krakatau-48313
This is one of my favorite movies. It is much better than all the next productions, though the effects look a bit funny compared to today's multi-million blockbusters. But the idea, the idea of the film is much more influential than today's frivolous comics. A grim future ... maybe already present!
sddavis63
It's not unfair to say that H.G. Wells, who wrote the short novel on which this movie is based, was ahead of his time. Writing in 1895, the concept of time travel would probably have been unusual to say the least to readers of the era. Fast forward 65 years to director George Pal's movie version of the story. In its own way, this is also ahead of its time. Although science fiction was well established by 1960, I can't recall too much having been done with the concept of time travel at this point. So, in a sense, Pal was also a bit of a pioneer, putting together a very convincing movie version of the novel, with pretty good (for the time) special effects (which won an Oscar) and enough suspense to keep the viewer interested.The movie opens on January 5, 1900 - just a few days after the turn of the century. Inventor George Wells has invited several of his friends to dinner, but he's mysteriously late, and when he does finally show up his dishevelled appearance shocks his friends. Wells then recounts his wild tale of time travel - beginning with a dinner party a few days before, on December 31, 1899, with these same friends, to whom he revealed the invention of his time machine, and who mocked him in return. After they leave, Wells decides to test the machine, eventually travelling many thousands of years into the future, where he discovers that humanity seems to have been divided into two groups - the mysteriously young Eloi, who live on the earth's surface and seem to have an idyllic existence, enjoying plenty of food and apparently doing little if any work, and the monstrous Morlocks, who retreated underground. What George finally discovers about the relationship between the two groups shocks him.It's all well done - including the performance of Rod Taylor as inventor George. What really struck me was the irony involved in the story. George is in despair over the fate of humanity. In his own time, England is involved in the Boer War. Traveling ahead a few years in time, he discovers England enmeshed in World War I; traveling ahead a few more years he finds England in the midst of World War II. Is there to be no relief from war? Setting his sights on the far distant future, George finally discovers what seems to be a world at peace - but his contribution is to lead the Eloi in a violent revolt against the Morlocks. A justifiable revolt in the circumstances, but still ... not what you would have expected from him. And, in the end, after he returns to his own time and fails to convince his friends of what he's accomplished, George heads back to the future - bringing with him three (unnamed) books. Obviously he felt the need to share some of his own time's knowledge and learning with the Eloi - which, given his disdain for his own time, is another piece of irony.It's quite well done - including, if I may say, the inclusion of the very lovely Yvette Mimieux as George's Eloi friend (love interest?) Weena, as well as supporting (if limited) performances from Alan Young, Sebastian Cabot, Tom Helmore and Whit Bissell as George's friends and dinner guests. (7/10)
poe426
I've often wondered if the creators of the teleseries DR. WHO were inspired by THE TIME MACHINE by H.G. Wells. It seems like a logical assumption, eh? This Big Screen version remains the finest cinematic adaptation to date- by far. Rod Taylor does a commendable job as "George," our time-traveling hero, but the REAL stars, of course, are the man-eating Morlocks (whose buck-toothed look may well have inspired the look of the title character in the Bernie Wrightson-rendered CREEPY classic, JENIFER, which Dario Argento adapted for the teleseries MASTERS OF HORROR). While the Morlocks aren't on screen for very long (this entire segment of the movie only lasts about 20 minutes, total, and the Morlocks are only featured for a small portion of THAT), they're most memorable: with eyes that literally glow in the dark, they lay in wait for the hapless Humans of the far-flung future, emerging to crack their whips and drive the Homo Saps into waiting ovens- truly the stuff of nightmares.
