English writer HG Wells was never satisfied with sticking to one genre or even one kind of story, writing long and short works for whatever he wanted. Today, however, he is most remembered for his works in sci-fi; in fact many people believe he is the ‘father of science fiction’.’ Not only are some of his books now considered classics that will stand the test of time, but many of his books are also popular for film remakes, from The Invisible man until War of the Worlds.
Wells often wrote about utopian societies that not only predicted but perhaps influenced technological inventions, such as aerospace, gene-based medicine, and even the Internet. But Wells’s use of sci-fi also brought dark omens, discussing things like time travel, alien invasions and troubling surgical innovations. All these things attracted movie writers and producers from the very beginning of feature films, hoping to bring to life some of the fantastic ideas he wrote about. By looking at the best HG Wells movie adaptations, we can enjoy some of the first sci-fi stories that gave the genre its start.
7/7 The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936)
The Man Who Could Work Miracles was a short story written by Wells that has now been turned into a fantasy comedy film. The film is about George Fotheringay, a middle-class man who suddenly gains miraculous powers through a bet between a group of supernatural beings. The only thing is that Fotheringay believes that miracles are impossible.
When he first gains these powers, he discovers them by convincing his friends how ridiculous it sounds. When he later returns home and continues to perform impossible feats on his own, he is firmly convinced that he is now in power. The only problem is that he’s not quite sure how to use it. The film is a great portrayal of this short story and is sure to get some good laughs too.
6/7 War of the Worlds (2005)
Some of Wells’ writings are more popular for adaptations, and there’s no question about it: War of the Worlds is one of them. This, of course, was the story that Orson Welles adapted for radio broadcasting and startled many listeners who mistook it for real news coverage. Based on the 1953 book and classic film of the same name, Steven Spielberg’s lavish post-9/11 allegory begins seemingly normally by focusing on Ray Ferrier, a divorcee who has to babysit his children for a weekend. Unbeknownst to them, an alien race was watching Earth and hoping to take it over.
They enter the Earth’s atmosphere under the cover of a thunderstorm, knocking out all nearby electronics. Suddenly, huge war machines controlled by the aliens, seemingly indestructible, start to wipe out everyone nearby. Ferrier manages to escape with his children, and now they rush to Boston to try to reunite with their mother before everyone is killed. It’s a thrilling action movie that is sure to deliver suspense, using the very latest technology of the time to create the most thrilling and visually powerful adaptation of War of the Worlds.
5/7 The Time Machine (1960)
The Time Machine, a delightful 1960 adaptation of Wells’ classic tale, cleverly follows scientist H. George Wells as he dines with his friends and tells them a recent adventure. Just a few days earlier, he had shown them a scale model of a time machine that, as soon as he pressed a lever, disappeared and apparently traveled into the future. His friends, however, are skeptical and leave him alone after dinner, where he is left to his private lab and the real-time machine hidden inside.
Wells decides to travel to the future and begins to explore further and further into it, experiencing terrible events that are seemingly inevitable. There’s no doubt that this is another popular book to adapt to Wells’s work (of which the 1960 version predominated), as it is one of the most influential sci-fi novels he wrote. It popularized the idea of time travel and time machines, something that is certainly more prevalent in today’s media thanks to him.
4/7 Things to Come (1936)
Before he died in 1946, Wells adapted his story The shape of things to come for the screen in a whole new way. The screenplay eventually became Things to come, a sci-fi film that is more about the socio-political consequences of human activity than it is a thrilling sci-fi action film. Regardless, the film’s sheer reach and sheer cinematicness impressed audiences; Geoffrey O’Brien writes about Thing to come for the Criterion Collectioncalls it:
An unprecedented event in British cinema, an extraordinarily ambitious and expensive production in which the entire resources of cinema – a huge cast, large-scale sets and sophisticated visual design – were invested in realizing an epic about the future of humanity, such as conceived by one of the world’s most famous living authors.
It begins in the year 1940, where residents of Everytown discuss whether the approaching war will actually take place. It begins that same night, launching a 30-year war that is destroying the world and ushering in a new dark age. As the war ends and humanity begins to recover, there are more problems as new leaders emerge and quickly become tyrants trying to control everything. It may not be for everyone, but there’s no doubt that the message remains true to this day.
3/7 Again and again (1979)
Time after time is unique on this list in that it is not directly inspired by a work by Wells. It was actually inspired by a work of the same name written by Karl Alexander, who used Wells as the main character. It follows Wells as if he were the scientist in his novel The Time Machine and had actually invented a time travel technique himself. In the film, Wells reveals the machine to his skeptical dinner guests and explains some of the complications surrounding its use before the police interrupt in search of Jack the Ripper.
There they find evidence that one of his friends, Stevenson, is believed to be the killer, and that he used the time machine to escape. However, without the proper components, the time machine returns without him. Wells jumps in to try to chase him and bring him to justice. It’s a great, weird sci-fi movie like no other, and a beautiful tribute to Wells and his writing.
2/7 Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Based on Doctor Moreau’s Island, Island of Lost Souls is a sci-fi horror movie. It follows Edward Parker, a castaway who becomes trapped on a remote island owned by Dr. Moreau. Though it seems normal at first, screams quickly fill the air and when Parker investigates, he finds Moreau and his assistant experimenting with a humanoid creature that appears to be without any painkiller. Frightened, he tries to run away to find the building surrounded by many strange hybrid creatures, all humanoid but resembling different animals.
He finds out that Moreau was trying to speed up the evolution of animals and turn them into humans, effectively creating a strange society on his island that all served him. Parker is then also involved in the experiments when Moreau destroys the only possible way to escape from the island, forcing him to stay. Island of Lost Souls perhaps not as well known as the Val Kilmer-Marlon Brando disaster The Island of Dr. moreau in the 1990s, but this is one of the most haunting and poetic adaptations of all Wells’s work.
1/7 The Invisible Man (1933)
The Invisible Man is based on the book of the same name and is the first of many adaptations. In fact, it’s Wells’ most popular book to adapt, and it’s turned into everything from a comedy starring Chevy Chase to a feminist horror masterpiece starring Elisabeth Moss. The 1933 version was the first, arguably the most underrated Universal Monster movie; it follows Dr. Jack Griffin and his discovery of how to become invisible. He was researching a new and dangerous drug when he came across invisibility and used it on himself.
However, when his old mentor and fiancé discover what he’s been up to, they realize that an obvious side effect of the invisibility drug is violent insanity. Griffin becomes murderous, even more dangerous when no one can see him. It’s up to some of his friends to try and devise a plan that will catch him to end the murders. While some of the shock of old classics fades as they’re integrated into pop culture, there’s no doubt that this movie still matters, not just for its importance to the horror genre, but for its great performances, beautiful cinematography and faithful, intelligent adaptation.