Just Imagine main backdrop
Just Imagine main poster

Just Imagine

Visit website

5.7/10 • 23

1930-11-231h 53m

ComedyMusicScience FictionFantasy

A STORY OF LIFE AND LOVE IN 1980!

New York, 1980: airplanes have replaced cars, numbers have replaced names, pills have replaced food, government-arranged marriages have replaced love, and test tube babies have replaced ... well, you get the idea. Scientists revive a man struck by lightning in 1930; he is rechristened "Single O". He is befriended by J-21, who can't marry the girl of his dreams because he isn't "distinguished" enough -- until he is chosen for a 4-month expedition to Mars by a renegade scientist. The Mars J-21, his friend, and stowaway Single O visit is full of scantily clad women doing Busby Berkeley-style dance numbers and worshiping a fat middle-aged man.

Directors
David Butler
Writters
Ray Henderson, Buddy G. DeSylva, Lew Brown
Editors
Ray Henderson, Buddy G. DeSylva, Irene Morra

Top Billed Cast

View Credits
  1. El Brendel

    El Brendel

    Single O

  2. Maureen O'Sullivan

    Maureen O'Sullivan

    LN-18

  3. John Garrick

    John Garrick

    J-21

  4. Marjorie White

    Marjorie White

    D-6

  5. Frank Albertson

    Frank Albertson

    RT-42

  6. Hobart Bosworth

    Hobart Bosworth

    Hobart Bosworth

  7. Hobart Bosworth

    Hobart Bosworth

    Z-4

  8. Mischa Auer

    Mischa Auer

    B-36

  9. George Irving

    George Irving

    Head of Marriage Tribunal (uncredited)

Reviews1

View Reviews
CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Feb 15, 2024

6/10

Yikes, but this is a mess of a film! It starts with some archive of a very peaceful New York in 1880 before advancing us fifty years to a city of hustle and bustle; motor cars and electricity. This is where a poor soul is victim to that latter invention - whilst playing golf - and resuscitated with the name of "Single O" (El Brendel). A bit of a fish out of water, he befriends the disgruntled "J-21" (John Garrick). Now he has just lost out in the marriage court and so can't marry his sweetheart (Maureen O'Sullivan). Take heart, though - the decision will be reviewed in 1980! It's to that timeframe we now move - via some perfectly staged showtime performances - where "J-21" is selected to man a mission to Mars. Climbing into one of the rocket ships that "Flash Gordon" had finished with, off they go to the red planet and meet an Inca-esque tribe whom they befriend a little before realising that they need to get out of the place - complete with a "guest"! Once home, heroes, maybe he can get that marriage decision reversed? To be fair, that's the briefest of synopses. There is more going on, but the manner in which this hybrid is presented is all rather amateur. The speed of technological innovation in 1930 could readily encourage people to imagine a glittering 1980 that we might not, even now, attribute to 2080, but it's the attempt to mix the genres - sci-fi meets romance meets musical theatre that just doesn't work. The themes don't readily gel and though some of the singing shows the skills of people like Garrick, the acting - pretty much across the board - struggles to lift the mediocre writing and muddled direction from it's confused doldrums. It is a fantasy, and ought to be considered as an imaginative and speculative piece of cinema for the time, but even then it's still all just too much of a work in progress to enjoy. Sorry, but almost a century later, this has lost pretty much all of the potency it ever had.

Media

  • Just Imagine poster
  • Just Imagine poster
  • Just Imagine poster
  • Just Imagine poster
  • Just Imagine poster

Recommendations

  • The Unbelievers main backdrop

    The Unbelievers

    6.5

  • The Blue Lamp main backdrop

    The Blue Lamp

    6.6

  • King of Jazz main backdrop

    King of Jazz

    6.2

  • Barbie main backdrop

    Barbie

    7.0

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey main backdrop

    2001: A Space Odyssey

    8.1

  • Dead Poets Society main backdrop

    Dead Poets Society

    8.3

  • Oppenheimer main backdrop

    Oppenheimer

    8.1

  • Interstellar main backdrop

    Interstellar

    8.5

  • Knives Out main backdrop

    Knives Out

    7.8

  • The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring main backdrop

    The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

    8.4

  • The Shawshank Redemption main backdrop

    The Shawshank Redemption

    8.7

  • Godzilla Minus One main backdrop

    Godzilla Minus One

    7.6

  • The Passion of the Christ main backdrop

    The Passion of the Christ

    7.5

  • The Witch main backdrop

    The Witch

    7.0

  • Titanic main backdrop

    Titanic

    7.9

  • Pulp Fiction main backdrop

    Pulp Fiction

    8.5

  • Kingsman: The Secret Service main backdrop

    Kingsman: The Secret Service

    7.6

  • Ex Machina main backdrop

    Ex Machina

    7.6

  • GoodFellas main backdrop

    GoodFellas

    8.5

  • Hereditary main backdrop

    Hereditary

    7.3

Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
futurepre-codespeculative