I feel like it’s been a while since I did a truly OLD movie in these Blast From The Past reviews. And by “truly old” I definitely mean “from at least before I was born”. And hey: I’m truly old as it is, so that just works out as an easy way to measure these things.

You know, now that I think of it… you spend so much of your life being young that being old never does quite feel natural, does it? I’m in my 40’s! It’s insane. I still feel 30.

Anyway, that’s enough existentialism. Today, I went far older than I even needed to, as I am pre-dating my own birth by over twenty years by looking at 1960’s The Time Machine, based upon the work of the same name by H.G. Wells, the classic British author.

The Time Machine starts off when a group of four friends gather at the home of a fifth, only to find that he is not in. As they settle in and talk about their friend and get ready for dinner, that fifth friend–George–rushes in with injuries and torn clothes. He begins telling them a story that flashes back to a week before hand, on New Year’s Eve before the calendar turned to 1900.

During that meeting, he told his friends he had invented a time machine. They blew him off as crazy and went off to celebrate the new year, but after they left, George decided to take his invention for a spin. He traveled slowly at first, skipping just an hour, then days, then years at a time. He visited the periods of both World Wars and saw how destructive man’s forces have gotten. Then he stopped by in 1966 and managed to escape just in time as an atomic bomb is dropped on England.

Still speeding through time, George explains to his friends that he was trapped under cooled magma for thousands of years. By the time the rocks were worn away and he was free to move about, he had traveled to the 800,000’s A.D.! He finally took the time to abandon his machine and see what Earth had become…

TWO UPS AND TWO DOWNS

+ The third act action sequence with George and the Eloi fending off the Morlocks is plenty of fun, and it lasts just long enough to not wear out its welcome. It’s campy and silly, and the Morlocks are a neatly designed threat. The actual fighting ranges from realistic and desperate to laugh out loud funny, but it never feels too disparate or out-of-place. It’s honestly as well done as a 1960 sci-fi action set piece is going to get.

Speaking of the well-designed Morlocks, The Time Machine has some fairly impressive practical effects. It’s always a joy seeing older movies where what are clearly models get destroyed; this was the lesson I learned from Godzilla. Well The Time Machine is right there with our favorite Tokyo-destroying lizard friend. When George ends up in the far-flung future of 1966, we see atomic destruction wreak havoc on a miniaturize town. Does it look real? Well… no. But does it look awesome and like the teams behind the scenes had fun with it? Yes!

+ The movie ends on some interesting notes to make the audience think on their way out of the movie. Where would you go if you could move through time? If you lived George’s adventure, would you stay in the past with your doubting friends or go to the future with Weena? If you could go to the future, what would you bring with you to help you make your way? It’s philosophical like that, and I dug it.

The movie all but has the Filby character turn to the camera before delivering the line, “What three books would you take with you?” to George’s maid, and then it’s never answered which titles George grabbed before his trip back to the 800,000’s. That’s because that particular mystery is left in the viewers’ hands to ponder what they would do.

– The dialogue is pretty uninspired. George’s friends in the “present” are very stereotypical Victorian era folks who kind of just ha-rumph through their sentences and over-explain their exposition. Watching the doctor describe the fourth dimension was necessary for viewers, but it feels like a quick lesson in elementary physics these other characters would not need. I’ve never read HG Wells’ classic book this is based on so, I don’t know if it’s the movie’s fault or the book’s, but nothing is spoken believably here. It’s all very over-dramatized.

And while we are on the subject of dialogue and speaking, it’s WILDLY unbelievable that the folks George runs into in the year 800,000 speak and understand his English. I guess the film didn’t have time to make up its own language and work around George understanding the Eloi, but it’s still easily the most scientifically unacceptable feat in the whole movie. The whole movie ABOUT TIME TRAVEL. Languages die all the time, H.G. Wells! As a writer, you should know that.

– This could have stood to actually be a bit longer, and my complaint is usually the exact opposite for most flicks. But in this one, it feels like by the time we get to the year 802,000, the movie just starts flying by and we don’t spend much time there establishing things. But that’s not to say what came before it was extraneous, so I wouldn’t want to cut into its runtime, either. I kind of wish the film had taken its time and showed us more of the world it was building. There wouldn’t have been anything wrong with stretching this premise out to close to the two hour mark.  

OVERALL

The Time Machine is a fun ride and a great cinematic adaptation of a classic book I really should read sometime. George is a likable character who has solid interactions with those around him, whether they are his contemporaries or the child-like Eloi. The effects work is a joy to behold, and the Morlocks are wild antagonists. I really enjoyed this!