Editorial Review:Amazon.com essential video:After scoring popular hits with
When Worlds Collide and
The War of the Worlds, special-effects pioneer George Pal returned to the visionary fiction of H.G. Wells to produce and direct this science-fiction classic from 1960. Wells's imaginative tale of time travel was published in 1895 and the movie is set in approximately the same period with Rod Taylor as a scientist whose magnificent time machine allows him to leap backward and forward in the annals of history. His adventures take him far into the future, where a meek and ineffectual race known as the Eloi have been forced to hide from the brutally monstrous Morlocks. As Taylor tests his daring invention, Oscar-winning special effects show us what the scientist sees: a cavalcade of sights and sounds as he races through time at varying speeds, from lava flows of ancient earth to the rise and fall of a towering future metropolis.
The movie's charm lies in its Victorian setting and the awe and wonder that carries over from Wells's classic story. The pioneering spirit of the movie is still enthralling, but it gets a bit silly when Taylor turns into a stock hero, rescuing a beautiful blonde Eloi (Yvette Mimieux) and battling with the chubby green Morlocks whose light-bulb eyes blink out when they die. Although it's quaint when compared to the special-effects marvels of the digital age, the movie's still highly entertaining and filled with a timeless sense of wonder.
--Jeff Shannon
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The Time Machine is a gripping science-fiction tale
Everyone has his/hers favorite movie, but The Time Machine has to rank way up there on many people's list. Based on H.G. Wells eerily dark vision of the future, George Pal's Time Machine is science fiction at it's best. Inventor George Wells (Rod Taylor) has invited his friends over for dinner at his house. His friends are impatient, as George is late for his own dinner. George soon manages to show up, but his clothes are torn, and his body bruised. His friends sit him down, and George tells the story of what has happened to him. George reminds his friends of the meeting they had five days earlier, in which George demonstrated to them a prototype contraption he had built, which could travel in time. His friends didn't believe George, and when they left, George tested out the full version, sending himself years into the future. Throughout his time travel, George unfortunately became entangled with World War I, II and III (a nuclear war in 1966) and ultimately stopped his machine upon reaching the year 802,701. He found an apocalyptic world of two species, the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi are a childlike race whose pursuits are totally devoted to pleasure. They question nothing, and take life for granted. In contrast, the Morlocks, are brutal mutant monsters forced underground, who operate clanking machinery, and serve to fatten the Eloi like cattle in order to feed on them. This set-up horrified George, who had fallen for an Eloi named Weena (Yvette Mimieux). He embarked upon a mission to spark revolution. Unfortunately, George's time machine had been stolen by the Morlocks and locked within a huge sphinx-like structure. George continues telling the story to his friends, and at this point it's unclear if his mission has been successful. Today, it's hard to believe that George Pal's Time Machine won only one Academy Award (Best Special Effects - Gene Warren, Tim Baar) The Time Machine is a concise and thrilling piece of science-fiction, and George Pal turned the tremendous cinematic qualities of H.G.Wells' novel into a timeless blockbuster.
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A Enjoyable Journey
The movie is a timeless classic, just as I remembered from the first time I watched it a long, long time ago.
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What a classic!
Just re-watched this movie this weekend and forgot how good it was. Alan Young plays Taylor's best friend and there are great behind-the-scenes stories for this movie in Young's book MISTER ED AND ME (I believe that is the title) also available on Amazon.com. If you love Morlocks, beautiful women, Oscar winning special effects and clever plots, this movie is for you.
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"Before its Time"
I first viewed this film when I was 11 years old and I must confess that seeing this movie impacted my whole life. I still have drawings I did in grade school of glass-domed futuristic houses with large double entrance doors. The time machine itself, is so humorous, but it is what they would have had in the 1800s for such a contraption. I was entranced by the Eloi and their lack of emotion and having to do nothing but eat fruit all day. My infantile mind thought that would be a GOOD life. I consider this a much better movie than its "twin" Journey to the Center of the Earth, but they were both great and thought-provoking, especially to pre-teenagers. The scenes and special effects are phenomenal. It is because of this movie that I probably eventually decided to write a time-travel novel of my own. Rod Taylor was not my favorite actor, but he did a very good job in this movie.
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El yay
Super fast delivery! Love this movie. my only pet peeve is that the dvd was loose in the case due to rough handling while in shipment...but no scratches no worries!
