UTOPIA was a film scenario written by Dr Halliday Sutherland in or around 1945 in the satire/science-fiction genre. To the best of my knowledge, it was never published in its entirety (though the second part was published as The Perfect Eugenic State in 1934). The scenario comprises two parts:

Part 1

The film opens in a B.B.C. recording studio in London (circa. 1930), shortly before the arrival of Sir Belgium Hare. Hare broadcasts his thoughts on eugenics and national efficiency. As he speaks, the film depicts the places in Britain receiving the broadcast: a crowded saloon bar in a pub, a Victorian drawing-room, a hospital, the common room of the Chelsea Pensioners, the living room of an artisan’s house, and a library. The juxtaposition of Hare’s words and the scenes depicted are comedic and show that for all of his puffed-up intellect, Hare has no real understanding of humanity.

Part 2

The second part takes place 1,000 years later which depicts a society in which the efficiency of the state is paramount. The story is told through the Smith family, better known in State records as H.99/Hamstead, H.99a, and their two children. An argument at the breakfast table leads to the visit of Inspector Weevil of the Ministry of Happiness. Mr Smith is taken to the Lethal Institute where … well, I don’t want to spoil the story.

Who was Sir Belgium Hare?

Sir Belgium Hare was a fictional character and he appears to be based on a number of eugenicists and neo-malthusians in Dr Sutherland’s time. While the name brings to mind Dr Norman Haire, the London-based Australian doctor who testified in the Stopes v Sutherland libel trial of 1923, it more likely derives from the “Belgian Hare” a breed of rabbit popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The name mocks eugenists because the Belgian Hare was not in fact a hare, but a type of rabbit. While the breed tends to be more intelligent than other rabbits, they are bred solely for exhibition (known as a “fancy”) and require higher maintenance that “normal” rabbits.

In addition, Dr Sutherland makes sly digs as to the fitness of Sir Belgium:

ANNOUNCER. [I] … Hope he’ll be in a better temper then last time.
RECEPTIONIST. Well, poor man, that day it had his watch stolen in the street.
ANNOUNCER. Then he should keep his fur coat buttoned, and not look so dashed complacent and prosperous. A gold chain across a hefty middle spread is asking for pick-pockets — besides, it’s old fashioned to wear a watch chain.

Further, Sir Belgium’s speech is punctuated by his wheezing:

SIR BELGIUM. … Have you any technical suggestions in regard to one’s vocal production?
ANNOUNCER. Well, Sir Belgium, if I might make a suggestion…
SIR BELGIUM. Pray do so, by all means.
ANNOUNCER. Don’t get too close to the microphone. It picks up noises.
SIR BELGIUM. What noises?
ANNOUNCER. Well, er, such as a cough, or clearing the throat.
SIR BELGIUM. Ah! you refer to the ancillary respiratory accompaniment of speech. I shall bear that in mind. The farther away I am from the microphone, the better! That’s the idea?
ANNOUNCER. Well, in one way, yes, Sir Belgium —

When one of the characters remarked (referring to Sir Belgium): “I bet he lives on nuts and sour milk,” it was possibly a reference to the dietary ideas of Sir William Arbuthnot Lane, who testified for the plaintiff on the second day of the Stopes v Sutherland libel trial of 1923.

Sir Belgium’s remark:

“I suggest that it should be within the power of some competent authority to summons any old person before a magistrate to show cause that they are not a burden on the community”

… points to George Bernard Shaw who, in March 1931, said:

“… there are an extraordinary number of people who I want to kill. Not in any unkind or personal spirit. But it must be evident to all of you, you must all know half a dozen people at least, who are no use in this world; who are more trouble than they are worth. And I think it would be a good thing to make everybody come before a properly appointed board just as he might come before the income tax commissioners and say every five years or every seven years, just put them there, and say: ‘Sir or Madam, now will you be kind enough to justify your existence?’ If you can’t justify your existence; if you’re not pulling your weight in the social boat; if you are not producing as much as you consume or perhaps a little more, then clearly we cannot use the big organization of our society for the purpose of keeping you alive, because your life does not benefit us, and it can’t be of very much use to yourself.”

It does not take long for the reader to ascertain that Sir Belgium is a long-winded, pompous windbag who aligns with G.K. Chesterton’s description of eugenists on pages 12 and 13 of Eugenics and Other Evils:

Most Eugenists are Euphemists. I mean merely that short words startle them, while long words soothe them. And they are utterly incapable of translating the one into the other, however obviously they mean the same thing. Say to them “The persuasive and even coercive powers of the citizen should enable him to make sure that the burden of longevity in the previous generation does not become disproportionate and intolerable, especially to females”; say this to them and they will sway slightly to and fro like babies sent to sleep in cradles. Say to them “Murder your mother,” and they sit up quite suddenly. Yet the two sentences, in cold logic, are exactly the same.

Utopia – a film scenario by Dr Halliday Sutherland

Here then, for the very first time, is Halliday Sutherland’s previously unpublished scenario “Utopia”.

I hope you enjoy it!

Mark Sutherland, Curator, hallidaysutherland.com

Epilogue

Dr Sutherland submitted the scenario to International Screenplays Ltd in 1946 and it was returned in February 1947 with this letter: