Sci-Fi

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Things to Come (1936)

Director: William Cameron Menzies
Actors: Raymond Massey, Cedric Hardwicke, Edward Chapman, Ralph Richardson, Margaretta Scott, Maurice Braddell
Runtime: 95 min.

Set in the year 1940, the movie prophesies a future in which a decades-long global war devastates civilization, paving the way for a technocratic future where science leads humanity toward peace, progress, and interplanetary exploration.

Trivia: The screenplay was written by Orson Wells and was based on his essay, The Shape of Things to Come. He is rumored to have had a large degree of control over the movie, which he envisioned as a warning and a hopeful blueprint for humanity's future. Director William Cameron Mendies was better known as a set designer (e.g. Gone with the Wind) and this movie's sets and futuristic visuals influenced science fiction cinema for decades.