The Yesterday Machine

This movie, its poor production values and picture qualities, and absolutely ABYSMAL Sound qualities aside, is actually a pretty effective sci-fi Horror story, told to the viewer in a pretty much intelligent manner.

I have always liked the actor TIM HOLT, going back to his playing the clean-cut young Prospector in "The Treasure of The Sierra Madre" with Bogart and Walter Huston. In this flick, his Police Lieutenant Partane character adds some semblance of credibility to his role and the overall storyline.

And Jack Herman, the apparently LIFELONG Yiddish Theatre Actor, who plays the "ESCAPED, VIRULENT NAZI SCIENTIST, Ernest VON HAUSER," absolutely steals the show, with his Mad Scientist's "Time-Travel Slave and Death Camp" of a deserted farmhouse, in Texas, no less!(* Actually, the Lonestar State has always been one of THE "All-American" Locales, for great MONSTER, HORROR and SCI-FI, Cinematic "Carnage"!)

All the usual mad Nazi "thoughts" and CRUELTY is there of course, in "The Yesterday Machine," yet there is indeed thoughtful DIALOGUE, as Mr. HERMAN'S Von Hauser character explains the "real science" behind time travel, to the heroic news gatherer-guy, "Jimmy Crandell," whom I believe is played by James Britton.

There are a couple of VERY WEAK, climactic plot points as the film closes out, but this one is still an A-OK to Good piece of SCHLOCKO Movie "AUTEUR-SHIP," let us, RIGHTLY, call it such!

Years ago, I read about this movie in a book, and it stated that actor Jack Herman gave an incredibly campy performance as an evil Nazi scientist. The prospect of seeing some really bad acting made me want to see the movie, but I couldn't find a copy of it in any video store. But today I found the movie on YouTube, so I could finally watch it, and I was mostly let down. For the most part, I found the movie to be very forgettable. The first half of the movie is really boring, with almost no action (and what action there is is extremely lame), and is filled with drab scenes of people engaged in dull chat that is clearly padding out the movie past the breaking point. The second half of the movie is a bit more successful, having a bit more energy and punch to the story. However, the highlight is Jack Herman's acting, which is indeed campy and over the top at times, though actually I was expecting something even more overdone than I had been lead to believe. But even at his "best", Herman isn't enough to save the movie and make it worth watching. I would only recommend the movie to true aficionados of mad scientist performances.

Twenty years after the end of WW2, a former Nazi scientist plans to alter the outcome of the war by sending super-weapons that he has perfected back in time to 1945. Don't get your hopes up - neither WW2 nor super weapons appear in this dull, low budget sci-fi thriller. Despite starring Tim Holt (best known for the classic 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre' (1948)), the highlight of this film is the opening baton twirling by Linda Jenkins (which more than makes up for her voice and acting ability). The film has little to recommend it beyond an interesting premise: the script, acting and direction are amateurish, the production values are dismal, the music/sound is terrible (notably the silly musical cues such as the snare drum during the lengthy 'debate' about whether Der Führer was a genius or a madman) and the pacing is leaden (especially the pseudo-physics lesson that wastes a sizable portion of the 85 minute running time). The only interesting character is the unrepentant übermensh villian Prof. Ernst Von Hauser, Jack Herman's over-the-top, ranting Nazi-mad-scientist (complete vith a 'Hogan's Heroes'-style German accent and a compulsive desire to explain things). There are some nice cinematographic touches, such as the reflections of neon signs on the car hood and of the time machine's lights in Von Hauser's glasses and the images of poor Margie (the aforementioned Jenkins) strapped in a chair, surrounded by pillars of flashing lights, and back-dropped by a large swastika flag are surprisingly effective. Despite these minor pluses, 'The Yesterday Machine' is unwatchable by anyone not an aficionado of 'time travel' movies.

I was honored to play Dectective Laskey in this Yesterday Machine movie. Tim Holt was a true professional to put up with a bunch of local Dallas actors and even thou this is a typically Bad Science Fiction movie-- for the time, it is OK to watch. The reason I am writing this today is I just found my VHS copy of the movie and made a DVD of it for my own restoration and to have something to play for my Grandkids. Actually, the quality of the DVD turned out pretty good even thou the VHS is quite old. I had a recording studio in Dallas, Texas at the time of the shooting of this movie and most of the interior scenes were done in the back rooms of my studio---sets built for the dungeons, and the time machine locations, etc. All of the music was recorded at my Studio with the Nick Nicklas band doing the playing. All in All-----it is a really good example of a Bad Sci-fi 1960's movie and worth the watch----if you can find a copy. I'm glad I have one and now a DVD that will last for a few more years.

This film has to be seen to be believed. A post-war Nazi physicist who is exploring the concept of time travel to bring back Adolph Hitler, sets up his laboratory in a farmhouse in Texas!!! What happened to hiding out in South America with the rest of the gang? To add insult to injury, he manages to kidnap a majorette(!) the day before the big game. This really ticks off the local police, led by an aging Tim Holt whose star was sinking fast. Also involved in the investigation is a reporter and a nightclub singer (??!!!). They must take on the band of evil henchmen, which consists of 2 or 3 heel clicking guys and a slave girl from somewhere in the past. And if you can believe it, it goes downhill from there.

The reason to even consider watching this horror, is for the joy of seeing Jack Herman as the unapologetic Nazi. This is a man who at one time worked in the Yiddish Theater, a proving ground for such stars as Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson. His performance can be summed up in one word......ludicrous. Flailing arms, rolling eyes, clenching fists....unbelievable!! I am not familiar with Mr. Herman but I have to believe that he did not use this type of emoting in the Yiddish Theater. This was near the end of his life and possibly he was failing in health. Whatever the reason, it is the type of performance that hasn't been witnessed since. It is for this alone that I recommend this film for the bad movie buff. You will love it!!!!