Things to Come - Promotional Material Gallery

PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL GALLERY

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1934 Promotional Material

These two sheets of single-sided paper represent the early industry publicity material, dating from early 1934. Notably, it bears the short-lived title of 100 Years From Now, and names Lewis Milestone - who had earlier made All Quiet on the Western Front - as director. The described plot promises:

"... a brilliant and fascinating story of the moderns of 2034 is woven. The chaos of the present dissolves into the futuristic world of the future - a world in which mechanized warfare, with strange and sweeping devices for wholesale destruction, is devised. It is a world of striking contrasts, seen through the glowing eyes of two people who learn to adjust themselves to life. They work four hours a day, live in strange houses, do not know the meaning of money... vast distances will be traversed in an hour... the whole, sweeping cyclorama of tomorrow is revealed."

[Originals in the author's collection]

Early Poster

Poster of original unknown size used to promote the film. [Monochrome photographic reproduction in the author's collection]

Early UK Trade Advert

UK trade advert from the 9 January 1936 issue of the trade newspaper Kinematograph Weekly. The other side of the page featured a trade advert for The Man Who Could Work Miracles. [Original in the author's collection]

Leicester Square Theatre Poster

Poster of original unknown size used to promote the first run of the film at the Leicester Square Theatre, where the film premiered on 23 February 1936. [Modern reproduction in the author's collection]

Early US Trade Advert

Approximately 10" x 15" trade advert, apparently for the US market (the reverse is a trade advert for the US production of Little Lord Fauntleroy). [Original in the author's collection, formerly owned by SF aficionado Forrest J. Ackerman (FJA)]

US Press Book

The 12" x 18" US Press Book - with its much-reproduced cover image - contained sample advertising and advice to cinema owners and managers on how to aggresively promote the film, either directly or by involving other local businesses:

     Local tie ups should literally fall into your lap; merchants who sell radios can tie in with your newspaper campaign by just lifting one of the ads from your ad section, which shows television of the future.
     Your fashion shop can pick out the ad that mentions the fashions of the future - your automobile dealer can do the same and right on down the line. If ever there was a film that lent itself to cooperative dealer advertising, full pages and double spreads, it is THING TO COME. You should rig up a contraption in the lobby of your theatre - take the front of a big radio set; put in a small screen and have a 16mm. rear projection machine show scenes from the picture, as if it were television.
     Your front should be as mechanistic as possible; namely, using a lot of moving objects with a roller calling attention to all the "see" copy - SEE ROCKETS GOING TO THE MOON - SEE THE CITY OF GLASS - SEE HUMAN BEINGS LIVING UNDERGROUND. Here is a picture to be sold as you would circus any big and sensational road show attraction. UIse the posters, use the ads, use the brains that God gave you - and THINGS TO COME will be a long-remembered box office champion at your theatre."

Phew! Of course, it also makes the highly suspect claim that the scale of the production, "made necessary 3 years of actual filming," so obviously should be taken with a vat or two of salt.... [Cover only from incomplete original in the author's collection (formerly FJA collection)]

General Press Matter

Pre-written press coverage of the film, with blanks left for editors to fill in the details of local screenings. In the examples shown, the synopsis has been heavily amended for publication. [Much decayed originals in the author's collection (formerly FJA collection)]

US Trade Advert

Double-page advertising feature for the film, utilising a feature on the film from a February 1936 issue of the New York Herald Tribune. [Previously offered for sale on eBay in 2007]

US Trade Advert

Another double-page advertising feature for the film. [Original in the author's collection]

21 March 1936 American Postage Meter Sample

Exceptionally rare sample of a promotional franking for the film from the Postage Meter Company of New York City. This is almost certainly unofficial, but would have appealed to US cinema operators as a promotional device. [Original in the author's collection]

20 April 1936 Time Magazine

One-page advertising feature for the film. [Original in the author's collection]

25 April 1936 Motion Picture Herald Magazine

Two-page trade advert for the film, highlighting brisk business at the Rivoli Theater, New York (another view of the crowds can be seen in the Stills Gallery). [Original in the author's collection (formerly FJA collection)]

1936 American Poster

Poster of original unknown size used to promote the film in the United States. [Modern reproduction in the author's collection]

1936 American Lobby Cards

Part of a larger richly faux-coloured set of 14" x 11" (358mm x 280mm ) cards used to promote the film inside cinemas in the United States.

[Modern reproduction in the author's collection]

[Laminated original in the author's collection (formerly FJA collection)]

[Modern reproduction in the author's collection]

[Modern reproduction in the author's collection]

[1978 reprint by Television Properties
Ltd. in the author's collection]

[Modern reproduction in the author's collection]

1936 Australian Trade Advert

Advert on the front cover of the 25 June 1936 issue of the Australian trade magazine The Film Weekly. [Original the author's collection]

1936 Australian "Daybill" Poster

15" x 39½" (381mm x 1003mm) Australian "daybill" poster. An original sold at auction in March 2008 for US$5,500. [Modern reproduction in the author's collection]

1936 (?) Austrian Promotional Booklet

Large 151mm x 231mm eight-page booklet used to advertise the film, presumably for the 1936 release in Austria. The title Die Welt in 100 Jahren translates as "The World in 100 Years." [Original in the author's collection]

1936 (?) Polish Herald

Small 249mm x 166mm - folded to 124mm x 166mm - hand-bill or "herald" used to advertise the film, presumably for the 1936 release in Poland. The title Rok 2000 translates as "Year 2000." [Original in the author's collection]

1936 French Trade Brochure

Single sheet folded into a commercial advertising guide. The back "cover" features a number of promotional items that were apparently available to cinemas showing the film, while the inside spread is a photo-montage poster. [Original in the author's collection]

August 1936 Paramount Theatre, Liverpool Herald

Single 10" x 8.2" sheet folded into a herald advertising screenings of the film at the Paramount Theatre, Liverpool. [Original in the author's collection]

September 1936 (?) Uruguayan Herald

Large 217mm x 296mm hand-bill or "herald" used to advertise a release of the film in Spanish-speaking Uruguay. Although the year is not given, 5th September 1936 did fall on a Saturday, which would match the stated screening day (a re-issue in 1942, 1953 or 1959 remains an unlikely possibility). The title "Lo Que Vendrá" translates as "What Will Come." [Original in the author's collection]

September 1936 Picture House Chatham Stoll Herald

Roughly-trimmed promotional booklet for a Kent cinema, with screenings of Things to Come - from 27 September 1936 - publicised on the cover, the centre-spread (pages 4-6), and page 6. [Original in the author's collection]

26 July 1940 Spanish Herald

Single 253mm x 94mm sheet folded into a hand-bill or "herald" advertising Spanish-dubbed screenings of the film on 26 July 1940. In 1936 the country was still gripped by civil war, and so the film may not have been widely seen there at the time, if at all. The title La Vida Futura translates as "The Future Life." [Original in the author's collection]

1943 Exclusive Films Re-Issue Trade Advert

Advert from the industry magazine Kinematograph Weekly Thursday 9 September 1943 for a trade showing of Things to Come, re-issued by Exclusive Films, at a private cinema at 15.00 on the same date. These screenings were for the benefit of the cinema trade and the press, rather than the public. According to the British Board of Film Classification, the film as submitted was just 72m 13s long, and that after further cuts it was given a 'U' certificate on 16 September 1943. [Original in the author's collection]

1943 Exclusive Films Trade Brochure

Single sheet folded into a trade brochure for the same Exclusive Films re-release. Two details of note are the stated footage len gth of 6,850 feet - equating to 76m 07s - and that Margaretta Scott is still credited for her second role of Rowena, even though this version almost certainly never featured it. [Original in the author's collection]

July 1945 Speedway Films Distributors Trade Advert

Half-page advert from the magazine The Motion Picture Magazine of July 1945 for Speedway Films Distributors, based in Bombay, India. [Original in the author's collection]

Late-1940s Spanish Herald

Small 90mm x 125mm herald used to advertise the film for a Spanish re-issue in the late-1940s. [Original in the author's collection]

1947 Film Classics Re-issue Poster [Version 1]

358mm x 915mm (14" x 36") poster used to advertise the American 1947 re-issue by Film Classics Inc. [Hand restored and card-backed original in the author's collection]

1947 Film Classics Re-issue Poster [Version 2]

Poster of unknown size, also used to advertise the Film Classics re-issue [Modern reproduction in the author's collection]

1947 Film Classics Lobby Cards

14" x 11" (358mm x 280mm) lobby cards used to advertise the Film Classics re-issue.

[Modern reproduction in the author's collection]

[Original in the author's collection]

[Modern reproduction in the author's collection]

[Digital scan in the author's collection]

[Original in the author's collection]

[Modern reproduction in the author's collection]

[Original in the author's collection]

1947 Mexican Lobby Cards

Three-colour 425 x 320mm cards, used to promote the film in Mexico in 1947. Notably, the second shown features the lost scene of Roxana arguing with the trader, Wadsky, while the sixth is the almost totally lost scene of Cabal alone in the "Detention Room" beneath the Boss's headquarters in the Town Hall. The title Lo Que Vendrá (La Guerra de Los Mundos) translates as "What Will Come (The War of the Worlds)," the latter part cheekily implying an adaptation of Wells's earlier novel.

[Original in the author's collection]

[Original in the author's collection]

[Original in the author's collection]

[Previously offered for sale on eBay in 2002]

[Original in the author's collection]

1948 British Lion Re-issue Trade Advert

Advert from the industry magazine Kinematograph Weekly of 12 February 1948 for trade shows of Things to Come and The Man Who Could Work Miracles, re-issued by British Lion, at 10.30 am at the Rialto, London, on 17 & 18 February 1948 respectively. The British Lion Film Corporation was a small-scale film renting organisation formed in November 1927, in which Alexander Korda bought a controlling interest in January 1946, at the same time he resurrected London Films as a private company, with all but 2% of the shares being held within his family (the London Films that made Things to Come ten years previous was partly owned by the Prudential Insurance Company). Both these ventures provided Korda with not only the means to produces new films, but also to continue to earn a direct profit from his older ones. [Original in the author's collection]

1948 British Lion trade advert card

Small 9" x 6" (228mm x 152mm) trade advert card for the British Lion re-issue. The states footage length of 8,398 feet equates to 93m 19s, not the "92m" stated. [Original in the author's collection]

1948 British Lion Re-issue Poster

British "quad" poster used to advertise the 1948 re-issue by Korda's British Lion Films, reputedly reproduced from a studio proof. After the leads - i.e. Massey, Richardson, Hardwicke and Scott, - John Clements receives fifth billing, despite his minimal (and originally uncredited) role as the German pilot shot down by Cabal in 1940. Things to Come was only Clement's fourth film, but by 1948 he was more well-known. [Large photographic reproduction in the author's collection (formerly FJA collection)]

Double-bill re-issue Poster

27" x 41" (685mm x 1045mm) poster used to advertise a double-bill of Things to Come and The Man Who Could Work Miracles. Undated and with no distributor's name, this is certainly later than the 1947 Film Classics and 1948 British Lion re-issues, since it cribs certain elements from the publicity material of both. Touting Miracles as "uncensored" is a bit cheeky. [Original in the author's collection]

1953 Italian Minerva Film Lobby Cards

493mm x 340mm three-colour lobby cards used to promote a re-issue by Minerva Film. When it was first released in 1936, the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini reputedly had every print of the film in Italy destroyed due to the extreme similarity between himself and Richard Richardson's portrayal of The Boss of Everytown. Again, John Clements's billing has been raised by the passage of time. They are dated 2 March 1953, and the title Nel 2000 Guerra o Pace? (Vita Futura) translates as In 2000 War or Peace? (Future Life). [Third example is a hand-restored and linen-backed original in the author's collection]

1950s Minerva Film Posters

Two different posters wereused to promote the Minerva Film re-issue in Italy. The first measures 100mm x 140mm, and the second was presumably the same.

[Modern reproduction in the author's collection]

[Previously offered for sale for on eBay in 2008]

Later Mexican Lobby Cards

Multi-coloured 429mm x 330mm cards (17" x 12"), apparently used to promote a post-War/1950s re-issue - in English with Spanish sub-titles - of the film in Mexico. Impressive though they seem, the bulk of the artwork has no connection with the original film, which is truly represented only by the use of an apparently random montage of publicity stills in the centre of the first seen here! Other known examples have different b/w stills, some if not all of which - as can be seen from the second - are from completely different films! The title El Mundo En Guerra translates as "The World at War." [Selected examples of originals in the author's collection]

1970s London Films Trade Advert

Double-sided 8.2" x 11" (210mm x 279mm) trade advert from London Films's American subsidiary. Note the erroneous running time of 108 minutes. [Original in the author's collection]

1970s German Poster

415mm x 600mm one-colour single sheet (approx. 100gsm paper) from a more recent re-issue. [Original in the author's collection]

1970s German Lobby Cards.

Set of eight one-colour cards (approx. 100gsm paper) from the same re-issue as the above poster. The German language title of Was Kommen Wird translates as "What Will Come." [Author's collection]

RETURN TO THINGS TO COME INDEX

PAGE HISTORY:

18/05/05 First Upload

12/06/05 New images/text

20/12/05 New images/text

30/05/06 Reformatted

05/06/06 New images/text

22/01/07 New images/text

27/03/09 Major additions & upgraded images

31/03/09 Major additions

24/06/09 Major additions

03/05/10 Major additions

11/08/10 Major addition

22/10/17 Hosting transfer & amendments

23/12/17 Various amendments

10/01/18 New images

27/03/21 New image & amendments

02/04/21 New images & amendments