Time After Time

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Time Travel Variation
Review: It's amazing that with time travel stories having been around for 100 years that we can continue to think of variations. In this case the variation is a good one, perhaps one of the best that has ever been done.

A relatively innocent and naive H.G. Wells, well-played by a Malcolm McDowell very different from the one that played Alex in "A Clockwork Orange", sets the stage for Jack the Ripper, played by David Warner, to travel forward into 1979 to menace modern San Francisco.

The movie has a few flaws. The special effects of time travel are a bit cheesy. Fortunately time travel is a device to set the stage for the movie, and the weak special effects can be forgiven given the quality of the rest of the movie. As for why the time machine moved from London to San Francisco, there isn't any really good way to explain how that happened. The best explanation I can give is that the Earth was spinning below the time machine as it maintained a fixed location. However, gravity must have played a role because had that been really true, both Jack the Ripper and H.G. Wells would have ended up in outer space as The Earth and the solar system moved out from under them. If you can suspend your belief in time travel you can also suspend your belief in how the time machine moved.

Getting past the special effects you get to a marvelous early performance by twenty-five year old Mary Steenburgen. She plays a very modern woman to Malcolm McDowell's Victorian naivete, and while she is very modern, holding an executive position and talking about sexual relationships with the casualness of pre-aids 1979, she also has an innocence of her own that is well suited to Malcolm's character.

David Warner, who has often played in bad guy roles, moves from relatively restrictive Victorian London to the relatively violent society of 20th century San Francisco, where, as he tells Malcolm McDowell, he fits right in with his violent ways. David projects such a wonderful matter-of-fact evil that is perfectly believable and all the more frightening because he seems so normal except when threatening or killing someone. His casual tendency to bloody violence (which unfortunately leads to more periodic weak special effects when blood splatters) contrast well with the relative innocence of McDowell and Steenburgen.

The entire point of the movie is that H.G. Wells created the time machine that allowed Jack the Ripper to escape to wreak havoc on modern utopian society (so H.G. Wells thought it would have to be), and Wells feels obligated to stop him. Jack must prevent Wells from interfering with his plans, and so must obtain the key of the time machine from him. So each is pursuing the other for the majority of the film.

While the principal story is the chase between McDowell and Warner, McDowell and Steenburgen develop a perfectly matched romance that becomes the secondary and ultimately a very important part of the story. The movie would have survived on the romance alone, but then it would have been very similar to the Christopher Reeve movie "Somewhere in Time" released the year after this movie that was primarily about romance, and relied more on fantasy than science fiction.

The climax of this movie builds until the ultimate showdown between McDowell and Warner that contains enough surprises that all but the most jaded of movie fans should find suspenseful (no, I'm not going to give away the ending just in case you haven't seen the movie). The first time I saw this movie I know I was surprised by the last 15 minutes or so.

The DVD is filled with a variety of extras that more than make this movie worth the relatively paltry price. Certainly the story makes it a fitting companion to the earlier George Pal version with Rod Taylor taking the lead role.

Almost a 5-star rated movie, be prepared to watch it for McDowell's wide-eyed innocent view of modern San Francisco as he chases about after someone who has no such innocence. One of the best stories set with a time travel background, and well done by the lead actors.

Rating:
Summary: SF meets psycho-killer/mystery
Review: It's been said that there are only seven basic plots in existence, and the pursuit motif must certainly rank as one of them. What makes it work is the spin that's put on it. "Time After Time" works because of its unusual, yet plausibly treated, gimmick: a chase through time itself.

The movie begins in London in 1893, where we find the 27-year-old H. G. Wells (McDowell) writing newspaper articles on free love ("I've got my little experiments to pay for," he says) and plugging socialism to his dinner guests. He's convinced that "I belong in the future"--that "mankind is...on its way to a Utopian society...no crime, no war, no poverty...no disease...perfect equality with women." And, to prove it, he has constructed a time machine (the same one about which he will eventually write his famous novel) in his basement. The dinner party is interrupted by a Scotland Yard detective and a detachment of bobbies: Jack the Ripper, unheard of for five years, has just broken out again--and turns out to be none other than Wells's guest and long-time friend, Dr. John Leslie Stephenson (Warner), the chief of surgery at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Trapped, he uses Wells's machine to flee into the future. The machine soon returns to its point of origin, thanks to a failsafe circuit installed by Wells, and he, blaming himself for having "set that madman loose on Utopia," pursues and ends up in 1979 San Francisco, where he finds Stephenson and loses him again, meets Amy Robbins (Steenburgen), the liberated young woman who runs the Foreign Exchange desk at the Frisco branch of the Chartered Bank of London, and must at last save her from his former friend. A closing crawl (though rather difficult to read) assures us that Wells did indeed marry a woman named Amy Robbins, adding a touch of versimilitude to a fantastic (in the best sense of the word) premise.

Even before we know that Stephenson is the Ripper, we sense something of the ultimate resolution of the story through a skillful use of foreshadowing: Stephenson, who plays chess regularly with Wells and always wins, modestly says, "I know how he thinks, that's all"; Wells declares, "One day I shall win," and Stephenson replies, "When you learn how I think"--something he clearly doesn't believe Wells ever will. The time-travel effect is simple but imaginitive, involving chiefly multiple photographic images and newsreel soundtracks; the machine itself has a suitably Victorian ornateness about it, and Wells's explanation of how it works, though necessarily simplified for his technically naive guests, seems completely plausible. Unfortunately there's no satisfactory explanation for why he ends up in San Francisco (in the middle of a museum exhibit titled "H. G. Wells: A Man Before His Time"), instead of remaining in London. (This deficiency is remedied in the tie-in paperback novel, by Karl Alexander, which, though long out of print, may be available secondhand.)

McDowell's portrayal of the young and idealistic Wells is, with the building suspense of the story, perhaps the highpoint of the film. His astonished reactions to various aspects of the future are too numerous to describe but all quite comprehensible. Steenburgen describes him as giving off a "sort of little-boy-lost quality," and he does. Yet in the moment of testing, his character shows its flexibility; even though he proclaims that "The first man to raise a fist is the man who's run out of ideas," he is himself forced to raise it--or prepare to raise it--by buying an automatic at a pawnshop.

Stephenson's murders, though not graphically portrayed, may be a bit intense for subteen kids, and will almost certainly lead to questions about who, and why, Jack the Ripper was. And Steenburgen always seems, to my mind, to be trying too hard with her profanity--though as a woman of the '70's this might be understandable. Still, the four-day pursuit and the developing attachment between Wells and Amy--each building in intensity and suspense with a pacing that does great credit to scriptwriter and director alike--provide the chief motifs and should interest boys, girls, and grownups equally. What's more, this introduction to Wells as a human being may inspire young people to search for at least his science-fictional works. Though definitely not a video to watch on Halloween, or when you're alone at night, it has some important things to say and a fascinating story to tell, giving a unique twist to an almost hackneyed basic plot.

Rating:
Summary: On the movie itself.
Review: Forgive me. I've not yet gotten this DVD, but the movie is a long, long time favorite of mine. Consider my two cents limited to the movie itself.

Something I hear very little of in the other reviews is the introspection, the emotional turmoil of the Wells character himself. The character Wells' point of view on the world and of human nature, circa 1893, does seem to be a artistic snapshot of the real wells. His views of Socialism and government and human nature, while presenting rather unheadily, were transported out of the 19th century past into the 20th century present (circa 1979). The love story with the modern Amy Robbins and the science fiction of the time machine, are for me secondary to the real point of the movie.

Obviously there are lots of cute, artistic ties between what Wells sees during his visit future and what he later is known to have gone on to write about. There are plays on the "War of the Worlds" title versus "world war II". But that's the cutesie fluff. More importantly, this Socialist is compelled to fix his unwitting mistake (the Ripper using his machine) and protect Utopia, but finds that not only is there no Social Utopia, but rather that the world seems to have degenerated into a cold, inhuman Anarchy where even religion fails. Note that the entire experience arose from the discovery that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, his best friend of many years was, in fact, one of the most evil people in the world. The time machine was meant as a tool in Wells' personal study of humanity. In stead its first use was at the hands of evil, as is unfortunately so often the case.

Wells love interest Robbins, is another good plot device in making the business of fighting even even more personal for Wells. Ultimately JOhn (Jack The...) threatens Robbins, absolutely forcing Wells to give in and take up arms - Wells' ultimate anathema.

People have mentioned technical flaws like solar power at night and the time machine changing its location. OK, clearly there was room in the production for someone of Trekkie ilk who could toss in suggestions along the lines of "how about Heisenberg Compensators for the transporter??" With a really vivid imagination and an obsession with sci-fi time travel it's not terribly difficult to fill in some gaps. However, if you watch closely, nowhere ever is there either the suggestion of silly things like a paradox, neither in the dialog nor in the story flow. Indeed, the time travel as a story tool works very nicely. At one point Well and Robbins find something out about the future and try to catch the Ripper in the act. Try as they might, however, they are unable to change the future. Later, another aspect of the future they believed would happen, did happen accurately, but not they way they expected. One could actually take this as a very deep philosophical point. Perhaps paradoxes can't exist; Perhaps there's something more to this one single universe keeping everything running smoothly, including time travellers. Personally, I find the infinite parallel universes idea interesting philosophically, but a total and embarassing cop-out in science fiction. This movie was not attempting to be a Star Trek style sci-fi flick by any means. For this I'm thankful, since it doesn't bog down tis other messages with technical hooey.

To this day, with the obvious likely exception of A Clockwork Orange, I've never seen a Performance by McDowell come anywhere close to this one. For absolute historical accuracy I couldn't speak, but the character he ends up portraying, with the body langauge, facial expressions, and tone of voice, is exceptionally well done.

Let me acho a similar sentiment for Steenbergen and Warner. For her role in this movie, I've had a crush on Mary Steenbergen for all too many years now. (is 25 years too long to hold a crush on someone?) I saw another review here that said there wasn't enough character development on Jack the Ripper. I agree somewhat. I think this was one of Warner's best performances, too. I do wish he'd had even more chance to bring us the pathology of the killer. I know it would have been great. However, in real life Jack the Ripper remains a mysterious figure to this day, not to mention that it wasn't really all that applicable to the rest of the story. Were it a more recent production, I'd expect to see multiple scenes with Warner either put back into the DVD release or at least included elsewhere on the DVD. Fans would like to see it, but it wasn't really necessary to have it in there (think the cut ending scene in The Terminator).

No, it's not a technical masterpiece. It's no The Shining or The Joy Luck Club or Aliens. Hardcore 21st century movie fanatics will likely go "Huh? Why are we watching this?? Where are the CGI transdimentional space aliens and all the Matrix-like gunplay??" To be fair to them I witthold one star.

Personally, I LOVE this movie!

Rating:
Summary: A Thoroughly ORIGINAL Film...Long Overdue on DVD!
Review: I have been waiting for this one to come out on DVD for quite some time, and now that it's here, I am happy to say that it was worth the wait! First of all, this has to be one of the most original stories ever--quite a rare quality in modern films.

Malcolm McDowell, one of the main reasons I am a fan of this film, is first-rate as H.G. Wells. It is interesting (and gratifying) to see that Mr. McDowell can play a good guy just as brilliantly as "Alex", the bad guy in Clockwork Orange that he is most well-known for.

David Warner is also incredible as Jack the Ripper. Mr. Warner is THE man when it comes to villainy (check out his performance in Time Bandits for more proof). One of the nicest things about this DVD is how much Malcolm McDowell praises David Warner's performance in the commentary track. This just goes to show you how generous and kind Mr. McDowell is in rating his fellow performers.

Speaking of the commentary track featuring Malcolm McDowell and the director Nicholas Meyer, it is very enjoyable because it is just what I want in a commentary. There are many insights into the making of the film, and Mr. Meyer is honest enough to point out what he considers flaws in this, his first film. (Rest assured, the flaws in this film are VERY few and far between.) Malcolm McDowell's comments are great, as he is very candid about how much he enjoyed making this film and what he liked about San Francisco, but the most interesting comments he makes concern how real-life romance blossomed between him and Mary Steenburgen, who plays his love interest in the film. As he discusses how their love grew as the film shoot went on, you can quite literally watch them fall in love with each other as the film progresses; needless to say, this makes their on-screen romance that much more believable!

Picture and sound quality are excellent. I would have liked to see some sort of behind-the-scenes featurette or even a photo gallery, but this is a minor quibble. Overall, this is a FANTASTIC movie with top-notch performances all around and it has finally been given the DVD quality it deserves...it's definitely a keeper! BUY IT AND ENJOY IT "FOR ALL TIME"!

Rating:
Summary: It's about time this was on DVD...
Review: Nicholas Meyer's gem of a film imaginatively catapults Victorian-era novelist H.G. Wells against the diabolical villainy of Jack the Ripper in San Francisco circa 1979. Malcom McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) delivers an exceptional and convincing performance as the innocently naive Herbert George Wells whose idealistic dream of a futuristic utopia is disillusioned by the hedonistic, technological and violent decadence of the late twentieth century. David Warner is comfortably at home in the present day as the sinister John Leslie Stevenson alias Jack the Ripper. Mary Steenburgen (Back to the Future III) is remarkable as the innocent love interest for Wells, especially when one considers that the fireworks were both on-screen and off between her and co-star McDowell making the romantic chemistry between the two all the more credible. Director Nick Meyer (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) pays homage to George Pal's vision of The Time Machine complete with Jules Verne style production design and a memorably vintage score from veteran composer Miklos Rozsa. This DVD presentation includes a theatrical trailer for the film as well as trailers for both George Pal's 1960 version and Simon Well's (great-grandson of H.G. Wells) 2002 version of The Time Machine and feature-length audio commentary with Malcolm McDowell and Nicholas Meyer providing retrospective insight into the production of the film. Time After Time is one of the most creatively imaginative "What-If?" tales to be fictionalized for cinema and is a film to be watched and enjoyed "Time After Time."

Rating:
Summary: Interesting idea, good film
Review: Jack the Ripper (David Warner) uses H.G. Wells' (Malcolm McDowell) time machine to escape justice and travel to 1979 San Francisco, with Wells in hot pursuit. That's the premise behind an entertaining film written and directed by Nicholas Meyer (Star Trek 2 & 4, The Day After). After a somewhat slow start, the film picks up once Wells reaches the future. Meyer shows acute awareness of how the real Wells might react in 1979 San Francisco: ever the inquisitive mind, Wells studies and learns as much as he can and never seems overwhelmed. After all, he was a visionary who wrote grand imaginings of the future; to a degree, he was already a man out of his time. The same is true for Jack the Ripper, who would feel more at home in our time (as stated in the film; in our time, he would be another Dahmer or Gacy). Simple things like that make this movie a cut above the average time-travel/fish-out-of-water film. It falls into convention at times, recycling some very familiar elements, but it still manages to entertain, thanks in large part to brisk direction and a marvelous performance by Mary Steenburgen as Wells' liberated love interest. McDowell and Warner are also good, and McDowell's performance is nicely restrained (given his occasional tendency to overact) in one of his better roles. I also liked the realization of Wells' time machine--very similar to how it is described in his book, but with a few tweakings to make it look a tad more "realistic." The special effects aren't great, but they are merely a sideshow to the plot. Also, some of the attempts at social commentary come across as preachy and heavy-handed. Never mind all of that. What matters here is plot and characterization. It's not a completely satisfying film, but it's intelligently done and engaging, with good doses of romance and suspense. An interesting speculation: Imagine the same film with Sherlock Holmes, or Thomas Edison, or Jules Verne transported to the future.

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: Incredible movie
Review: I won't go on about this great movie's virtues, as that has been done very well by other reviewers. The one point I want to make is to give credit to the most compelling single line I have ever heard in a movie. Herbert speaking:

"The first person to resort to violence is the first person who has run out of ideas".

Think about that........

Rating:
Summary: Time After Time is a Gripping Story.
Review: That H.G. Wells (played by Malcolm McDowell) actually invents the time machine in this story offers nice possibilities to begin with (he more or less has invented the thing before the film begins). And when none else but Jack the Ripper (formidably played by David Warner) uses this piece of machinery to flee Victorian London to surface in 'contemporary' San Francisco (from London to San Francisco?), well, have we then an interesting, if somewhat 'cheesy' (by lack of a better word) premise?

I thought it all amusing. Now you might think that Time after Time is a chase-and-run film, but this isn't quite all what it's about. McDowell hits the nail as the innocent gentleman from another era, and his staring non-comprehensive or naive at the 'wonders of the modern world' is funny. His meeting Steenburgen may seem a sub-plot at first (romantic), but gradually develops into something that stands on its own (and without this TAT would be hollow).

So we have formidable acting, likable characters, suspense, and humor. It has to be said, people who have no trouble with sf elements will the more enjoy TAT (my opinion). Really, it's just a story that could not do with the sf parts. Surprise, surprise, even the ending I did not foresee, even though I should have anticipated it.

One note: as with some other reviewers, I also thought the special effects a bit dated (but I don't care about such things). However some were well-done, but the fairy glitter was too cute.

Also, the DVD has some nice additions.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Entertaining!
Review: Malcom McDowell gives his best and most amusing performance (I think it was better than A Clockwork Orange) as HG Wells chasing Jack the Ripper, played in excellent sinister fashion by David Warner (does he ever play a good guy?). This is probably my favorite film on time travel outside of Back to the Future. I have seen this film several times and it never gets old.