But before he gets far, he hears the wailing of air raid sirens (with which he had become acqauinted during his sojourn through the 20th Century), and Weena abandons him. Wells decides to investigate the Morlocks, who inhabit a vast subterranean factory complex. One group elected to stay in the relative safety of their underground complex of shelters, while others attempted to survive on the barren surface. There, Wells learns that the twofold split in humanity resulted from a terrible biological war. The next morning, Weena takes Wells to a musuem of sorts. Indeed, one tries to kidnap Weena, but Wells saves her, further winning her trust and loyalty. Weena braves the darkness to warn Wells that the night belongs to the Morlocks, another people who produce the food and clothes for the Eloi. In one of the most effective scenes of the movie, Wells is taken to a library only to have the books, long neglected and unread, crumble in his fingers.ĭisgusted, Wells returns to his point of origin, but the time machine has been stolen, dragged into a nearby locked building topped with a sculpture of an inhuman head. Then, at supper in the ruined remains of a magnificent hall, Wells finds the denizens of the future almost simple in their incuriosity, ignorance, and illiteracy. His first indication that something is amiss is the near-drowning of the lovely girl, Weena, whose friends watch her plight (and her rescue by Wells) with dispassion. At first, Wells believes he has found paradise. Its inhabitants, the Eloi, dress simply and frolic with nary a care. The traveler finds a garden-like world with fruits in abundance. He is saved only by the speed at which he travels into the future.Įncased in a volcanic mountain, the result of said apocalypse, Wells must journey in the dark until erosion frees him, which it eventually does, far far in the future. In 1966, he makes a brief stop just in time to watch the world blown up in a nuclear holocaust. He sees his house blown up by the Blitz in 1940. Wells travels 17 years into the future and meets the son of his best friend, Philby. This is, perhaps, the most exciting part of the movie. But when his friends display doubt as to the success of the model’s flight, our hero resolves to take a trip to the future and return with his findings. Using a scale model of the device, Wells sends a cigar into the future. Just six days before, as the last minutes of the 1800s ticked away, Wells invites the same four guests to witness a demonstration of time travel.
ROD TAYLOR TIME MACHINE THE JOURNEY BACK MOVIE
The movie is his recounting of his adventures through time. Wells makes a tardy appearance, disheveled, wounded, and smoke-suffused.
Wells (played by Rod Taylor, a rather hunky and quite capable Australian, who recently starred in The Twilight Zone). It opens with a dinner party at the house of inventor, H.G. In broad strokes, the film follows the book, but there are some key differences, in part to be topical to the era in which it was made. It is a beautiful, timeless piece of film that, I imagine, will provide entertainment decades from now–perhaps even in the far future depicted in the movie.īut I get ahead of myself. Note that I say fantasy: time travel stories often get categorized as science fiction, but this movie is a pure flight of fancy, and a delightful one at that. Now, I’m not usually given to hyperbole (in fact, I can safely say I’d sooner die than engage in such a hackneyed endeavor), so you can believe me when I report that The Time Machine is easily the best fantasy film of the year.
George Pal’s The Time Machine knocked my socks off. Journey to the Center of the Earth was one of the better films of 1959, but it bore little resemblance to the source material. In general, book adaptations are loose, at best. Occasionally we see good B-listers, usually we see bad ones. Sometimes we see good A-listers, sometimes we see bad ones. At least once a month, my daughter and I will trek out to the local drive-in or parlor and take in a science fiction film. Have I got your attention? My faithful readers know that I am an avid movie-goer.
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