(click image to enlarge)
H G Wells loosely adapted his own novel, The Shape of Things to Come (1933), for the film, Things to Come, which was directed by William Cameron Menzies, and released in 1936. Providing a speculative 'future history' for the period from 1940 to 2036, the film has been considered 'the first true masterpiece of science fiction cinema' (on the website, Gary Westfahl's Bio-Encyclopedia of Science Fiction) and 'a landmark in cinematic design' (Christopher Frayling, Things to Come, London: BFI Publishing, 1995, page 56).
Tony Wysard was involved with Things to Come, as he had recently become the advertising manager for its producer, Alexander Korda, and worked at his new studio, at Denham, Buckinghamshire, where the film was made. At once insider and outsider, Wysard was well placed to caricature the evolving social world of the period between the wars. His pictorial satire on the world premiere of Things to Come was published two days before the actual first night, which took place at the Leicester Square Theatre on 21 February 1936. He probably knew who had been invited to attend and, at least in part, used his image of the guests to promote the film. It shows his awareness of the film's design by Alexander Korda's brother, Vincent, and more generally of contemporary cinema.
A year later, Denham produced another of his multi-figure caricatures, showing Diners at Denham Studios Restaurant, which is now in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery.
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