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Summary: It was interesting, but it did not make me think.
Review: That will not happen in the future. I still found it hard to stop watching it.
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Summary: Priceless gem.
Review: Beautiful, magnificent, wonderful, magical, brilliant, exciting, scary, funny, sad, lovely, just one of the best movies ever to come out of Hollywood. I can't find enough words to describe this masterpiece. I have loved it since childhood, and it just gets better and better. I never get tired of taking that future-ride with Rod Taylor. Thank you George Pal, for making such a timeless sci-fi classic.
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Summary: A classic SF adventure from the classic SF era!
Review: My favorite SF classic. The setting, music, and theme all work together to produce an entertaining adventure. Wish George Pal was around to do a remake.
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Summary: H.G. Wells' provocative story becomes a classic film.
Review: George Pal's The Time Machine is one of his classic science fiction films and was given a Hugo for dramatic presentation. When released in 1960, it allowed us to see how technology could or would change our lives. In this telling of H.G. Wells' reknowned tale, Pal has made the Eloi older (they were adolescents in the book) and thrown in some 20th century history. The conflicts between the Eloi and the Morlocks are still here, as is the basic storyline. Pal's difficulties in getting a proper budget show up occasionally, but the overall result is an entertaining and thoughtful film. What most reviewers comment on are the film's look at the future, the love story, or the Oscar-winning special effects. What is often overlooked is the film's score by Russell Garcia (The Glenn Miller Story, Touch of Evil) which is a simple but effective and moving composition. Also overlooked is the story's portrayl of enduring friendship and the things we lose with the passage of time. The friendship that George - The Time Traveler (Rod Taylor) shares with his neighbor and friend David Filby (Alan Young) are compassionately developed through the story. As George moves thru time he learns of Filby's passing from Filby's son and we feel George's loss. Garcia's music punctuates the loss and reminds us it is something that we all will experience in life and in time.
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Summary: Science Fiction at it's very best!
Review: This H.G. Wells classic is very well done. Starting with the wonderful actors and special effects for it's time, it's a classic you'll want to watch time and time again. It'll leave you wondering, which three books you would take.
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Summary: Don't let it fool you
Review: I gave it 5 stars just for the movie, but this edition deserves 3, cause you see the audio cd shown on the picture won't be inside the package. I returned it, and got myself the standard version, cause I bought this edition most for the cd. The picture is from an initial pressing of this edition and is no longer available, you'll get all the stuff you see, but no cd. I just thought you'd better know it.
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Summary: The Time Machine still a timeless classic
Review: Rod Taylor, Alan Young, and Yvette Mimieux star in George Pal's "The Time Machine", a great sci fi movie based on the novel by H.G. Wells.Taylor plays George an inventor in the late 18th century (1899 to be exact) who makes a machine that can go back in time. At first his colleagues are skeptical, but when they see George's small model machine that goes back in time, they start to believe him. George's best friend, and supporter is David played by Alan Young. George takes the machine back, because he is sick of the present time, with war being brought on. He travels to the early and middle 1900's and to his shock , George finds out that Man's future lies in war (which is pretty accurate even up to today's time). He sees how WWI and WWII started, and even sees when his house is destroyed by an enemy plane! George then travels far into the future, the year 802701, to see if mankind has any hope of living in peace. At first, he sees a great paradise with many people (mostly children) play about in solitude. But when one lady named Weena, starts to drown, he sees that no one seems to care. He rescues her, and after talking to the other youths, he learns that they learned nothing from their ancient ancestors. The books they have are old and buried. They have lived the good the life, based on the sacrifices from mankind, and they don't appreciate it (which is another accurate telling of today's times). He learns that Weena is part of the Eloi society which is under the slavery of the Morlocks, a cannibalistic race. The Morlocks give everything, food and clothing to the Eloi , in exchange for the slavery and their bodies as food. The movie was directed by sci fi whiz George Pal who won an impressive 7 oscars and awards for his movies. He is the Steven Spielberg when it comes to sci fi movies. What's astonishing about the film is the special effects that were made without computer help (which in most movies make the movie look more fake than real). The way the special effects people made flowers bloom, candles burn while the Time Machine went in time, is very special to see. It's a great site, from a special effects view, how these people managed to do these effects, with the limited resources they had. He directed "War of the Worlds" and "Destination Moon" which won numerous awards. DVD comes with a number of great features: A behind the scenes documentary with Rod Taylor. A great documentary where he shows how George Pal designed the machine. Taylor even shows us storyboards which haven't been seen in 30 yrs. Even the DVD main menu with Taylor on the cover and the Murlocks in the background, give the DVD a great sci fi look!!
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Summary: From 1899 to 802,701 AD The "Timeless" Classic
Review: There are a lot of reviews about this great picture and how it influenced an entire generation. All of it is true! For some reason this film ties into the imagination and fills you with wonder. We can thank Mr. Wells for creating the story, but we really owe it to George Pal, Wah Chang and Gene Warren for translating the book into a miracle of romantic adventure. The real draw of course is "The Time Machine" prop. Never in the history of film has a prop been more imitated and desired. The special effects received an Academy Award and it was well deserved. All of the elements of Victorian London in winter, cozy parlors surrounded with friends gathered for dinner, "tea table" chat over the 4th dimension and the recollection of an experiment in time travel utilizing a flashback technique are what makes this film so enchanting. When Rod Taylor finally begins a slow initial journey we see the sky in motion in day and night sequences that are breathtaking in astronomic splendor. As the flowered garden and fruit trees go through their seasonal cycles in rapid progression you cannot help but be drawn into the wonder of creation and the genius of invention! The screenwriters then play with your imagination as we see our traveler stop at different events in our 20th century past and a "cold war" interpretation of the decade in which it was filmed when he stops in the "future" on August 18th, 1966 to witness a nuclear holocaust. From here we are quickly transported to the focal point of the Wells story to a future society of Eloi and Morlock culture. The care that went into this DVD should not be understated. It is a highly polished film that restores 20/20 vision to the frames so that we can see all of the colorful beauty that was originally there. Once again, we can SEE the atomic satellite zeroing in, the clear sky above the Eloi "cafeteria" and the smoking machinery of the Morlock caverns. When our traveler returns to 1899 and presents the flower to Filby that was given to him by Weena you will agree that "that flower could not have possibly bloomed in the winter time" and in the holding of that flower you will realize that this is a magic moment in film that will be with you forever and as Mrs. Watchit gradually turns off the lights in our view from the snowy evening outside you will think about the three books you would have taken and agree that having seen this film you will never be the same again, because you are in love with a romantic idea, TIME TRAVEL.
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Summary: The Time Machine Stands the Test of Time
Review: When a sci-fi movie has the ability to enthrall you a good 43 years after its original release, then there's no better word to describe it than "classic." And that's just what The Time Machine is, a film that defies time and remains appealing even to those who weren't around, or old enough, to see it back in 1960. George Pal turns in an outstanding job in the special effects department, never more so than when Rod Taylor, as the inventor of the time machine, sees the world around him moving at fast-forward, then super-fast-forward, then hyper-fast-forward. Sitting in his machine, he sees World War I, World War II, natural disasters, rebuilding and destruction and rebuiding again and destruction again, whizzing by right before his eyes. This is certainly a feast for the viewer's eyes, as captivating now as it was then. The scientist's final stop: 802,701A.D. Civilization has gone full circle, returning to a primitive state where the Eloi (humans) are the food of the Morlocks (evolutionary throwbacks much like cavemen). There is no electricty, no vehicles, no paved roads, no buildings. The only link to the distant past is a "library" of rapidly-disintegrating books that no one even knows how to read. Naturally, our scientist-hero is appalled at what he sees, and sets out to put the Eloi back on the path towards civilization. Overall, this is a great film, well worth the price of the DVD because of the outstanding special effects and the insightful script. I would readily have given it five stars if not for one major turnoff: Rod Taylor's acting is the worst thing this side of William Shatner. I'm sure the producers could have done a better casting job than this, but I guess they decided to capitalize on his pretty face.
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Summary: Once Upon a Wondrous Time...
Review: Every viewing of The Time Machine takes me back to the wonders of childhood: bubblegum trading cards, comic books, and George Pal movies. The early sixties was a great time to be a kid. With other classics like Journey to the Center of the Earth to entertain our eager young minds, our eyes frequently popped at the terrific adventures we witnessed onscreen. The Time Machine endures as great cinematic storytelling.
When I was little, the movie scared me. Remember, the atomic attack comes in 1966, which was still the future for us then. My favorite part has always been when George fast-forwards in his lab. However, that gave me some anxiety at the time because it disturbed me that he was leaving home and maybe never coming back. I thought the Morlocks were great monsters and seem to recall my friends and I dividing up between Morlocks and Eloi for some play fighting later. Of course it was more fun to be a Morlock than an Eloi. But if you got to be Rod Taylor, then you had ARRIVED.
One of the interesting things I noted on my last viewing was the technology. 80.000 years into the future, what remains of knowledge is stored on old "rings" that spin to speak. I turned and looked at my ten-year-old son and said, "That could be cds!"
Round, shiny discs that play an audio recording when spinning-sounds just like a cd to me. Even in 1960, this was amazingly prophetic. Also, I mentioned how great it would be to have a replica of the time machine. Then, "our host", Robert Osbourne remarked as to how the prop had become lost and then years later bought at a THRIFT STORE! Just imagine that lucky son-of-a-gun.
It's a shame that we've grown to a time when special effects take precedent over character and story. Fortunately, an occassional film comes forward with both (like LOTR) but the newer Time Machine is not one of these. Rod Taylor and George Pal's version is the one to see. Made in the midst of the Cold War, it's a question of where are we going as a species: annihilation or ascension. Ultimately, it is an optimistic piece about the noble possibilities that endure despite neverending conflicts inherent in the human experience. Every generation has its Morlocks, and our choice remains: Are we Rod Taylor or an Eloi?
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