The Time Machine (1960)

Good concept, poorly executed.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

For those who don't know the story, Rod Taylor is the man who creates a time machine at the turn of the century. Undaunted by the disbelief of his friends, he climbs into the machine and finds himself soaring forward through time, witnessing both World Wars, and then the nuclear wars of the future (or, in this case, 1966). The lava engulfing vehicles in the high street might resemble jam engulfing Matchbox toys today, but we get the idea. Taylor finally finds himself hundreds of thousands of years in the future, where mankind has split into two separate races - the gentle Eloi and the cannibalistic Morlocks.Befriending Weena, one of the Eloi, Taylor learns through talking discs (an uncanny prediction of CD technology?) the history of the world. He is disconcerted when his time machine disappears inside a giant Sphinx-like building, and comes to realise that the Morlocks which live underground, have stolen it. Soon Weena too disappears into the Morlocks' caverns, and Taylor climbs down an air vent to battle with the creatures...This is by all respects a superb adaptation of the H. G. Wells story about a man who travels forward into the future. Made in 1960, this film has hardly dated, and the special effects are still effective even today (when I was younger I was scared out of my wits by the decaying of the Morlock in the final reel). Okay, so they might not be realistic, but they're still brilliantly conveyed. Also, the crisp colour photography really makes this one stand out from the crowd, as well as a high action content which is always a crowd-pleaser.Rod Taylor may not be everyone's choice to play a Wellsian hero, but he is intensely likable and makes a good action figure (similar to the character he played in Hitchcock's THE BIRDS). He remains cool throughout the film, his hair never gets messed up, and he's just the kind of macho figure that a film like this needs. The film benefits from some fine sets (especially the sitting room, where Taylor relates his story - dozens of clocks line the walls), authentic costumes, good special effects, and having such a charismatic actor as the lead. Taylor is supported well by Yvette Mimieux as a shy, child-like love interest, and Alan Young as a kind-hearted fellow scientist who overdoes the stereotypical Scottish thing a bit too much.The best part of the film is the spectacular ending where Taylor fights the dreaded Morlocks in the burning caverns! The Morlocks are essentially rubber-suited monsters, with lumpy faces and pig-like eyes, this made them very hideous and extremely frightening to me when I was young. It's simple things which are most effective. THE TIME MACHINE is a very light-hearted romp and lots of fun, this is a delight to watch if you want cheering up, a film to make you happy, excited, awed and fearful. One of the best Wells adaptations around, and also one of my favourite films.

I man travels through time.Since my 1970s childhood, science fiction has always been one of my very top interests and movies like this (and Irwin Allen TV) turned me into a sci-fi nut. In those days there was less sci-fi around so re-runs of movies like The Time Machine were big events.However, over the last 50 years or so just about everything in this film has been re-used or copied and put somewhere else. So part of the flick's impact has now been lost.I am also a very big fan of the 30 episode TV series, The Time Tunnel (1966), and I would advise all followers of this movie to see The Time Tunnel (it even has Time Machine star Whit Bissell in every episode).

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.

A loose adaptation of the HG Wells classic that's glaringly fifties in all the wrong ways. Weak special effects, atrocious acting and a few heavy-handed additions to the plot are just the tip of the iceberg. There's also a serious lack of science in this sci-fi endeavor; particularly bad is the scene where our narrator stops off in the middle of the Cold War, observes a tactical nuclear strike (literally annihilating buildings across the street) and strides through a few wisps of smoke back to the relative safety of his device. Rod Taylor is fine in the leading role, strong, smart and confident, but he's just about the only player worth his salt and the rest of the cast hams it up badly. And even he can't spin gold from straw with some of this dialog. It does have moments, and there's a weird allure to Taylor's relationship with a child-minded girl of the future (who smiles blankly as he rambles on, using words she clearly doesn't understand), but too often it goes the flashy route, especially in the big climax. There's a lot of depth and nuance in the novel, but you wouldn't know it from this take.