Sci-fi before World War II

Before the Second World War ushered in the atomic age, and all the attendant nuclear angst, science fiction films found many other things to feel angsty about. There was less of rocket and aliens -- although there were some of those too -- but more of the mad scientist trope. There were dystopic visions of the future, but amusing ones too. Electricity, rather than atomic radiation, was the genie in the bottle that could do all manner of wonders (and horrors).

Below, is a collection of pre-WWII films already reviewed on this blog. There are more to add, but this is a good start.  The sci-fi films of the 40s will come under a separate post. Enjoy!

Edison's Frankenstein -- This 1910 silent film was the first film made of Shelley's story. It was a loose adaptation, geared for a fixed camera. The film was "lost" for a long time.

Homunculus -- Originally, a six part German film about an artificial human, tormented by his lack of understanding what true love is. While not a direct spin-off of the Frankenstein genre, it is definitely in the family.

Aelita: Queen of Mars -- an obscure 1924 Soviet film about a Russian engineer shortly after the revolution, who creates a ship to travel to Mars. There, he finds a monarchy which oppresses its workers. They spark a proletariat revolution on Mars. The sets and costumes for "Mars" are dramatically Constructivist.

Metropolis -- Fritz Lang's 1927 epic about the world of the future in which the elite's party in penthouse gardens while the workers toil in a grim underworld. The sets, lighting and directing are good examples of the German Expressionist style.

Just Imagine -- 1930 looks into the magical future year of 1980. People have numbers instead of names and everyone has a personal airplane. This is an upbeat, Hollywood, view of the future.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde -- Paramount's 1931 adaptation of Robert Lewis Stevenson's dark tale is a classic. It became the inspiration for many other sci-fi films with its exploration of the good and evil within mankind.

Frankenstein -- James Whale's 1931 adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel became a cultural icon. The film itself spawned several sequels and numerous (usually cheap) spin-offs and copies. The undercurrent theme of science-gone-wrong would thrive in the atomic age too.

F.P.1 Doesn't Answer -- Originally a German film of 1932, remade with an English-speaking cast. It is the tale of a mid-Atlantic floating landing strip to facilitate transatlantic flights. However, sinister forces do not want to see the project succeed. Sabotage and treachery await.

The Invisible Man -- 1933 screen adaptation of H.G.Wells' novel. Yet another pre-atomic variation on the dangers of science in the hands of fault-prone human beings.

The Vanishing Shadow -- A Universal serial, running in 1934 that feature's a scientist's invisibility machine as the primary sci-fi gimmick. The heroes use it to thwart crime. But, look for ray guns and a robot too!

The Transatlantic Tunnel -- A 1935 remake (in English) of a 1933 German film (Der Tunnel) which tells of the ambitious project to dig a tunnel to link England and America. The sci-fi element -- a "Radium Drill" gets little screen time compared to a convoluted love triangle and sinister "Syndicate" dealings.

Bride of Frankenstein -- Universal's 1935 sequel to James' Whale's classic. The monster insists that the doctor create a mate for him. The reluctant doctor agrees. This is a rare case of a sequel rivaling the original for classic-ness.

Things To Come -- 1936 British film tracing the history of "Everytown" (London) from the 1930s to 2061. Based on HG Wells book, "The Shape of Things to Come," but actually better than the book. Traces the destruction of old world civilization by a devastating World War and the rebirth of a new world order -- and the launch of a moon mission!

The Man Who Lived Again -- One of four Columbia films (this one, 1936) starring Boris Karloff and dealing with attempts at immortality. In this case, the ability to transfer consciousness from one brain to another. A sinister love triangle goes wrong, killing the mad scientist, but reuniting the young lovers.

Bombs Over London -- A British spy thriller of 1937 ('39 for American release) in which a consortium of arms producers conspire to start a world war (for their profit) by the invention of robot airplanes. These are sent to bomb London and spark a war.

Fighting Devil Dogs -- A 1939 Republic serial about a group of Marines (the Devil Dogs) who try to stop the nefarious villain "The Lightning" and his many techno-gadgets. Lightning is a precursor to Darth Vader.

The Man They Could Not Hang -- The second of Columbia's Karloff-immortality films, this one of 1939. Karloff invents an artificial heart machine that can revive the dead. He uses it to thwart his one execution.

The Phantom Creeps -- Universal's remake of it's prior serial: The Vanishing Shadow. This time, Bela Lugosi is the sinister scientist who uses the invisibility belt for dark deeds.

The Son of Frankenstein -- 1939, and Universal's third in the series. This time the son of Dr. Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone) thinks he can revive and fix the monster (played by Boris Karloff) and repair the family name. Watch for Bela Lugosi as "Ygor."

Buck Rogers -- serials ran the late 1930s, remade into a feature film in 1953.

A Look Back at Frankenstein

Before delving into the sci-fi films of the 70s, it seemed like a good idea to backtrack a bit to set the stage. The first sci-fi film of 1970 was Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. It is actually one of the last of a long series of films which make up a sort of Frankenstein franchise. To help give this first film of 1970 some context, it seemed prudent to go back and have a FrankeFEST to run through the prior installments. Frankenstein is often associated with the horror genre. Certainly some of its permutations wallowed in the horror/gore aspect. Yet, at its roots, Frankenstein is actually a sci-fi tale.

Mary Shelley's Novel
Of course, it all started with Shelley's 1818 novel, "Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus". She penned one of the first modern science fiction novels. Modern, in that it was "science" (medical) which created the situation that the plot plays out. It wasn't magic, or fantasy, or all-a-dream, etc. The original story did not dwell on the science as much as later readers/viewers tended to crave. Her scenario just presumed such things were possible and moved on. The crux of the story was more about creation and obligation, and a metaphor for the costs of meddling outside one's realm. In this, her story is a more earthly (science-bound) recasting of the old Faust legend. Certainly the trope of the misguided (mad?) scientist being tormented by his own creation, would get played out in scores of other sci-fi stories for decades -- even if they had little resemblance to the Frankenstein story.

First FrankenFilm
FrankenFEST will start with the 1910 Edison silent film as a benchmark. It predates the famous Universal version by 20 years. Edison's version isn't as well remembered. Yet, is a useful bridge between the novel and Universal's iconic series. Most of the later iterations would maintain at least a nominal tie to sci-fi via the "mad scientist" trope.

Universal Saga
Universal Studios created an enduring legacy with its Frankenstein quadrilogy. Starting in 1931 was the primary tale and a monster that almost everyone recognizes. In 1935, they released Bride of Frankenstein, picking up the story from where the first film left off. In 1938, they released Son of Frankenstein. Not son of the monster, but son of the original Dr. Frankenstein. 1942 saw Ghost of Frankenstein pick up the story from where "Son of…" left off.

Cameo Monster
Three later Universal films would feature Frankenstein's monster (often called Frankenstein, as if it were his name), but had little or nothing to do with the saga story line of the quadrilogy. In 1943, Universal released Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman and in 1944 House of Frankenstein -- a sort of monsters All Star Game. 1948 had the comedy farce, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The title pretty much says it all.

Hammer Carries The Torch
Britain's Hammer Studios would pick up where Universal left off. They kicked off their half of the franchise with The Curse of Frankenstein and would go on to produce seven other Frankenfilms, the next to last one being 1970's Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed that opens up the sci-fi of the 70s.

A Note About Faux Franks
Several films sought to capitalize on the ticket-selling power of the name "Frankenstein", though their stories had nothing to do with Victor, Henry, any of their descendants or their creations. A couple of examples include, Toho's 1965 Frankenstein Conquers the World which has the thinnest of claims to the franchase, but is more honestly just another kaiju (giant rubber-suit monster) film. Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (also 1965) had nothing to do with the franchise. The main character is a largish android who becomes disfigured (hence the franken-reference) and then does battle with a space monster.

 With all that said as introduction, the next post will start off FrankenFEST with Edison's 1910 silent film rendition. Enjoy!

Bombs Over London

This movie might seem like a non-sequitur for the present study, but it's not. Bombs Over London (BOL) was as British film, released in 1937 ('39 in USA) which was essentially a spy intrigue film with a sci-fi element as the MacGuffin. This formula was getting more common in the sci-fi of the mid and later 1960s. (see Notes section for more on this). The two 1968 films coming up next in this study were exactly this pattern -- spy stories with a nominal sci-fi item as MacGuffin. BOL is included here as an historical precedent, though by no means the only one.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A consortium of armament tycoons celebrate the death of an over-inquisative newspaper journalist. Briant, a co-worker of the dead reporter suspects some foul play because he said, just before his death, that he was onto something big. Graham Stevens (the dead man) was covering a big, but lackluster disarmament conference. A primary delegate to the conference, a man named Peters, talks up a peace treaty and dedicates a statue to the event. Peters meets with the arms tycoons and tells them his plan is to wreck the conference for his own revenge reasons. The tycoons benefit from new wars to sell more bombs. Briant uncovers some obscure clues in Stevens' office and works the mysterious word SASKA into one of his editorial cartoons. This begins to rattle the conspirators and entangle Briant in their web. Peters has employed a scientist named Dr. Marsh, who has created long-range remote control devices for aircraft. Peters' plan is to have these robot planes bomb key targets in London. The act of aggression would be blamed on other countries in Europe and a larger war would ensue. Briant and Mary Stevens get closer to uncovering the plot. Both get captured by Peters and his men. Briant escapes and alerts the authorities. Mary is kidnapped and taken to Dr. Marsh's secret control lab beneath a newspaper shop. The planes land in England that night. (November 5th) They take off under Marsh's remote control and bomb the first of five targets: an oil storage yard. Troops surround the newspaper shop. A firefight erupts between the soldiers and Peters' henchmen. More targets are bombed. Briant sneaks into the shop and Marsh's lab, looking for Mary. He finds the remote control console and smashes it. The bombers fall from the sky before Whitehall and Parliament are bombed. Mary is rescued. Briant is a hero with his editor. Peters commits suicide by poison. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Pre-nuclear sci-fi has a freshness to it, for viewers raised on two decades of nuclear themes. The picture phones (called "television") as well as the remote control apparatus are charming "high tech", but must have been pretty cool in their day.

Cold War Angle
Being 1937, BOL is pre-Cold War. It's pre-Hot War, for that matter. Yet, the bugaboo of its day -- militarism and the threat of war -- provided the impetus for the plot, just as Cold War themes did after the war. Where 50s and 60s sci-fi gave allegorical voice to Cold War themes, BOL is an example of the same being applied to conventional war themes. . In 1937, the drum beat for a looming European war was impossible to ignore. BOL gives some voice to that era's concerns.

Notes
Fawkes Redux -- The date of the plot in BOL, November 5th, would be instantly significant to British audiences, but probably not for American viewers. "Remember, remember the fifth of November; gunpowder, treason and plot..." goes the 17th century poem. The Gunpowder Plot was an uncovered attempt to blow up King James I and parliament in 1605. The infamous (and captured) conspirator was Guy Fawkes. Some three centuries afterward, November 5th is still known as Guy Fawkes Day. There were bonfires, fireworks and the burning-in-effegy of Guy Fawkes. BOL is a modernization of the plot meme, using the symbolic day to cement the parallel.

Robot Pilots -- The science fiction element is BOL was pretty high tech for its day. The planes fashioned by Dr. Marsh amount to modern Predator drones, 50 years ahead of their time. In 1937, even human pilots had trouble navigating by radio beacons. The 1941 movie Robot Pilot would continue the dream of remote control flying. In it, Forrest Tucker is a pilot/inventor who develops a workable remote control for aircraft. Enemy agents are out to steal his invention.

Blitz Preview -- Imagery in BOL presages Goering's Luftwaffe campaign of just a few years in the future. London by night, searchlights crisscrossing the sky, planes droning overhead and bombs falling on the panicky citizenry, fighters dispatched to shoot down the night bombers, etc. Yet, the writers and director were not entirely visionary. London was bombed during World War One, though with far less impact. German Gotha bombers raided by night in late 1917 to avoid interceptor fighters (though not always successfully). This was the imagery BOL was keying off of.

Plane Crazy -- Admittedly trivial, the scant footage of the real airplanes (not the models) appear to show the Miles Magister, slightly disguised with landing gear fairings. The Magister was a low-wing monoplane trainer first used by the RAF in early 1937. Spitfire pilots who would battle the Luftwaffe over London would have trained in the Magister. For the movie's day even the modest Magister had an ultra-modern look to it. Compare with the RAF biplane fighters sent up to intercept the bombers. The Hawker Fury II was typical of the late 30s, but a design only slightly updated from the days of the Red Baron.

Bottom line? BOL is a quaint and somewhat obscure example of pre-war sci-fi. It is primarily a spy mystery with the typical plucky journalist as the man uncovering the plot. The props are modest, but reasonable for the time. The special effects (models of the planes) are weak, but sufficient. BOL makes an interesting foil for more sophisticated films in the 50s. Much of the plot structure and characters are the same. Just replace conventional weapons with saucers or things nuclear. Compare and contrast (as the teachers say) with 1968 films such as Bamboo Saucer and The Destructors.

Foreshadowing the 50s (in 1909)

I recently discovered this silent "scifi" short which turned out to have some uncanny parallels to 50s sci-fi. The 50s are famous, of course, for Cold War tension, invasion themes and are famous visualizing a (then) contemporary phenomenon: flying saucers. The Airship Destroyer (TAD) has those things too, in its own way, but in 1909. Without a bit of background history, though, the average 50s sci-fi fan might not realize what a neat mirror it is. More on that in the Notes section. The movie is only 6-plus minutes long, so follow this YouTube link and watch it yourself.

Quick Plot Synopsis
An unnamed foreign power launches an air fleet of small airships. An English inventor asks his sweetheart to marry him, but her father says no. Dejected, the inventor returns to his shop. His assistant bursts in to announce the arrival of the menacing air fleet. The airship crew begin dropping bombs on the countryside. A lone armored car putters around firing back up at the airships, though ineffectually. The airship crew continue to drop bombs. The bombs narrowly miss a train, but hit the armored car square on. They also hit a house, injuring the wife and husband within. Panic in the streets. An airplane is dispatched to do battle, but it strikes an airship and falls to earth. Enter our lovelorn inventor. He has an aerial torpedo. His assistant fires it up. The inventor controls it with a huge radio set, guiding it to an enemy airship. The torpedo hits. The airship burns and falls to earth. Inventor and sweetheart embrace, his heroism having softened daddy's heart. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
Knowing how many of 1950s sci-fi stories were set, this battle of (at that time) "fantastic" cutting-edge technology is fun to watch, from the smug seat of 100 years in the future.

Cold War Angle
TAD is an expression of an earlier era's version of the Cold War. It is fascinating how some things stay the same.

Notes
Pre-Cold War -- Before World War One, there was a decade or so of an earlier Cold War, of sorts. Rivalry between Great Britain and Germany had simmered in the background, since 1903 or so, and several times threatened to boil over into a "hot" war. (Tangier Crisis 1905, Annexation Crisis, 1909, Agadir Crisis 1911, etc.) Both Britain and Germany vigorously engaged in an arms race. In 1909, the Naval Scare was in full steam.

Super Weapons, Mark 1 -- Before A-bombs, there were battleships. They were both a symbol of prestige and (in theory) a deterrent. (Sound familiar?). The British navy was supreme, but in late 1908, the German passed funding for four new dreadnoughts. This sparked the great "naval scare". British scaremongers whipped up worries that the Germans would achieve superiority. The empire would be doomed. This generated a mood of worry and alarm.

Super Weapons, Mark 2 -- Count von Zeppelin had gotten his third prototype to fly in 1906. His airships were fairly weak and fragile, but there mere idea of airships sent a quiver of panic through the British public. Being an island no longer provided security. H.G. Wells published his novel "The War in the Air" in 1908. It featured attack fleets of airships. England wasn't attacked by Germany in Wells' story, but the edgy British could connect the dots.

Invasion Mentality -- This mood of worry and suspicion found expression in popular entertainment. Several popular spy novels of the day visualized what the public worried about. William Le Queux was a popular novelist of the invasion genre, penning potboilers like: The Invasion of 1910 (1906), and Spies of the Kaiser (1909). TAD fits this literary period perfectly. It was a purely English production but pretends to be a German story, with it's title: "Der Luftkrieg der Zukunft" (The Air War of the Future).

Proto UFOs -- In the Spring of 1909, several people around the British Isles reported seeing phantom airships at night. One man even claimed to have seen strange men from one of the mystery airships, who spoke in a language he did not recognize. UFO-ologists like to think of these mysterious airship sightings as early UFO visitations. Without a "flying saucer" model, the public imagined the mysterious lights as airships -- most likely German ones, given the tensions of the day.

THIS is the context in which the little movie "The Airship Destroyer" was created. The 50s had The Cold War. 1909 had the Anglo-German Arms Race. The 50s had nukes to fear. 1909 had airships. The 50s had flying saucers haunting the night. 1909 had mysterious scareships.

Bottom line? As a movie alone, TAD is not spectacular, but as a parallel to the 50s' invasion themes, and techno-fantasy, it's great.

Pre-50s

Before the golden era of sci-fi, the 1950s, there were a few early pioneers which helped pave the way. Science, and space travel were still a bit too fanciful to really capture audiences' imaginations. Nonetheless, a few film makers dared look into the future, or to the stars for their fiction. The movie serials of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers belong in this era too.

Aelita: Queen of Mars -- an obscure 1924 Soviet film about a Russian engineer shortly after the revolution, who creates a ship to travel to Mars. There, he finds a monarchy which oppresses its workers. They spark a proletariat revolution on Mars. The sets and costumes for "Mars" are dramatically Constructivist.

Metropolis -- Fritz Lang's 1927 epic about the world of the future in which the elite's party in penthouse gardens while the workers toil in a grim underworld. The sets, lighting and directing are good examples of the German Expressionist style.

Things To Come -- 1936 British film tracing the history of "Everytown" (London) from the 1930s to 2061. Based on HG Wells book, "The Shape of Things to Come," but actually better than the book. Traces the destruction of old world civilization by a devastating World War and the rebirth of a new world order -- and the launch of a moon mission!

Buck Rogers -- serials ran the late 1930s, remade into a feature film in 1953.

Flash Gordon: Looks like I need to review these.

Things to Come

This 1936 British production is another one of the early epics of science fiction movies. The screenplay was written by H. G. Wells, though with considerable input and guidance by producer Alexander Korda and director William Camreon Menzies. The screenplay was based on Wells' novel The Shape of Things to Come published in 1933. He needed the help. His novel is a long, complicated, talky psuedo-history of the world from 1900 to 2061. The screenplay gave Wells an opportunity to rewrite and condense the (too) many themes of the novel into a more coherent plot line. Wells himself had to admit that his first attempt at converting his novel to a screen play was "quite impracticable for production." Even after much revision, the plot and pacing of Things to Come (TTC) can still seem complicated and a bit confusing. It's a huge story to tell in only 100 minutes.

TCC is not a typical mainstream cinema with straight-line plot, but IS a very ambitious sci-fi epic. Wells saw TCC as an alternate view of the future from Fritz Lang's Metropolis(1927) which predicted a rather dark future. TTC is roughly contemporary with Hollywood's Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials, but has a much more of an A-film seriousness to it.

Throughout the film, Wells' anger and frustration at the "old world" of capitalism, nationalism and religion are blatant. The First World War (by that time) was only before, and leaves an obvious scar on Wells' emotions. Equally as hard to miss is Wells' infatuation with the idea of a humanist New World Order led by scientists. In his novel, and other writings, Wells is both Eeyore AND Pollyanna. He is both cynical about mankind, and yet, starry-eyed hopeful about mankind. Note, throughout, how the "old world" (the real world of Wells' day) is disparaged and the New World Order idolized.

Quick Plot Synopsis
TTC moves through three "acts", each having several distinct "scenes" which almost amount to miniature stories of their own. The first "act" covers the world before the war, the outbreak and the decades of war itself. The second "act" covers life amid the ruins of "Everytown" after the war. The third "act" is the world of 21st century.

TCC open in a generic "Everytown" on Christmas Eve 1940. War breaks out, sweeping aside festivities. Destruction comes to Everytown. War rages on for decades. Civilization is set back to the medieval level.

The "Wandering Sickness" devastates the survivors. In the ruins of 1970 Everytown, a petty despot emerges, reinstating a semblance of order. He's obsessed with getting his "air force" (a dozen WWI trainers) in the air. The status quo of The Chief's fiefdom is disturbed by the appearance of an ultramodern airplane.
Cabal, the pilot, announces a new world order: "Wings over the World." A cadre of engineers and scientists had been secretly keeping scientific progress alive during the war and how seek to impose the order of Reason. The Chief, not accepting his loss of power, imprisons Cabal. The Chief's engineer, Gordon, escapes in one of the trainers, and goes to tell Cabal's compatriots of his imprisonment. The moderns arrive in squadrons of impressive flying wings, to drop "The Gas of Peace" which puts everyone to sleep. Paratroops land, free Cabal and usher in the new world age.

Fast forward from 1970 to 2036. The modern scientific age has rebuilt Everytown as a gleaming underground city. All is not bliss, however. A prominent artist foments a rebellion against the age of Science, especially their "space gun" which is soon to launch a young couple to a moon mission. The incited mob rushes to break up the gun, but the scientists get the capsule launched before they can damage anything. TCC ends with Oswald Cabal (great grandson of John Cabal) rhapsodizing about mankind's relentless march towards progress and the universe.

Why is this movie fun
TCC is pure HG Wells. His vision of the future is very entertaining. TCC may be the only screenplay Wells actually wrote. Others have "adapted" his novels, but he actually wrote this one. This gave him the opportunity to remake his own novel -- which was far too bogged down with extraneous details to be readable. Wells gives us a collection of vignettes, each of which are full of food for thought. Throughout TCC there are contrasting pairs working off of each other, which keeps the tension alive. It's fun to watch the set and costume details, knowing that Wells had an artistic hand it. He didn't call all the shots, of course, but his hand was there.

Director, William Cameron Menzies, applies a wide variety of views which keep up the visual stimulation. Close ups, room shots, rapid montages, sweeping landscapes, off angles, etc. keep the viewer from getting a stale vantage.

Cold War Angle?
Since TCC was made in 1936, it was too early for a Cold War theme. However, there is a dominant anti-war theme throughout. Wells was not worried about the Soviets so much as he was against the war-making tendencies of the "old world".

Notes & Observations
Play of Opposites
Wells uses repeated pairs of opposites throughout the movie. In the beginning is John Cabal's fatalism vs. Pippa Passworthy's naive optimism. John Cabal's pessimism about mankind stands opposite Oswald Cabal's determined optimism. Similarly, 1940's "Pippa" Passworthy exudes confidence in his (old) world. 2036's Raymond Passworthy exudes fear and trepidation at his (modern) world. Then there are leadership styles. Rudolf "The Chief" is the bombastic, petty local warlord, wearing layers of authority symbols -- a uniform jacket, a home made rosette badge, a fur cape, etc.. John Cabal is the unflappable rational world leader, wearing a simple all-black jumpsuit. There are too many other opposites to list here.

Anti-War Themes
Wells was famous for his anti-war views. Some of the scenes are blatantly anti-war, such as young Horrie Passowrthy marching about in his Christmas gift soldier costume, only later to lie dead amid the ruins. Or the scene of the two airmen, in which John Cabal shoots down one of the enemy, yet the two talk as brothers, with the enemy pilot giving up his gas mask to save a little girl from the gas HE dropped. "I may have killed her father and mother," he said to himself, "yet I give up my mask to save her. Now that's funny..." The bringer of death then dies himself.

Yet, despite the many overt anti-war elements, there is an undercurrent of urgency to be better prepared for war -- a traditionally hawkish stance. A recurring theme in British culture is the fear that "the enemy" was better prepared for war than the British which left them vulnerable. This sentiment was often used to justify increases in defense spending. TCC does this too, at a more subtle level. For instance, when war breaks out, the "enemy" have gleaming sleek streamlined tanks. The British have antiquated post-WWI hardware. In the air, the "enemy" have swarms of sleek monoplanes. The Brit (Cabal) flies an obsolescent Hawker Fury biplane against them. In the early scenes, Cabal talks of needing to stop "the brutes." Stopping brutes usually means a fight.

The Tyranny of Science
As much as Wells is obviously promoting the benefits of a new world order in which the scientists and engineers are in control, the whole comes across as equally uncomfortable as the old world rule of nationalism. Wells has several characters pose the counter-arguments against the Technocracy, but instead of really defeating the arguments, Wells' future-man protagonist, Oswald Cabal dismisses them. When the mob cries for a halt to "progress", the voice of the people has no weight whatever. The elite scientists know best. Even though Wells framed his technocracy in glowing ways, there's little difference between his despot driven by faith in Science than an old world despot driven by religion.

Vision of the Future
Wells predicted many things in TCC. Some were correct, some were not. He correctly predicted the Second World War, being off by only a year and five months for the start. (Though in 1936, this didn't take a genius to see.) His notion of the clean art deco city complete with moving walkways and monorails, wasn't unusual. That vision lingered until the "post-modern" period. He almost correctly predicted helicopters. He did predict thin flat-screen monitors -- "televisors" -- , perhaps even the jumbotron. He also imagined personal intercom (cell phone-like) wrist bands. His notes even spoke of synchronism for personal electronic devices, much like we're seeing nowadays.

It's also interesting to see what he didn't get. He didn't foresee jets. His airplanes of the 21st century were still propeller driven. He didn't get rockets. His "space gun" was more 19th century than 20th. His notion of future clothing was way off (what's with the huge shoulder wings?) though perhaps if one only lived in climate-controlled underground cities, the quasi-toga bare-legged could work. You have to give him some points for trying. Wells could be the source of the sci-fi cliche that "advanced" clothing had to have huge shoulders.

All of the above tells you that Things to Come is a nicely complex sci-fi movie. There's a lot of meat to it, even if a bit dated. Wells' film adaptation of his own novel is much more accessible than his novel was. As one of the ancient titans of sci-fi, TTC is definitely worth the watch. A question still worth asking is: would the world be better off with a scientist dictator instead of a nationalist one or a religious one?

Metropolis

Fritz Lang's sci-fi epic was almost too far ahead of its time when released in 1927. Metropolis gets strong praise from some, and puzzlement from others. One reason for this is that for a long time, only a poor quality copy, which had a hack-job of an edit done to it, was all most people were exposed to. At its premier, the original was over 210 minutes long, while the common edit was around 114 minutes. American theater moguls felt American audiences wouldn't sit through 210 minutes of movie. Little wonder some folks were bewildered by Metropolis. The story was too complex to still make total sense with over a quarter of it cut away. Watch is the restored version. (more on the restoration below)

Quick Plot Synopsis
Set in the year 2026, the world (typified by the city "Metropolis") has widened the separation between the privileged classes who live in penthouse gardens, and the workers who labor at huge machines underground. Freder, the twenty-something son of Metropolis' ruler, Joh Fredersen, becomes fascinated with a young woman who takes care of workers' children. He follows her down to the subterranean workers' world. Maria, spiritual leader of the workers, is kidnapped by a sinister scientist who replaces her with a robot duplicate. Robo-Maria incites the workers to revolt. They smash the machines that supply Metropolis with power. This destruction also causes the reservoirs to flood the underground workers' city, where all the rioting workers' children remained. Freder and real-Maria (who escaped) rescue the children, taking them to the upper world. The rioting workers think they've killed their own children by listening to Maria (Robo-Maria), so chase after real-Maria to extract revenge. In a mix-up, the workers catch RoboMaria after all and burn her at the stake. Mad scientist carries off real-Maria, but Freder fights him and wins. Freder then becomes the mediator between the workers and the elites (his father)

Why is this movie fun?
Metropolis is one of THE foundational classics of the sci-fi genre. In its day it was a influential as Star Wars was from the late 70s onward. As long as you accept Metropolis for what it is -- and not expect it to be a modern movie -- there are tons of things to keep you fascinated. The whole atmosphere of an early Art Deco Modernism, German Expressionist saga is just so different, even the sets, pacing, effects, etc. are great to watch.

The contrasting pairs of forces are interesting too. The bright world of the penthouses vs. the dark world of the workers. The foliage and fountains vs. the steam-belching iron below. The holy vs the demonic. The modern vs the ancient. Through all these opposing pairs, moves the main character, Freder, the focal point of them all.

Cold War Angle?
Produced in the mid-1920s, there was no Cold War. Peripherally, however, we can see the workers-vs-bourgoise struggle that is the spiritual heart of Socialism, which can cast a different tint onto Cold War morality tales of the mid 50s.

Notes
The Acting -- Modern viewers are sometimes put off by the exaggerated acting inherent to silent films. We moderns need to keep in mind that both actors AND audiences of the silent film era were accustomed to the "body language" of stage acting. Live theater moves required exaggeration to be seen at all. Audiences of the 20s knew how to "read" the sign language. Instead of griping about the "unnatural" moves, try to appreciate them. Try to "read" them.

Early Distopia -- It was fairly common in the early 20th century to imagine the future as a wonderful realm of techno-marvels. Perhaps as a counterfoil, a common theme of sci-fi movies is a future-gone-wrong. In Metropolis, society is the problem. Technology is not cast as the bad guy (despite the Moloch scene). In fact, when the worker mob take on the Luddite role and wreck the machines, they end up ruining their own homes and endangering their children.

Auto Future -- An icon of later sci-fi would be to include a car-of-the-future. Flying cars, bubble cars, hover cars, etc. Metropolis seems to miss the boat. At first glance, all the cars look like ordinary 1920s machines. A closer look, however, reveals a fascinating bit of auto-trivia. In the traffic jams (the only close-ups of automobiles), you'll see Rumpler Tropfenwagens.

Rumpler, a former aircraft firm, took to building cars after the war. Their Tropfenwagen had a "streamlined" cab-forward body shaped like a water drop (hence the name). Very radical stuff considering that Ford's Model T was a contemporary. There are two amid the junk the mob uses to burn Robo-Maria at the stake. You've probably never heard of the Tropfenwagen, but they're rescued from auto-history oblivion by Lang.

Robot Rampage -- Rotwang's robot, which they call "Mechanical Man" (even though clearly made to look like a woman) is the forerunner of later sci-fi robots. It's no stretch at all to see C3P0 in her. Rotwang's "Futura" (as the script called her) is also a forerunner of the robot persona -- the replacement person, but an opposite one. Where real-Maria was angelic, altruistic, and religious, Robo-Maria was decadent and heartless, the embodiment of all seven deadly sins. Robo-Maria didn't "turn" on her master (as many later robots would) but faithfully carried out Rotwang's orders to ruin both the workers and the elites.

Religious Elements -- Metropolis shows a strong Catholic or Lutheran influence. Maria is very much a Madonna figure standing under several crosses. She preaches to the crowd of a coming "Mediator" which would rescue them. In contrast, the robot is given Maria's likeness beneath a huge pentagram -- clearly the product of satanic forces. The very gothic cathedral scenes stand in stark contrast to the art deco "secular" world -- underscoring the schism between mankind's spiritual and secular lives. Maria tells the workers the Biblical account of the tower of Babel, as a foreshadowing of Metropolis, including the worker revolt and damage.

Another interesting Biblical reference comes when Freder sees the M-Machine explode. From the shock, (perhaps delusion) he sees the machine as if it were an ancient idol being fed workers as a sacrifice. The word "Moloch" flashes on the screen. This was the Phoenician god mentioned in the Old Testament, to which people sacrificed their children (by fire). Freder's vision was of the machines as evil men-devouring false gods.

Multiple Versions
When Metropolis debuted, it ran 210 minutes. This was quick cut down. Some "edits" were less than 90 minutes long. The American cut was 114 minutes. People who viewed the seriously hacked versions were understandably confused. Too much of the supporting side stories were removed, giving the whole movie an almost chaotic feel. The 2002 Murnau restoration (123 minute run time) combined all known footage. Several side stories' footage remain lost. The Murnau version supplies title cards to describe the action of the lost scenes. This helps the explain otherwise puzzling characters such as the Mephestopholes-like "Thin Man" and the prince-and-pauper character, worker "11811".

Overall, any sci-fi fan ought to watch Metropolis, so as to get familiar with a sci-fi ancestor. Despite its age, Metropolis still has messages relevant today.

Aelita: Queen of Mars

As a silent film released in 1924, this movie is kind of out of bounds for a blog focusing on 50s and 60s sci-fi movies. It's also Soviet silent film, so it's pretty obscure to the average sci-fi fan. Nonetheless, it's significant as an early foundation for sci-fi. It predates Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) and all those Flash Gordon serials of the 30s.

The movie is only loosely based on Aleksei Tolstoy's 1923 novel: Aelita. The book is much more like an HG Wells tale, though more romantic. The movie adaptation is more blatantly a pro-socialst propaganda piece, but still interesting even for that.

Most of the movie's "action" (such as it is) takes place in Moscow shortly after the Revolution. Action on Mars doesn't take place until the last quarter of the film. Those martian scenes, however, are worth the wait. Grand scale, bold sets done in a mechanistic constructivist style are impressive. The martians are humans, naturally, but their costumes are also wild constructivist creations of metal and acrylic. While the convoluted plot with many characters will annoy a lot of modern viewers (who want quick paced action), this early view of what an alien world's culture would be like, is worth the wait.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Loss is an engineer in post-Revolutionary Russia. He gets a mysterious message he's sure came from Mars. Through a complex set of plot twists (which I won't go into here), Loss decides to fly to Mars in a "ship" he's been building. The king of Mars: Tuskub, orders the earthlings to be "terminated" when they land. Aelita, who has developed a fascination/crush on Loss (whom she's been watching with a special telescope) pleads that they be spared. The earthlings are caught and thrown into the work caves along with the oppressed martian working classes. The earthlings incite the workers to revolt. Aelita volunteers to lead the revolt. When Tuskub and the others are killed, she orders the army to turn on the rebels. Loss, enraged at the treachery, pushes Aelita off a steep wall. But, it all turns out to be a daydream. All ends well, more or less, in Loss's complicated life.

Why is this movie fun?
The sets for Mars, and the costumes, are amazing. The director was working hard to make his Mars as "modern" and other-worldly as he could imagine. In 1920s Russia, Constructivism was as modern as anyone could imagine. Think of these martians and the martian cityscape as the start of how future movie-makers would visualize alien worlds. Flash Gordon's nemesis, Ming the Merciless, and his planet Mongo would be cheap and feeble copies of Aelita's Mars.

Cold War Angle
Well, 1924 is far too early for the Cold War era, and in fact, Aelita is viewing from the other side. We get a soviet point of view. They take the struggle of workers against oppression into space.

Notes
Like a great deal of science fiction, Aelita uses an alien world and alien culture as a spotlight on something about earthly life. Where 50s sci-fi often used hostile or invading aliens as an abstraction for worries about communists invading America, Tolstoy's Aelita story lets a handful of Russians replay the struggle of socialist workers against an oppressive monarchy. The Tsar was long since dead and the Revolution "won," but king Tuskub's worker-oppresive regime lets The Revolution be retold.

On the one hand, there's a sort of future-thinking optimism underlying Aelita. The Revolution becomes a universal (and successful) struggle. On the other hand, Aelita exposes a sort of stuck-in-the-old-world mentality where the Tsar's Russia is imagined to be everywhere. Where many sci-fi tales romanticized alien cultures as highly advanced and better than our own (such as in The Day the Earth Stood Still, etc.) or highly advanced and deadly (War of the Worlds). In Aelita, the martians are an old-style monarchy.

If you're a sci-fi movie fan, and can find a copy of Aelita, it's worth a watch for the ancestry of the genre. Since it's a Russian story, and the Russians seem to like long stories with lots of characters and complex plot machinations, it's not unusual for a viewer to get lost. Check the comments line. The first comment is my character and plot primer if you got lost.