Just Imagine (film)

Just Imagine
Lobby card
Directed byDavid Butler
Written byBuddy G. DeSylva
Lew Brown
Ray Henderson
Produced byBuddy G. DeSylva
StarringEl Brendel
Maureen O'Sullivan
John Garrick
Marjorie White
CinematographyErnest Palmer
Edited byIrene Morra
Music byHugo Friedhofer
Arthur Kay
Distributed byFox Film Corporation
Release date
  • November 23, 1930 (1930-11-23)
Running time
109 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,100,000

Just Imagine is a 1930 American pre-Code science fiction musical-comedy film, directed by David Butler. The film is known for its art direction and special effects in its portrayal of New York City in an imagined 1980. Just Imagine stars El Brendel, Maureen O'Sullivan, John Garrick and Marjorie White. The "man from 1930" was played by El Brendel, an ethnic vaudeville comedian of a forgotten type: the Swedish immigrant.

The film starts with a preamble showing life in 1880, where the people believed themselves the "last word in speed". It switches to 1930, with the streets crowded with automobiles and lined with electric lights and telephone wires. It then switches to 1980, where the tenement houses have morphed into 250-story buildings, connected by suspension bridges and multi-lane elevated roads.