Here’s a pretty unusual sci-fi film. Not only was it rare to see non-horror sci-fi in the 1930’s (unless it was a movie serial), let alone a big budget one. But the story also spans a full century and barely focuses on any specific characters, opting instead to make its grand themes the major through-line.
H. G. Wells’ Things to Come (1936)
https://youtu.be/8xhodHavrrc?t=257 - from the Alzombie YouTube channel (1 hour 40 mins - 720p)
Although the best quality I could find, the sound is a bit odd in the version linked above. Here’s a backup link with better sound, but much lower resolution from the Great Classic Films YouTube channel;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqKGlrPAfSw&t
Synopsis:
The story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.
Directed by William Cameron Menzies.
Cast: Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman & Ralph Richardson.
Trivia:
The dialogue and plot were devised by H. G. Wells as “a new story” meant to display the “social and political forces and possibilities” that he had outlined in his 1933 story The Shape of Things to Come, a work he considered less a novel than a “discussion” in fictional form that presented itself as the notes of a 22nd-century diplomat.