Friday, July 6, 2007

Just Imagine (1930)

The 1930 film Just Imagine depicts the futuristic world of 1980. With flying cars, food pills, and a totalitarian government the world is orderly but not much fun.

This scene depicts the meal of the future. The prohibition reference is particularly funny.



Many thanks to Amy Macnamara for this paleo-futuristic classic that hasn't yet been released on VHS or DVD.

See also:
That Synthetic Food of the Future (Ogden Standard-Examiner, 1926)
Food of the Future (Indiana Progress, 1896)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

But wait, that's exactly how 1980 was like. Everyone wore suits and fedoras and were popping pills instead of eating food.

Well, I'm sure some people were. But I think they were probably businessmen with a drug problem?

Anonymous said...

If he was going to do that stupid pose and say "I dunno boys, just gimme the good old days" every time, they should have sent him back.

Anonymous said...

That's such a great movie! I love El Brendel and actually think he's funny! Any clip of this movie brightens up my day -- I'll be hitting this at work later (so bad.)

Anonymous said...

Gosh, is there any place I can see the full version of that film?

Joseph said...

I saw bits & pieces of this film, I think, on TMC...apparenty there was also a character whose name was "MP3"...
Also there was a musical part at a club where a dude & some Flapper chick were singing some super-PETA-friendly song about how wrong it was to kill a fly because it may have a boyfriend/girlfriend fly...that they love to "Make HOW" with..hoo boy.

deltasleep said...

Wow. I can't find this film on netflix. It's old enough that it might be public domain now. I would check Archive.org for it.
It looks really entertaining.

Webomator said...

This is a great and silly film - the first all talking, all singing science fiction movie.

You'll see props and sets that later turned up in other films, including the Flash Gordon serials - his rocket was built for "Just Imagine".

Although it's never been released by a studio, DVDs turn up regularly on eBay.

Anonymous said...

This great novelty film has been shown on AMC. A friend actually taped it for us. Alas, there is no practical way for us to post it...

-e-

Odon said...

Regarding the Prohibition jokes, keep in mind that (like in The Fifth Element) they were actually riffing current society - in this case, the constant rumor that a lightening of Prohibition restrictions was just around the corner.

Richard said...

I had some visual memories of having seen that movie on TV whan I was a kid but had no idea of the name. Sometimes I thought it was some weired memory I created. But finally here it is! Thanks to your blog. Great find!