I prodigi del 2000

Having read some earlier user comments and Maltin review, I wasn't expecting Citizen Kane; rather, that this was one of those "so bad it's good" films. I would comment rather: "so bad it's incredible". It makes Reefer Madness and its like appear as cinematic art. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen, since I was sure that matters could not get worse. The futuristic earth scenes from 1980 (!) were not bad despite a trite story, since the sets must have seemed impressive at the time, and are about as good as those in the British film Things to Come. El Brendel was not as poor a performer elsewhere as he was here, given the poor material he had to work with. His hat sequence, probably perfected over years in vaudeville, is the most entertaining moment in the film. Who thought up the Mars sequence? A number of silent filmmakers had already done the alien or primitive world with much more sophistication, and not unbalanced between comedy (Brendel) and adventure (the heroes). To do justice to the cast: they were attractive performers doing their best.

It has a pretty bad reputation, but Just Imagine is such a unique film that it's essential viewing for those who can overlook the bad songs and the unfunny antics of El Brendel. The art direction is, of course, inspired, the dance sequences wonderful (especially on Mars), and the joke about Henry Ford is truly hilarious. Despite it's creakiness, there's no more lovable film than Just Imagine.

It was first futuristic film I have seen and was so impressed, as a ten year old boy that I have always wanted to se it again. Reading your description I was surprised to see that Maureen O'Sullivan my all-time favourite was in it > I met her daughter, Mia Farrow and Andre Previn when Soon Yi was 6 months old!

This is one trippy movie from 70 years ago! A combination of booze jokes, sci-fi, lewd sex, vaudeville jokes. El Brendel plays a poor sap who is struck by lightning in 1930, and winds up in 1980 New York, where flying Rosenbergs and Goldbergs have replaced earthbound Fords and Chevys. Babies are gotten through vending machines, and a trip to Mars proves Martians to be twins, (Each set has a good over-sexed one, and an evil homicidal one.) I'm not making this up!! Pepper this oddity with bad puns, miniature effects, and musical numbers and you got, you got.... this film.

This movie is now running on cable. It is an ambitious mishmash of Flash Gordon, Yiddish vaudeville, and Busby Berkeley musical, superimposed on a lame "romance thwarted" story structure. The acting is stilted or too stagey. The sound and cinematography are crude even by 1930 standards. By comparison, the production standards in Harold Lloyd's silent movies sparkle. The movie ends in a courtroom, just like many idiotic movies of today. Don't let this discourage you, though. There are some snappy one liners. It's fun seeing Maureen O'Sullivan years before her nude swimming sequence in the Tarzan movie; and Mischa is good as an astronomer. He will appear five years later in "My Man Godfrey" as the protege of Carol Lombard's mother. And the "vintage future" sets, swoopy modern clothes, mutant Martians, and personal hovercraft with twin boom tails resembling P-38s are wonderful. This movie is funny and not preachy, while "Things To Come" is the opposite. BC