Review of Just Imagine (1930) by Jonathan S — 26 Jan 2010

This film is difficult to rate. It is a science fiction musical comedy. It is badly written. The acting is so so. The dialog is sappy. The music, except for one piece, is pretty bad. The special effects are okay. However it is an important film and the patina of age has given it a certain charm. The movie was made in 1930 imagining what the world would be like in 1980. The predicted future is a mildly dystopic one that no one questions. There are bits in this that seem to have inspired bits of Flash Gordon, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars and Sleeper. I finally got this on DVD but it was obviously made from a well used print. It would be nice if 20th Century Fox would produce a restored version of this with sufficient extras to put it in its historical context. Either that or turn it over to Kino or Criterion. I think in its historical context this film is at least as important as Metropolis.

(Edit).

I watched it again recently. Between the last time I watched it and this time I watched some of Méliès' short films. I can see where some of this film may have been inspired by Méliès's work, particularly the fact that it has musical numbers in it. Though the Méliès films were silent many of them had dance numbers incorporated in them.Either that or the action was so well timed and choreographed that it seemed like dancing.