ABSTRACT
H. G. Wells had played the role of prophet in an earlier ‘fantasy of possibility’, The World Set Free, written in 1913 under the immediate shadow of the Great War. In March 1934, at weekly intervals, Arthur Bliss gave three illustrated lectures on ‘Aspects of Contemporary Music’ at the Royal Institution, at least one of which Wells attended. Wells’s description of the music corresponds only obliquely to the final film-score. Both his script and the music had to undergo considerable modifications before the film was completed. The film Things to Come had its world premiere in London at the Leicester Square Theatre on 21 February 1936. 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.
