The Times 21/02/36
NEW H. G. WELLS
FILM
"THINGS TO COME"
PRODUCED BY ALEXANDER KORDA AND
DIRECTED BY WILLIAM CAMERON
MENZIES
John Cabal }
Oswald Cabal } .............. RAYMOND MASSEY
Pipper Passworthy }
Raymond Passworthy } ........ EDWARD CHAPMAN
The Boss ................... RALPH RICHARDSON
Roxana }
Rowena } .................. MARGARETTA SCOTT
Theotocopulos .............. CEDRIC HARDWICKE
Dr. Harding ................ MAURICE BRADDELL
Mrs. Cabal ................... SOPHIE STEWART
Richard Gordon ............ DERRICK DE MARNEY
Mary Gordon ........................ ANN TODD
Katherine Cabal ................ PEARL ARGYLE
Maurice Passworthy .......... KENNETH VILLERY
Morden Mitani ................... IVAN BRANDT
The Child ...................... ANNE MCLAREN
It is usually not until they have extinguished the present civilization
of the world by war, famine, new and particularly unpleasant diseases, invasions
from another planet, or some spectacular catastrophe that our Utopian writers
can settle down comfortably to planning new fashions in asbestos clothing.
As to Mr. Wells himself, it would be difficult to decide whether he
feels more at home when devising sensational methods of putting the present
out of its misery or when assisting at the birth of the future, so often
has he tried his hand at both operations. His film, at any rate, shows
him at work, with the case and skill of long practice, on both destruction
and construction. But familiar as the situation is, with a detailed
survey of the present civilization in ruins and rather less concrete suggestions
of the glittering future, the film no longer accepts quite readily the premise
of so many Utopians, that the future will be completely glorious if only
the litter of the present can be completely removed. For this hypothesis
is also supported by that other device of prophets, the mysterious change
of heart, which in this instance is very mysterious indeed. It appears
that the world will be saved by mechanics, research students, and especially
airmen. Quite suddenly the airmen - presumably the same people who
caused so much destruction in the second world war - emerge from the ruins
endowed with such wisdom, detachment, and nobility as would have put Socrates
himself to shame.
How exactly this happened Mr. Wells, of course, does not say, but one
may have a faint suspicion that it was the result of an almost
mystic communion with machinery. The suspicion is increased by the
bitterness with which Mr. Wells pursues an unfortunate artist who does not
care for machinery. In fact at the end of the film almost becomes the vehicle
of one of those private and envenomed quarrels to which artists of different
persuasions are so often prone. But Mr. Wells does not conduct the
quarrel quite fairly; as an artist who cares for machinery, which is surely
what he is, he scores heavily, but chiefly by deriding all art. And
his artists, who bears the honourable name of Theotocopulos, is given more
sins than artistic heresy; he is foolish enough to dislike the habit which
the young have now contracted of running into every kind of danger, even
sport. No doubt this is intended - it is almost the only indication
on the film of any real concern with the psychological problems of Utopia
- as a substitute for the dangers of war. But it is not a substitute for
the emotions of hostility, and a civilization in which such extraordinary
excitement, with rioting and revolution, is aroused by a single artist's
blasphemy against machinery can hardly be quite as pleasant or stable as
it appears.
But the message of Mr. Well's film, emphatic as it is, may well pass
unnoticed at the time before so imposing, one might almost say so beautiful,
a spectacle. The scenes of war at the beginning are really appalling:
the ruins of a modern English town are thoroughly romantic in the Roman manner;
and the new world, with all its machinery and vistas of glass and steel,
is so large and glittering, and so obviously a working model, that one cannot
imagine how it could have been done. The most extraordinary aeroplanes
move over vast and genuine landscapes, and a whole underground town is displayed
with no trace of cardboard in its construction. In fact, with such
a setting Mr. Well's story, however doubtful his implied arguments may appear
and however loose the speeches, cannot fail to carry the spectator away.
Any rhetoric against such a background is superb.
The actors are naturally dwarfed, though Mr. Ralph Richardson has his
opportunity to make a subtle caricature of a dictator among the ruins.
Even Mr. Raymond Massey, though always dignified, can hardly distract
the attention from the incomparable scenery which is the real triumph of
the film.
The Times 02/03/36
LEICESTER SQUARE
Things to Come--When there flashed upon the screen, not among
the rude mechanicals but alone in its glory, the names of the composer (Mr.
Arthur Bliss) and the conductor (Mr. Muir Matheson) of the music, one hoped
that at last a director of a big commercial film was going to allow music
to contribute its legitimate share to the sum total of our entertainment.
In this respect Things to Come is yet another disappointment.
It is a great pity, because this film happens to provide exceptional
opportunities for music to deploy itself at reasonable length.
As we know from the concert performance, Mr. Arthur Bliss has not failed
to make good use of his opportunity, but another power in this film is so
grossly over-amplified that the music becomes mere noise. In the war
scenes it is admittedly a terrifying noise, heightening to an almost unbearable
degree the emotions aroused by the spectacle of horror and destruction.
But there is no point in engaging a distinguished composer to write
special music. Anything would have done, thus amplified so that it
is impossible to detect what instruments originated this uniform, brazen
din. The accompaniment to the scenes of Utopian reconstruction is similarly
stupefying in its excess, and even in the quieter scenes like the children's
Christmas party, the character of the music, as music, is obliterated in
the process of reproduction. We still have hopes, based upon the experience
of less ambitious productions, that music may yet take its legitimate place
in the cinema; it remains for the musicians to stake out their claim for
their art as something more than one among many forms of sound effects.
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