Things to Come

This HG Wells adaptation isn’t strictly set in London but in the fictional city of Everytown – still, those white terraced houses, big red buses and stiff-lipped residents do feel awfully familiar. Three years before the outbreak of war, the film predicted that bombs would reduce the city to rubble by Christmas 1940 – which is almost exactly what happened. Thankfully, its more outlandish forecasts – a decades-long conflict, a global plague and a tribal society ruled by Ralph Richardson in an Afghan coat – haven’t come to pass. Yet.

Read the Time Out review of 'Things to Come' (1936)

The ten best London apocalypses on film

The big smoke lives up to its name as it faces annihilation in these disaster movies

Advertising

London has taken a hammering in the movies this summer, besieged by blue-goo aliens in 'The World's End' and bombed to smithereens in 'GI Joe: Retaliation' and 'Star Trek into Darkness'. That's nothing new – over the years movies have hurled their fair share of mayhem at our fragile little city.

More top tens in film

Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Recommended
    You may also like
    You may also like
    Advertising