Rating: 
Summary: Inventive, creative history-meets-sci-fi tale
Review: This tale takes the story "The Time Machine" by H. G. Wells a step further... instead of writing the book, he actually invents the machine.Through a series of events, Wells travels to modern-day San Francisco, not realizing that Jack the Ripper is close on his heels. Ripper, played masterfully by David Warner, has found his own sick Utopia in San Francisco. The modern crime plagued, promiscuous society is just the touch of lust & murder he's had to pace out carefully in the England of the past century... but now he can practice his sick art with great regularity and still disappear in the crowd. Wells (Malcom McDowell) is struggling to find his wits in this new, terrifying new world and time and is befriended by a bank administrator (Mary Steenburgen) who shows him how to survive in modern times. The Ripper's biggest fear is being caught, so he seeks to kill off Wells so he can have control of the time machine and have no one to reveal his secrets... and the story goes from there. The love story between Steenburgen's character and Wells is endearing and adorable and is reminiscent of "Back to the Future III," ... but in this story, Steenburgen is the modern, worldly woman who falls in love with a proper English gentleman from the turn of the century. It's sci-fi, thrilling and romantic... while trapped in some 70's fashion, the story and concept are timeless. Great story, great film.
Rating:
Summary: Plumbing H.G.'s wells
Review: Director Nicholas Meyer, who had already toyed with placing historical figures into speculative fiction with his earlier effort "The Seven Per Cent Solution" (pairing the fictional Sherlock Holmes with Sigmund Freud in a murder mystery) perfected this device in "Time After Time". Meyer cleverly puts H.G. Wells into one of the famous author's own speculative whimseys...a time machine, and through a bizarre set of circumstances sends him hurtling into the late 1970's to chase down the infamous Jack the Ripper. As silly as that premise appears on paper, it results in one of the most exciting, intelligent, and even (gulp!) touchingly romantic sci-fi films ever. Stars Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenbergen exhibit genuine romantic screen chemistry (not suprising, as it was this pairing that led to their eventual real-life marriage!) Veteran sociopath David Warner makes for a genuinely creepy Ripper. Most of the levity ensues from McDowell's 19th-century Victorian gentleman coming to grips with late 20th century San Francisco (a device borrowed a few years later by Leonard Nimoy when he helmed "Star Trek IV", although his time travellers came from the other direction). A winner on all counts!
Rating: 
Summary: An Engaging Romance, With Jack The Ripper Near By
Review: It's not often you find a well-done romance featuring Jack the Ripper. A young Herbert George Wells in 1893 London invites a few close friends to his home for a meal and a look at his latest invention. It's a time machine, and he intends to use to it visit the future, which because of science and man's intelligence he is sure will be a utopia. The police interrupt his evening gathering because Jack the Ripper has struck again and they know he is in the neighborhood. But when his guests leave, one is unaccounted for, and the time machine is missing. It returns empty, having gone to November 5, 1979, where Herbert's friend, Dr. John Leslie Stevenson now known to be Jack, got off. Herbert gathers what money he has, packs a travellling bag, and sets off in pursuit. He cannot let the madman who was his friend infect utopia.
Wells winds up in San Francisco. He meets Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen), a bank teller who helps him with some of his strange money, rather likes his curiously old-fashioned suit, and then helps him just get around. The future turns out to be a difficult and confusing place. He and Mary develop feelings for each other and he tracks down Jack, who is in his element. As Jack tells him, "Ninety years ago I was a freak. Now I'm an amateur." The resolution of the plot is final for Jack, but is just a beginning for Herbert and Mary. But Wells is determined to return to his time, just as Mary is reluctant to leave her time. His disallusionment with the future is understandable. In a museum he finds an exhibit about himself with copies of his books he hasn't written yet. "I have to go back," he tells Mary. "I have to destroy this machine. I have all those books to write, whatever they are. Fiction, I hope."
This is a charming movie which is hard to catagorize. Some will call it science fiction. I think it's basically a romantic suspense film, which has a lot of humor built in. The future turns out not to be utopia, and Wells' attempt to deal with things is touching and ironic.
Malcom McDowell, an actor I have a lot of respect for, turns in a first-class performance as the shy, earnest and brave Wells. Mary Steenburgen just about matches him as Amy, a woman who also is shy but who values independence and is not about to simply settle for the title "spouse."
This movie works on a lot of levels. You might not fall in love with it, but you'd have to be both hard-hearted and humorless not to at least like it.
I thought the DVD transfer is just fine.
Rating:
Summary: H.G. Wells vs Jack the Ripper
Review: Fans of movies like either of the "The Time Machine" movies and the "Back to the Future" trilogy will probably enjoy this movie. A mix of time travel and murder mystery it isn't for the whole family. It has a rougher edgy twist than most other time travel movies. The introduction of Jack the Ripper into the formula makes it exciting, but not for the squeemish. Mary Steenburgen as Amy Robbins and David Warner as Jack the Ripper are perfect for their roles. Malcom McDowell as H.G. Wells, preoccupied and intelligent, does a masterful job of portraying a man ahead of his time that is fascinated with the future. Somehow through this chase of Jack the Ripper a romance develops between H.G. and Amy. Most couples will enjoy this movie. The DVD transfer is good quality. This DVD includes a commentary with McDowell and a few other extras.
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