Things to Come

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdreviews25/things_to_come.htm

I just finished watching  the 1936 film, H.G. Wells' Things To Come.  Above, a picture of one of the futuristic aircraft featured in it.  Directed by William Cameron Menzies, better known for Gone with the Wind (and also Invaders from Mars).  Interesting old war footage at the beginning, with anti-aircraft guns being set up and operating in London.  It seemed pretty clearly a war propaganda film.  In Wells' version, though, the war goes on until 1966, after which the film focuses on a particular war lord who is (plot spoiler!) ultimately defeated by a higher civilization under the control of scientists and engineers.  This has to be one of the first instances of zombies in the movies, as the post-war "wandering sickness" causes infected people to walk around stiffly with arms outstretched, usually to their doom.  Anyway, it's one view of progress.