Time After Time

Often overlooked, "Time After Time" is probably one of the best time travel movies (if there is such a genre) ever made. The time travel effects are cheesy and mercifully few, but the film puts story and character way above visual effects, making for a good trade off.

Malcolm McDowell is H.G. Wells who, in this movie, actually invents a time machine rather than just writing about one. "The Time Machine" is told in flashback as "the time traveler" emerges from his time machine and recounts his adventures to a gathering of friends at his home. "Time After Time" borrows that scene from the book, having Wells announce that he has built the time machine and will embark on an adventure to the future utopia as soon as he works up the nerve. The proceedings are interupted by police at the door conducting a search in the wake of a new attack by Jack the Ripper. As it turns out, one of Wells' guests, Dr. John Leslie Stevenson (played by David Warner), is the Ripper. While the police comb through the house looking for him, Stevenson makes his way to the basement. There, he enters Wells' time machine and escapes to the future.

Feeling responsible for having turned the maniacal Jack the Ripper loose on the future utopia, Wells enters the machine (which returns to it's point of origin unless a special key is used) and follows Stevenson 90 years into the future. The time travel sequence consists of cheesy optical effects accompanied by a clever audio montage that depicts most of the 20th century. Wells emerges from the machine shocked to find himself in San Francisco, California in the year 1979. The time machine, as well as most of his possesions, are on display in a San Francisco museum.

While searching for Jack the Ripper he meets Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen), a foreign currency exchange officer at a bank. She reveals that she exchanged very old pounds for dollars with another Englishman, wearing similarly antiquated clothing. This leads Wells to find Jack the RIpper, now decked out in 70s threads, well integrated into modern society...and continuing his fiendish deeds.

From there, the movie engages the audience in Wells' and Robbins' pursuit of the Ripper through the streets of San Francisco with an entertaining mix of close-calls, sly humor, and the inevitable romance between Wells and Robbins.

Malcolm McDowell plays the part of H.G. Wells with his usual intensity and skill, and comes off as very believable. Mary Steenburgen is well cast as the feminine but strongly independent bank employee, and is adorably frail but surprisingly tough. As for David Warner....well, villians don't get much better than Warner. A fine actor, Warner plays Stevenson/Jack the RIpper as a cool, sophisticated psychopath - exactly, in my humble opinion, as Jack the Ripper should be played.

"Time After Time" makes good use of artistic license to integrate fact with fiction. Scotland Yard has always suspect that Jack the Ripper might have been a surgeon, as he is in this film. Also amusing is the fact that in real life, H.G. Wells did marry an Amy Robbins who was an outspoken feminist. All in all, 'Time After Time" is a well written and acted romantic adventure, and remains one of my favorite time travel movies.

'Time After Time' is a good old fashioned entertaining adventure with plenty of thrills and a few chuckles. Fans of H.G. Wells' 'The Time Machine' and Ripper buffs will enjoy this movie the most, which covers similar territory to many of the stories of Kim Newman ('Anno Dracula',etc.) Like Newman's work it features a playful and irreverent attitude to 19th genre fiction and history. Malcolm McDowell and David Warner are both outstanding as friends turned enemies Wells and Jack The Ripper, who end up traveling to present day (that is late Seventies) San Francisco. Both actors are roughly the same age, emerged in the 60s, became well known for appearances in two of the early Seventies most controversial movies ('A Clockwork Orange' and 'Straw Dogs' respectively), and after this movie ended up appearing in all kinds of dumb action and straight to video b-grade trash, with sadly very few exceptions. 'Time After Time' features some of their best work, and the two obviously relished working together on such an original and imaginative project. Mary Steenburgen, an actress who has made little impression on me one way or the other, is more than adequate as Wells' love interest, and the supporting cast includes character actor Charles Cioffi (of 'Shaft' and countless TV shows). 'Time After Time' is simply one of the most entertaining SF thrillers ever made, and highly recommended to anyone who wants an intelligent and witty fun ride. A great movie well worth a rental.

"Time After Time" is the sort of escapist fantasy that you just need to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy--and very enjoyable this film certainly is. Additionally, it's quite romantic and is a movie I strongly recommend you watch.

The film begins in London during the time of Jack the Ripper (David Warner). Coincidentally, the famous writer H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) has just built a working time machine and the Ripper uses it to avoid being caught by the police. But Wells knows he cannot allow this maniac to escape and travels to 1979 in search of the murderer. There, Wells falls in love with a lady (Mary Steenburgen) and enlists her help to find the killer.

This movie works for a variety of reasons. It's certainly one of McDowell's best performances and it's nice to see him being vulnerable and more multidimensional than his other famous roles (such as in "A Clockwork Orange"). The film also looks and sounds wonderful (with a lovely score by Miklós Rózsa) and is wonderfully directed by Nicholas Meyer. Well worth seeing and a rousing adventure that both men and women will likely enjoy.

H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) follows Jack the Ripper (David Warner) into 1970's San Franscisco, after Jack Aka John Stevenson steals Well's Time machine. H.G. falls in love with spunky feminist, Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen), while they try to stop the Ripper from striking again. Just a fun quaint little film with great acting all around and an atmosphere of wonder. The best parts deal with Wells getting accustomed to his new surroundings. Eagle-eyed viewers will notice a very young Corey Feldman in a very small part as a youngster who's the first to see Wells upon his arrival in the Seventies.

My Grade: B

DVD Extras: Commentary with Director Nicholas Meyer & Actor Malcolm McDowell; an article on time travel in movies; Theatrical Trailer; and Trailers for "The Time Mace (1960) & "The Time Machine" (2002)

"Time after Time" is a clever battle of wits between Jack the Ripper, who has used H.G. Wells' time machine to escape to the year 1979, and H.G. Wells, who steps into the machine to get to 1979 too, and chase after the Ripper. (This kind of brain-to-brain combat between two very special people is a theme that Nicholas Meyer will return to in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.")

Particularly interesting is how Jack the Ripper, an evil serial killer, finds himself completely at home in the year 1979, while H.G. Wells, with his idealistic dreams of a perfectible society, is completely out of place in our modern era.

Malcolm McDowell is believable yet comical as the intellectual Wells, almost bird-like in his quick, darting movements. David Warner is adequate as Jack the Ripper, but you don't get enough of a feeling of the Ripper's insanity and evil. Mary Steenburgen, as Wells' newfound love interest in 1979, acts well enough, but she delivers some of her lines unconvincingly.

The lush Miklos Rosza score is a treat.

Worth seeing.