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Just Imagine (1930)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 10:59 am    Post subject: Just Imagine (1930) Reply with quote




Sets, props and costumes are the strong points in this wild experiment in musical comedies, featuring songs by famous composers Brown, DeSylva, and Henderson. The film begins by comparing scenes of New York in 1880 to scenes in 1930, demon??strat??ing how much things have changed in fifty years. Then the narrator says, "Just imagine how different life will be in . . . 1980!"

Presto, a futuristic world, ala "Metropolis", in which small helicopter-planes cruise among the skyscrapers.

John Garrick plays an unhappy young man who is denied government permission to marry Maureen O'Sullivan until he achieves fame through some major accomplishment.

Luckily, a famous scientist offers to let Garrick test his new spaceship by piloting it to Mars. Garrick is accompanied to Mars by two friends, one of whom (comedian El Brendel) is a man recently brought back to life by an experimental medical process after he was struck by lightning on a golf course in 1930.

On Mars the Earth men find two warring societies, each composed of the identical twin from the other society. The Martian costumes must be seen to be believed. The sets of futuristic Manhattan later showed up in "Flash Gordon", and the full-sized rocket became the creation of Dr. Zarkov.

"Just Imagine" is a no-holds-barred exercise in inventive entertainment. Director David Butler allows the plot to wander into silliness on many occasions, and Garrick's singing is too hokey and operatic for some viewers, but don't let these minor flaws spoil your enjoyment of this unique movie.

Garrick's Bon Voyage party (before he leaves for Mars) takes place on a zeppelin above New York, and his buddies toast him with a drinking song which appears to have been choreographed by Busby Berkeley!

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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Fri Mar 23, 2018 9:09 am; edited 1 time in total
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 5:03 pm    Post subject: Re: Just Imagine (1930) Reply with quote

This one is most definitely a curiosity. Besides the odd combination of musical comedy and futuristic sci-fi, it's notable for an early appearance by a very young and cute Maureen O'Sullivan (shortly before becoming Jane to Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan).

Among the topical jokes (apparently Prohibition is still in effect in 1980!) is a sly dig at the notoriously anti-Semitic Henry Ford.


Bud Brewster wrote:
. . .The sets of futuristic Manhattan later showed up in "Flash Gordon", and the full-sized rocket became the creation of Dr. Zarkov.

Stock footage of the futuristic New York miniature set was used in Universal's 1939 Buck Rogers serial.


Last edited by scotpens on Mon Nov 09, 2020 4:08 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Pow
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just viewed this strange mix of sf, comedy, drama, and musical film.

Some of the design for the futuristic cityscapes & sets were quite interesting to see.

Their ray guns remind me somewhat of the Stun Guns from Space: 1999 in shape.

Of course the musical numbers are what really distinguishes this film.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember reading that the New York model took up an entire airship hanger, and it was a very elaborate model set. There was the aerial traffic with planes, airships and the flying cars. Then the street traffic on multiple levels. Below that were the railroad lines. At the lowest level, there were canals with ships moving through them.

And you saw very little of that. As elaborate as the set was, I wonder if they had intended to do more future New York movies, if this had been a success.

The pistols, just called 'automatics' were reused in an episode of VoyageTTBOTS, and in an episode of LIS. Then they were never used again. Ed Kline built one based on the design. It was just one of his metal weapons that was purchased to used on "Babylon 5", where it was used as the Narn pistol.

David.
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Anybody have a picture or two of these pistols handy? I so don't want to have to go through the movie to find one.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 10:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This seems about the best the movie offers, Wayne. YouTube has a copy, so you might want to scan through it and see if you can find a better shot.

It's too big to post here, but you can click on the link and save it your computer.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GNav-9AVL48/Uq3oP1cywKI/AAAAAAABCYQ/vJQE8tawdk0/s1600/Just+Imagine+151.png
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2015 2:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the reminder, Bud. I did peruse the movie for some shots of those guns, but neglected to post them. They look like brass knuckles with a block attached to the front.



Unfortunately, they're not very sharp.

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Krel
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2015 5:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you have the "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" DVDs, the pistol is used in the first season episode, "The Invaders". Robert Duvall uses it, and as I recall, there are some nice views of it.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 2:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry, Wayne, this was the best I could get from "The Invaders" episode (S01 E20) of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea on YouTube.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Jun 09, 2022 10:41 am; edited 1 time in total
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 5:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Likewise.

The basic layout is the same, although details differ. The VTTBOTS weapon has a single large opening for the fingers, while the JI units have individual finger holes, which don't extend as far below the bottom of the box portion as the VTTBOTS loop does. The JI box portion is also shorter, front to back.

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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2020 3:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

$1,100,000.00 would be $16,434,383.72 in 2020 dollars. Now $1,100,000.00 in 2020 dollars would be $73,626.13 in 1930 dollars. Which even for a 1930 movie would be kind of low for such an elaborate production.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2020 6:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
$1,100,000.00 would be $16,434,383.72 in 2020 dollars. Now $1,100,000.00 in 2020 dollars would be $73,626.13 in 1930 dollars. Which even for a 1930 movie would be kind of low for such an elaborate production.

With that in mind, I guess you're right.

All the conversions from 1930s currency to 2020 currency was puzzling — not to mention the conversion of British pounds to dollars!

Movies back in the 1930s usually had budgets (and box offices) that were well below a million dollars. For example, Wikipedia list the budget for Gone With the Wind (1939) at $3.85 million — the most expensive movie of the 1930s.

But was that the 1939 budget or the 2020 conversion? I''m totally mixed up! Shocked

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 09, 2022 10:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production. I watched if on YouTube while writing this post and enjoyed it very much! Very Happy
________________________________

~ Of the film's credited cast members, only Maureen O'Sullivan (LN-18) and Joyzelle Joyner (Loo Loo / Boo Boo) were still alive during the actual 1980. O'Sullivan died on June 23, 1998 whereas Joyner died on November 30, 1980, coincidentally only one week after the 50th anniversary of the film's release.

Note from me: Miss O'Sullivan was an exceptionally beautiful actrees, and if want so her in her prime (other than he near naked scenes in Tarzan and his Mate), catch Wanted Woman on TCM. It is a delightful comedy/mystery with a brilliant script and a lightning pace!

~ This was the first science fiction film made as either a talkie or a musical.

Note from me: The only song I remember from the movie was the rousing drinking song, which is performed by 20 men at a long table aboard the airship Pegasus. Once you hear it, the song keeps running in your head for hours, and the only way to get it out is to drink yourself unconscious! Laughing


_______ The Drinking Song (from 'Just Imagine')


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~ The airplanes were designed and built by an aircraft engineer from the Douglas Aircraft Co. based on what he thought aircraft would look like in 1980.

Note from me: The designs of the personal aircraft are actually quite amazing! Horizontal propellers embedded in the wings for hovering, as well as vertical takeoffs and landings — plus the craft can hold its position so a fellow can walk across the wing and stroll over to his hovering girlfriend's plane for a chat!


_____________________ Just Imagine (1930)


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~ This was the final big budget science fiction feature film to be released by a major American studio until The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).

Note from me: I wonder if this is accurate. Was Just Imagine actually more expensive than Things to Come? Then again, I guess the key word is major American studio.

I had to do some research to find out the budgets of both movies, just to see how they compared. Wikipedia says that Things to Come cost £260,000, which be worth $5,115,740 in today's dollars.

IMDB says the estimated budget of Just Imagine is $1,100,000, which I assume is today's dollars, because movies just didn't cost a million bucks back in 1930.

So, Things to Come costs almost five times as much to make, but the sets and special effects for Just Imagine are spectacular! Watch the full movie on YouTube and decided for yourself.


_____ JUST IMAGINE 1280p With Color Tints 1930


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