Le voyageur de l'espace

The legendary cult director Edgar G. Ulmer certainly had made better movies than this but that doesn't mean that this isn't fun to some degree. The main problem is that the (lack of a) budget shows: there's a lot more exposition here than action. But the actors are sincere, the visuals and atmosphere are decent, and there's a nifty twist ending that one might not see coming. The result is a minor but amusing effort that kills time easily enough.

Robert Clarke (also the producer of the movie), who'd previously starred for Ulmer in "The Man from Planet X", plays William Allison, an Air Force pilot who goes on an experimental flight. Somehow, he breaks the time barrier and ends up 64 years in the future, where a plague has decimated most of mankind and where various people hole up in an underground building dubbed The Citadel. The plague has caused various stages of mutation in people; some folk have become deaf-mutes, such as Princess Trirene (Darlene Tompkins); others are more sickly. The people of this future don't trust Allison, which just makes things more difficult for him as he seeks to find out how to get back to his own time.

The supporting cast consists of performers such as Vladimir Sokoloff, Boyd 'Red' Morgan, Stephen Bekassy, John Van Dreelen, and director Ulmers' pretty daughter Arianne in a major supporting role as the dubious Captain Markova. Co-star Tompkins is positively gorgeous and may serve as a distraction for any viewers who are otherwise bored with the movie. (One can't completely knock any movie where female outfits of the future include miniskirts.)

This may be no classic of the genre but it does entertain, and only runs an hour and 15 minutes anyway.

The makeup effects are by the great Jack Pierce.

Six out of 10.

"Beyond The Time Barrier" was the first of two features shot back to back by director Edgar G. Ulmer ("The Amazing Transparent Man" followed) in April-May 1959, at the Texas State fairgrounds at Fair Park in Dallas. Pacific International's presence meant that star Robert Clarke doubled as producer (having previously directed "The Hideous Sun Demon," the lead in Ulmer's 1951 "The Man from Planet X"), but collected only an actor's salary when the company went bankrupt after the pictures wrapped (more than a year passed before AIP picked them up for a nice profit). Scripting was Dallas native Arthur C. Pierce, author of "The Cosmic Man," "Invasion of the Animal People," "Women of the Prehistoric Planet," "Cyborg 2087," and "Dimension 5," all low budget wonders that have mostly achieved cult status. This low budget knockoff of "The Time Machine" (shooting title "The Last Barrier") was already in the can before George Pal began principal photography on his adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel, and AIP made no secret of the connection with their final title, since both pictures were essentially released the same month. Clarke's test pilot takes off for a short flight 1000 miles above the earth but lands only a few hours later in a dilapidated area which used to be the air base. It's not long before he ventures near an underground city, whose inhabitants capture and decontaminate him, as the surface of this world is covered with mutants suffering the long term effects of radiation. It takes a long while before the pilot learns that he had unknowingly passed through a bridge in time and now resides in the year 2024, his new mission to return to his own period to try to prevent the fallout from a plague caused by cosmic bombardment that have rendered this earth sterile and doomed. The footage of imprisoned mutants was taken from an earlier Ulmer production, "Journey Beneath the Desert," but the rest was rather uninspired, though the attractive presence of newcomer Darlene Tompkins makes her mute role most welcome (Ulmer's daughter Arianne has a major part as a female scientist from the year 1973). Unlike earlier forays into the future such as "World Without End" we see few members of this society and virtually nothing to indicate its supposedly vast size, and only two have the power of speech, the sympathetic Supreme (Vladimir Sokoloff) and hostile Captain (Red Morgan), who believes the incredulous pilot to be a spy. Clarke had endured a similar encounter in 1952's "Captive Women," and later entries like "The Time Travelers" and "Journey to the Center of Time" also used the same outline.

From Edgar G. Ulmer (director of `The Man from Planet X' and `The Amazing Transparent Man') comes this likable little sc-fi tale. A test pilot (Robert Clark) is catapulted into the future by a freak phenomenon, where a post World War III society lives in futuristic cities that protect them from the lingering radiation. However, the populace is having fertility problems, and the head of the government (Vladimir Sokoloff) hopes that his daughter (gorgeous Darlene Thompkins) and Clark will get together.

The costumes will meet with male approval; the women all wear short dresses and high heels (if you like it, guys, check out `World Without End').

Okay, back to the plot: a group of dissidents conspire to take over the government by releasing a horde of imprisoned mutants. They do, and the first thing the mutants do is attack all the women. Girls, be forewarned: if you dress provocatively, you'll suffer the consequences, especially if imprisoned mutants get loose.

Hats off to Ulmer for efficiency: he filmed this enjoyable effort in a matter of weeks, and he saved money on sets by using an exhibit of futuristic art-and-design at the 1959 Texas State Fair in Dallas. The interior architecture is appealing, despite being relatively simple. The doors, walls, and pillars are all based on triangles and pyramids. Don't' expect any elaborate special effects, but the film does manage to invoke a pleasant Buck Rogers feeling.

Unfortunately, I've never seen this movie shown on local or cable TV, and it doesn't seem to be avail on VHS or DVD. Dedicated sci-fi fans will have to work to get a peek at this lost gem. But it's worth the effort if you're a 1950s sci-fi fan.

Beyond the Time Barrier is an old-fashioned science fiction film made in 1960 that has the look and feel of a science fiction serial. It has some obvious flaws, most of which spring from its low budget. The special effects are woefully un-special. The sets are cheap-looking as are the costumes and any make-up used. Acting is mediocre at best with a few actors doing reasonable work. Darlene Tompkins is a lovely actress and does a pretty good job in her role as a deaf princess. Robert Clarke should be nicknamed Robert "Stonewall" Clarke for his stone-like performance. His performance isn't wooden, it's petrified. Nonetheless he is fun to watch. Boyd "Red" Morgan is, on the other hand, painfully bad a a captain(earlier referred to as a major?). The film tells a very complex story about Clarke leaving the year 1960 and crossing a time barrier and reaching the year 2024 where plague and pestilence are common. The human race has divided into factions of mutants and non-mutants(really people in the very first stages of being mutants). I found the story quite interesting despite not really believing the scientific aspects behind it. Sure the film is talky, but that was okay with me as I liked the story. The film was directed by Edgar Ulmer and it has some wonderful Ulmer moments. I particularly liked the way the mutants were locked up...a well-shot scene. Also, the climatic fight scenes were very good too. Ulmer uses a triangle of another scene interspersing into the already existing shot quite often as well for a neat little effect. An interesting science fiction film with a message.

Better-than-average low-budget science-fiction from that era. Edgar Ulmer makes the most of inventive sets, some interesting low camera angles, some moments in which mid-ground objects such as pillars intercede between foreground and background during tracking shots...not the kind of effort one usually sees in movies of this kind. The whole film comes off as sincere - maybe more like 6.5 stars, but I'm rounding it up for the effort.

The acting is mixed, with some of the cast turning in competent performances, and two or three others about on par with some of Bela lugosi's most stilted performances. The story, if not original, is well-paced. What really sets this film apart from similar low-budget affairs are the aforementioned sets and camera work, and especially the unexpectedly ambiguous, perhaps even somewhat dark, conclusion of the film, which seems surprisingly in keeping with some of Ulmer's other work.

Fans of 1950s and 60s science-fiction, or of time travel flicks, should take a look.