Oh, the irony....
Was I hearing things, or was the peace-promoting Wings Across The World based in....Basra??
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MovieChat Forums > Things to Come (1936) Discussion > Oh, the irony....
Back in the 1930s, Basra was well within the British Empire sphere of influence. Some interesting facts in:
http://historiae.org/cosmopolitanism.asp
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I always wondered why they picked Basra of all unlikely places as the base of Wings Over the World. (Besides fuel!)
Maybe this was another of H.G.'s heavy-handed references, in this case to Mesopotamia becoming, for the second time, "the cradle of civilization"?
But since they're based in Basra and have organized the entire Mediterranean area (which perhaps shows a somewhat uncertain grasp of geography, since Basra is on the Persian Gulf, over a thousand miles from the Med; but anyway...), it also struck me that all these guys are dressed in black...which I would think would be extremely hot and uncomfortable to wear and work in in a hot desert climate.
Its not all that surprising, Back in the 1930`s Basra or at least nearby Abadan was one the main sources of fuel oil in the world.
Up until the 1960`s, oil was refined at source in huge refineries and then the products shipped all over, the reverse of what happens today.
So, if civilisation collapsed in the 1930`s and you were an orginisation wanting to keep industrial society going, then setting up operations close to the major fuel supply would be a logical move.
That's quite true. On the other hand, there aren't a lot of the other resources they'd need to build the actual industrial complexes at hand in Basra and vicinity, so from that point of view it isn't the best focal point. And they still insist on dressing in black leather in the desert! Too many sexually deprived old guys, or just the usual European colonial presumption that the white man always knows best?
shareAh, Remember the helmet.
I kind of think that the outfit was actually supposed to be some sort of Biohazard/Anti Chemical suit.
Black certainly wouldnt be the best colour for something like that so I guess the costume designer must have just thought it looked good in a B/W film, particularly when you compare it with what the inhabitants of Everytown are wearing.
Ah, yes, the helmet. I assume it was designed like a shoehorn to keep one's hair from blowing in the breeze on the long flight from Basra to Lond-- oh, forgive me, I mean, Everytown.
(I do think H.G. could have come up with a sublter name than that. Probably some utopian knock-off he picked up at the Fabian Society in his youth which they all thought so clever.)
Of course, Everytown's citizens (Everybodies?) switched to white togas in their shiny, sterile new future under the Airmen's Dictatorship of the Brainiest, but that was probably a ruse to prevent any of them from escaping, clothed so inadequately against Albion's harsh climes.
Or perhaps the people of this future have developed some sort of strange knee fetish that makes them develop fashions based on togas and bycicle shorts!
Interesting though that the costume designer seems to have invented the mini skirt about 30 years before Mary Quant.
A very useful site for stills from this movie:
http://www.625.org.uk/ttc/gallery.htm
"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan."
Yes, all those bony knees. Except, I suppose Cedric Hardwicke's legs were bad, as he was draped in full toga regalia. But even Passworthy's knees were bared, and no one ever thought of Edward Chapman as a sex symbol...at least, I hope to God not. Frankly, the costumes were spectacularly unimaginative (togas, rags and business suits), so when four people are listed as the costume designers (including Rene Hubert and "The Marchioness of Queensbury", which never fails to impress), one can only conclude that there was a singular paucity of creativity and imagination at work back in the sewing room. Or maybe the budget finally ran out, so they just grabbed some bed sheets, tossed them to the actors and said "Here!"
Actually, the dress of 2036 Britain was far better suited to Basra, 1970...and vice versa.
Im beginning to think I may be on to something with the connections between the 2036 of the film and the real world 1960`s.
With `The Space Gun`= `The Apollo program` and the `Theotocopulos revolution` = the whole countercultural thing and the Hippy movement.
Perhaps, instead of threatening to smash things up Thetocopulos and Co should try wearing flowers in their hair instead!
To kind of get back to the main topic of this thread, the Basra references always remind me of this incident from the real WWII:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/08/a2008108.shtml
Or:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/mikeskeetsww2website/prelude.html
(This one has links to some very useful maps of Iraq and the Middle East in the 1940`s)
Could it be that in the variant history of `Things to Come` the remnants of the RAF later end up running Iraq after the collapse of civilisation, eventually forming the core of `Wings over the World`?
Habbaniya almost has to end up as a major World Transport base after all.
"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan."
More like the remnants of the RFC. All they needed to round it out was a camel corps and a Kiplingesque water boy.
shareActually, I think they DID have a camel corps, back during the mandate days at any rate! (And I wouldnt be too surprised if it turned out they had Arab water boys as well).
Its kind of interesting how back in 1919 the fledgeling RAF managed to avoid being merged back in to the army and navy.
First they persuaded the government of the time that it was cheaper to administer the new League of Nations mandate in Iraq with a strong airborne presence rather than using conventional ground forces.
Then spent the next decade chasing Iraqi tribesmen around the desert in obsolete WWI biplanes!
Hence the large RAF bases at Habbaniya and Shaibah (Basra).
"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan."
I wish someone on your end had recounted that history to Dick Cheney.
Even today, when he tours an airfield, he walks up to a jet fighter and shouts "Contact!"
Anyway, I figured there was in fact an His Majesty's Royal Camel Corps or some approximation thereof gadding about the sands between 1919-1932 or so. Needed to develop the proper esprit d'camel or something, I guess. But that still begs the question -- what did WOW! (Wings Over the...you got it) do besides build those ungainly black (again!; awfully dull fellows) prop-driven swan-like jumbo aircraft in order to secure the peace and stability of the old Middle East? Which, by the way, is in the scheme of things much more of an achievement than bopping off the Boss, given the inability of anybody to accomplish a similar Mesopotamian miracle in the past 6000 years or so.
I also wondered what the Airmen did after they all returned to "England" and began excavating the place in the name of science. I mean, did Iraq fall back into tribalism? Was Saddam Hussein born on schedule? Just like most colonialists -- take what they can from the occupied territory, then as soon as it's sufficiently looted they scoot back home to a comfy retirement in an underground test tube. Typical. But I'm sure there's still a 60-foot tall statue of Raymond Massey in Baghdad's city center, gazing over the local cargo cult He left behind.
My guess is, Saddam and Co joined WOW (probably educated in a WOW school) and ends up as the administrator of Iraq.
So you end up with a 60-foot statue of Saddam in Baghdad with him wearing one of those black outfits!
`Chemical Ali` probably had something to do with the `Gas of Peace` program!
As to the rest, well my guess is that, with most European cities being hammered from the air even worse than they were in reality. In this alternate history the British move some war production out of range of the enemy to Iraq which is safely under military/RAF control.
When things finally fall apart in the 1960s, the region remains fairly stable with a much higher level of sustainable technology than the rest of the world.
With air travel, they are able to stay in contact and trade with other high tech enclaves elsewhere and by the 1970`s are in a good position to take over completely.
Basra ends up as the seat of power for the airmans council and capital of the world and I`m willing to bet that there would be more than a few Iraqis on that council.
I kind of like WOW as an acronym for this orginisation. Its much better than Wells` own World Transport WT name for them.
"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan."
WOW was so elitist that I doubt they'd have done much for the locals other than treat them as coolies in their own country (which as you know had been independent since 1932). And considering the level of technology there even today I tend to think they'd've kept their industrial/scientific know-how to themselves. Of course, they'd been no more than guests in the country for thirty years, so maybe they did leave some trainees behind with a rudimentary knowledge of the equipment to help out. But if their goal was to unite the world under the dictatorship -- oh, pardon me, the leadership -- of the Airmen, they'd have to make sure that a lot of their own guys stayed behind to watch the place.
And where did they get so many white guys to relocate to Iraq? Not to mention enough suitable European women to act as wives or baby-producers, so that there'd not only be successor generations to run things but no messy intermarriages or Arabs manning WOW's mideast flank. Multi-talented group, though. Engineers who jump out of airplanes. Cool.
However, I love your notion that Chemical Ali might have worked on the Gas of Peace program. Of course, after the Airheads/Airmen had split, leaving Iraq to its quaint natives, I've no doubt that ol' Chem would have refined that substance into a more utilitarian means of dipatching anyone who threatened their hegemony over the region...like good old Ray when he flew back from Albion to inform the Iraqis that they were now part of WOW, so shove over. They'd have sent him on a "good will tour" of the Kurdish north, and, well...the rest is Saddamian history. "So sorry about the nasty accident. Here, have some oil -- on the house."
Hmm, wonder what role Bush and Cheney fill in this alternate world?
Can you see Bush as some sort of `Boss` type character running a tin pot kingdom somewhere in the ruins of the US?
"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan."
Cheney more than Bush, who as a former member of the Alabama Air National Guard he'd probably relegate to heading his air squadron. A principle reason why none of the planes would fly. Bush pilot?
Besides, Cheney's the one who'd most enjoy shooting people suffering from the Wandering Sickness (in his case, those who wander away from the Republicans), and, well, you know, given his abilities with a rifle....
Also, if you heard his comment of yesterday, when asked about the fact that two-thirds of Americans think the Iraq war was a mistake, he'd be the perfect tone-deaf Boss for ruined middle America:
Rowena: "Boss, the people disapprove that this war has gone on for 30 years."
Cheney: "So?"
So Cheney is charging about the countryside like Ralph Richardson and Bush is on an abandoned airfield complaining that he dos`nt have any Duct Tape or rubber bands left to keep his chief`s airforce flying.
Now how about Hillary Clinton as Roxana?
(Rowena being Margueretta Scott`s other character from a lost 2036 scene).
"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan."
No, Hillary's the opposition. For Roxana, Condoleeza. Smarter than the Boss, still misguided on some things, but wanting to help him in spite of himself, and more intellectually curious, though admittedly in this case that's a relative statement.
Rowena/Roxana, Condoleeza/Condolooza. Same lollapalooza.
Also, Cheney shares the Boss's characteristic xenophobia and neurotic certainty that he knows all and is always right...qualities that did in fact allow him to keep his head during the plagues: he didn't know any better. Rather Reaganesque, in its fashion.
Meanwhile Air Chief Bush could fall off the wagon and, as a lapsed chemist, distill his remaining motor oil into something drinkable, so he'd be happily out of the way. As for Hillary, I'm sure Boss Cheney would be able to cannibalize enough duct tape to handle her in the appropriate manner.
All of which makes Obama, of course...Cabal. Right height and build, brains, has the requisite middle name for someone flying in from Iraq (John Hussein Cabal); plus, as a person of mixed racial heritage, it would explain his color scheme preferences, first for black planes and uniforms in Iraq, then the sudden switch to gleaming white for his underground city and togas in Everytown, renamed Cabalburgh.
But to paraphrase the last bit of dialogue..."Which shall be Passworthy?"
(Note I said "Passworthy", not "Passport", which the Boss, his Air Head, and his informed mistress Condi have been accused of having had a hand in illegally investigating, or covering up such illegal investigation, of Obama's and now Hillary's State Department files. Both are, of course, Passport-worthy. Much easier if Boss Cheney could just go out and shoot them, no questions asked.)
He He He.
funny how it all seems to make perfect sense.
Of course the US branch of WOW almost certainly are flying things like this (painted black of course).
http://giantearth.blogspot.com/2007/06/xb-35.html
or
http://www.cowtown.net/proweb/xb36.htm
"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan."
I know, this is getting weird. Maybe H.G. was more prescient than he realized.
I wonder if someone would have to explain to McCain that the Hill People aren't arming the Townspeople under the Boss.
On the other hand, they ARE in a fight to gain control of the local coal resources in order to distill oil for the air fleet.
"The war will pay for itself!"
"Mission Accomplished!"
WOW!
(But will the latter be greeted as liberators?)
I'll have to check out your link.
Why meet wars half way? Why not look on the bright side? You're all right your business is alright, you have a jolly wife and a pretty home...
In the book Iraq is a backwater and plays little role in Well's future history.
Here is the contribution played by Saddam and Chemical Ali to the conferences in Basra in 1965 and 1978 that set up the 'Air Dictatorship':
'The Conference regrets that it does not consider the proposal of Baghdad citizens claiming to represent the govt of Iraq,to police this unexpected world fair with 300 Arab policemen, a camel corps of 79 men and 6 machine guns as a practical one.It has removed this body painlessly to comfortable quarters in the Island of Ormuz and the Police of the Air and Sea Ways in its recognisable uniform will be alone responsible for order in the ancient province of Bassorah."
Alls right with the world Passworthy, all right with the world. You should have been called Pippa Passworthy!
The "mini skirt" is as old as the roaring 20's, as relayed in this poem of the time:
If skirts get any shorter,
Said the flapper with a sob,
I'll have two more cheeks to powder,
And another place to bob.
Ah, yes, the helmet. I assume it was designed like a shoehorn to keep one's hair from blowing in the breeze on the long flight from Basra to Lond-- oh, forgive me, I mean, Everytown.
To me, Raymond Massey's helmet looked like a giant radio vacuum tube. A lot of "futuristic" gadgetry on the covers of pulp SF magazines of the 1920s and '30s looked like the innards of a radio. Or electrical transformer parts.
All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?
As you watch his plane land (at an improbably low speed), it appears as if the helmet were designed as part of the cockpit canopy — though I can't think of a reason anyone would do that, even in sci-fi.
I've wondered how much that thing weighed, plastics being rudimentary in 1940, and if Massey had any problem holding his head up while wearing it.
Mad dogs and Englishmen wear black in the midday sun!
shareRead Zachariah chapter 5.
"It's not about money.... It's about sending a Message..... Everything Burns!!!"