fitted to the film afterwards in a more conventional way. A concert suite drawn from the film has remained popular; as of 2003, there are about half-a-dozen recordings of it in print.
After filming had already begun, the Hungarian abstract artist László Moholy-Nagy
László Moholy-Nagy
László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts.-Early life:...
was commissioned to produce some of the effects sequences for re-building of Everytown. Moholy-Nagy's approach was partly to treat it as an abstract light show but only some 90 seconds of material was used, e.g. a protective-suited figure behind corrugated glass. In the autumn of 1975 a researcher found a further four sequences, which had been discarded.
The city of 'Everytown' in the film is based on London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
: a facsimile of St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
can be seen in the background.
Historical parallels
The film, written throughout 1934, is notable for predicting World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, being only 16 months off by having it start on Christmas 1940, rather than 1 September 1939. Its graphic depiction of strategic bombing
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
in the scenes in which Everytown is flattened by air attack and society collapses into barbarism, echo pre-war concerns about the threat of the bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
and the apocalyptic pronouncements of air power prophets. Wells was an air power prophet of sorts, having described aerial warfare in Anticipations
Anticipations
Anticipations is the magazine of the Young Fabians, the under-31 section of the Fabian Society.The magazine was founded in 1996, however the group only produced one edition. It was re-formatted and re-launched the following year and since then had published three or four editions per year.The title...
(1901) and The War in the Air
The War in the Air
The War in the Air is a novel by H. G. Wells, written in 1907, serialized and published in 1908 in the Pall Mall Magazine. Like many of Wells’s works, it is notable for its prophetic ideas, images, and concepts, in this case, the use of the aircraft for the purpose of warfare and the coming of...
(1908).
The use of gas bombs is very much part of the film, from the poison gas used early in the war to the sleeping gas used by the airmen of Wings Over the World. In real life, in the build-up to the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, there was much concern that the Germans would use poison gas, which was used by France, Germany and Great Britain during the Great War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Civilians were required to carry gas mask
Gas mask
A gas mask is a mask put on over the face to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Some gas masks are also respirators, though the word...
s and were trained in their use. When war did break out, however, the Germans did not use gas for military purposes.
Wings Over the World is based in Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
, in southern Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, from where it begins a new civilisation. Southern Iraq was also the home of one of the world's first known civilisations, Sumer
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
, which began about 6,000 B.C. and invented the wheel
Wheel
A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Common examples found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle,...
, among a host of other things.
The single world government having engineers, scientists and inventors as the rulers mimics the ideology of the concept of Technocracy
Technocracy (bureaucratic)
Technocracy is a form of government where technical experts are in control of decision making in their respective fields. Economists, engineers, scientists, health professionals, and those who have knowledge, expertise or skills would compose the governing body...
where those of the greatest skill and intellect in various vocations would be the leaders.
Duration history and surviving versions
The rough-cut of the film was 130 minutes in length, while the version submitted for classification by the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) was 117m 13s. By the time of the 21 February 1936 UK premiere and initial release, this had been reduced to 108m 30s, while the American print premiered on 18 April 1936 was further cut to 96m 24s. By late 1936, a 98m 06s print was in circulation in the UK, and a 72m 13s print was resubmitted for classification by the BBFC and was passed after further cuts for reissue in 1943. The 96m 24s American print was cut down to 93m 18s by the removal of three sections of footage for a reissue by British Lion FilmsBritish Lion Films
British Lion Films Corporation is a film production and distribution company active under several forms since 1919. Until 1976 they were also film distributors as British Lion Films Ltd, with a distributor filmography of 232 films. As a production company they are still active and have produced...
in 1948, and then to 92m 42s subsequently by the removal of one more segment. A continuity script exists for a 104m 41s version of the film, which contains all the material in the 96m 24s and 92m 42s versions, plus a number of other sequences. It is not known if a version of this duration was actually in circulation at any time.
For many years, the principal surviving version of the film was the 92m 42s print. From at least the late-1970s until 2007, this was the only version "officially" available from the rights holders in the UK, and has been widely available via home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
and television screenings, both in the UK and elsewhere (in countries using PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
or SECAM
SECAM
SECAM, also written SÉCAM , is an analog color television system first used in France....
video systems, it runs to 89m exactly).
In the United States, although the 92m 42s version is most prevalent, a version is also in circulation that includes the four pieces of footage that were in the 96m 24s print, but not the 92m 42s version, although due to cuts elsewhere, it actually runs shorter than the latter. A cut version of the 92m 42s print was digitally restored and colorized
Film colorization
Film colorization is any process that adds color to black-and-white, sepia or monochrome moving-picture images. It may be done as a special effect, or to modernize black-and-white films, or to restore color films...
by Legend Films
Legend Films
Legend Films, a San Diego-based company, was founded in August 2001. The company specializes in the conversion of feature films, both new release and catalog titles, and commercials from their native 2D format into 3-D film format utilizing proprietary technology and software...
, under the supervision of Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen is an American film producer and special effects creator...
, and released on DVD in the United States in early 2007.
In May 2007, Network DVD
Network DVD
Network DVD is a DVD publishing company that specialises in classic British television. In particular, it has the rights to a number of well-known ITV programmes...
in the UK released a digitally-restored copy of the 96m 24s version, which to date is the longest version available on DVD anywhere in the world. The two-disc set also contains a "Virtual Extended Version" with most of the missing and unfilmed parts represented by production photographs and script extracts.
Copyright status
Although the film lapsed into the public domainPublic domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
in the United States in 1964, copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
remained in force in the UK, the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, and elsewhere. In the UK, film copyright subsists for seventy years after the year of release, or the death of either the director, the writer (or author of original story), or the composer of original music, whichever is the latest. As the composer, Arthur Bliss, did not die until 1975, copyright will not expire until 2045. The film came back into copyright in 1996 in the United States under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), which, among other measures, amended US copyright law to reinstate copyright on films of non-US origin if they were still in copyright in their country of origin. The URAA was subsequently challenged in Golan v. Gonzales, initially unsuccessfully, but later with partial success.
See also
- H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to ComeH. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to ComeH. G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come is a Canadian science fiction motion picture first released in May 1979.Although credited to H. G. Wells, the film takes only its title and some character names from The Shape of Things to Come, Wells' speculative novel from 1933. The plot bears no...
, a CanadianCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
science fiction film from 1979 which was also (extremely loosely) based upon Wells's novel.