Shining Future, The
Entry updated 13 October 2025. Tagged: Film.
Short US film (1944). Warner Bros. Directed by LeRoy Prinz. Written by James Bloodworth and Mannie Manheim. Cast includes Olive Blakeney, Jimmy Lydon and Charles Ruggles. 21 minutes. Black and white.
A man sitting at a desk greets Canada: "What you are about to see is an imaginative glimpse into the future, a Hollywood view of the year 1960. We'll see some rather startling things, some of which may be commonplace by then. Here we go, to the City of the future." (See Near Future.)
We briefly see reused footage from Just Imagine (1930), with a cityscape of skyscrapers where numerous Rocket planes (see below) fly between the buildings. We visit the home of Mr and Mrs Ames (Blakeney), whose son Danny (Lydon) is complaining about the daily diet of steak; pipe-smoking Mr Ames observes that "Back in 1944 we thought we were lucky to get any kind of meat." Danny responds: "If you'll get me one of those new super P1038 convertible rocket planes to fly to school, I'll eat anything you say." Mrs Ames points out that he already has a helicopter, with Mr Ames suggesting any more rocket plane talk will have him grounded and going to school by automobile (see Transportation).
Danny now quotes a line from a 1944 song heard on the "Revers-o-scope"; Mr Ames becomes nostalgic and asks him to replay the programme. Danny turns the dial on the device to 1944 (it sounds like tuning a radio) and they watch a series of songs performed by Frank Sinatra and other stars of the day, with Cary Grant reading a letter from a dying Canadian soldier (see World War Two). The family are then interrupted by a neighbour whose Canadian War Loan Bonds have matured and wishes to repay a debt. Mention is also made of plastic fur coats and picnicking in Australia (see Leisure).
It is not wholly clear whether the Revers-o-scope is a Time Viewer or simply stores old programmes. Intended to sell Canadian War Bonds, The Shining Future is mainly a curio; its sf frame partially recalls The Jetsons (1962-1963), in being set in the future but reflecting contemporary family mores. Aside from the Revers-o-scope, the set for the Ames living room has a 1940s appearance which Mrs Ames helpfully explains away: "We can have this old-fashioned house brought up to date."
The film was re-edited for the US market as The Road to Victory (1944), with the future year optimistically brought forward to 1954 and the running time reduced (mainly by sacrificing the desk-bound man and the scene with the neighbour) to 10 minutes. [SP]
links
- Internet Movie Database
- Internet Movie Database – The Road to Victory
previous versions of this entry