Скачать или смотреть "High Treason" (1930 Sci-Fi)

"High Treason" (1930) is a British science fiction film that presents a futuristic vision of a world on the brink of war in the year 1950, set against a backdrop of escalating tensions between the Federated States of Europe and the Atlantic States.
The film explores themes of pacifism, technological advancement, and the manipulation of global conflict by arms manufacturers, who orchestrate events through false flag operations such as sabotaging the English Channel rail tunnel to provoke war.
The narrative centers on the Peace League, led by Dr. Seymour (Humberston Wright), and his daughter Evelyn Seymour (Benita Hume), who opposes the war and seeks to prevent the mobilization of forces, while her lover, Michael Deane (Jameson Thomas), a European air force commander, feels bound by duty to follow orders.

The film was produced as a sound version, making it one of the early British sound films, released shortly after Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929).
It was conceived and filmed simultaneously in both sound and silent versions to accommodate theaters not yet equipped for sound technology, though the silent version is now considered the better experience due to the deterioration of the sound track in the original talkie version.
The sound version, released by Tiffany Production, was thought lost for many years until a copy was discovered and restored, but it remains difficult to access, with no home video release available outside the UK through the British Film Institute’s BFI Player service.

Visually, the film is noted for its Art Deco aesthetic, featuring futuristic cityscapes, advanced technology such as autogyros, biplanes, television broadcasts, and early communication devices resembling modern video conferencing.
The costumes reflect the sleek, modern design of the era, with shiny fabrics and hats blending elements of cloches and skullcaps.
The film has been compared to other early science fiction works such as Metropolis (1925) and Things to Come (1936), and is recognized as a significant, if overlooked, example of pre-1950s science fiction made on a substantial budget.
It is also noted for its prescient themes, including the use of propaganda, the role of media in shaping public perception, and the potential for technology to both enable and prevent war.
Despite its flaws, the film remains a visually striking and historically significant artifact of early British science fiction cinema.