'Things To Come'

Did people in the 1930s really have this messed up vision of the future or is H.G. Wells just a maniac?

Would someone in 1936 be completely shocked with 1995, 2001 or 2011?

This film is set in "Everytown" which is totally not unlike, say, London or another city in England. War breaks out and chaos ensues. This, clearly, mirrors World War II and the bombings in England.

The war, however, continues for decades and humanity is thwarted back centuries and are forced into a series of city-states where martial law rules and civilizations are thrust back into the Dark Ages.

Eventually, society comes back to a modern age and the film culiminates when the people begin to reject the race toward modern living and two youngsters take a haphazard trip into space before the public can destroy the ship.

It's a relatively ridiculous film, if not borderline humorous. The visions of the initial war is a bit despairing and that's a good thing.

I would bet people of the 1930s got a supreme kick out of this film. I'm sure it was a real hoot. I'm sure they would be floored by the modern age. The Internet alone would cause their brains to absolutely ooze out of their ears. It would be the singular hardest thing to explain to a citizen of the age.

However, isn't it more interesting to think about all the things that people of the 1930s thought would be phased out with technology, but are still here. Like pencils. Toilet paper. Coats. Trains. Cigarettes. Glasses.

I guarantee you that if you transplanted a 50-year-old man in 1936 to today, it would shock him more to see how life is very much the same aside from a cacophony of conveniences that he'd just find annoying.