Beyond the Time Barrier (1960)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

There's a lot to hate about this movie -- the cheap FX (e.g. the Flash Gordon models once the "X-80" reaches space); the scientific flaws; the inexplicable plot holes at some points...Also the futuristic sets seem to borrow heavily from preceding sci-fi hits -- "Forbidden Planet" especially, with all the triangular doors and passageways.Still, I like this movie because it touches on so many themes or tropes that still exist in most science fiction movies (and books too, for that matter). It mixes and matches some of the best ideas from the Twilight Zone series... in fact, it's like watching an extended episode of TZ!Examples of ideas:Destruction of atmosphere (ozone?) -- in this case by nuclear testsDiscovery of hyperluminal/"faster than light" technology, leading to:Colonization of Mars and Venus (briefly mentioned)Future history (after 1960) which includes Russian and German scientistsMutation from radiation (in this movie, cosmic rays)... leading to loss of hearing (the "deaf-mutes") and sterility... deformities are suggested but not seenSurveillance by a Supreme authority (cameras watching everything)Telepathy (apparently only the girl "Trirene" has it?)Time travel (obviously!) -- but no mention of the Grandfather Paradox if the protagonist goes backwards in time in order to change the futureUnderground "citadel" for protection from "cosmic plague" as well as from the:Zombie-like savage mutants on the surface, or kept below in a dungeonAnd probably many other concepts as well... many of these ideas are part of every modern Hollywood sci-fi movie.P.S. The scene where Trirene swims (naked?) in a pool is obviously borrowed from "Forbidden Planet"...

Beyond the Time Barrier (1960)** (out of 4)Sci-fi has a military test pilot (Robert Clarke) goes into flight during 1960 and moments later he lands his spaceship in a strange land. After walking around for a bit he's finally taken captive by a group of people who don't make much sense to him but before long he realizes that his little trip actually sent him through a time barrier and he landed sixty-four years after taking off. The world has been destroyed due to a plague so he tries to get back in time to prevent it. This is an ultra low-budget movie that has a few ideas going for it but unfortunately there's not too much that can be done in regards to the science fiction because the budget didn't allow for it. The "future" city looks just like any abandoned city of 1960 and there special effects just aren't all that convincing. Fans of Edgar G. Ulmer will probably say that his keen eye manages to take the low budget and do more with it than most would. I'll buy that to a certain level but there's still no question that the majority of the film is dialogue scenes that really just talk about stuff instead of us ever actually getting to see it. I thought Clarke was good in his leading role as the pilot turned hero. Clarke is always fun to see in these low-budget movies and he does a nice job with the part. Darlene Tompkins plays the love interest, a princess in the future and she too is good. Vladimir Sokoloff plays "The Supreme" and isn't too bad. Universal horror fans will be happy to see Jack Pearce's name pop up in the credits for the special effects. There's talk of mutants in the film but sadly those hoping to see the make-up legends work on them will be disappointed because they're just normal people in bald caps. Pearce does get to do a little make-up at the end but I won't reveal with what as it will give away a major plot twist. This twist is actually pretty good and I think the final five-minutes are actually quite effective.

It's always interesting to watch futuristic films made in the past and see how they turn out. The plague of cosmic rays foretold in Beyond The Time Barrier has not occurred and it's already 2011 and it started in 1971 according to the film and Robert Clarke returns in 2024. Still though the cause of the plague is destruction of the atmospheric barrier which is the ozone layer though not called that in the film and in that sense the film is curiously relevant though they got the immediate cause wrong.Robert Clarke plays a Chuck Yeager like test pilot who breaks the time barrier and arrives in a world where some folks are living in a hermetically sealed dome near what used to be White Sands Air Force base. The rest are mutants who are sterile, mute or both. The head of the group inside the dome, Vladimir Sokoloff decides to use Clarke with his healthy sperm as the savior of civilization if he'll only mate with his daughter Darlene Tompkins.The film spared every expense in the making it looks like it was shot with an old Bell&Howell home movie camera. Still it's an interesting bit of work and you can't expect all that much from American-International Pictures unless Roger Corman is involved somewhat and even that's a dubious proposition.

So many reviewers already took this film apart and I mostly agree with them. When I saw this film at Vienna's Filmmuseum (Austria), there was one scene I really could not trust my eyes. When this test pilot lands after breaking the time barrier and walks around in search of people he SUDDENLY sees this futuristic city! Well... that insert shot of a city is so completely out of sync with the scenes before and after that at first I thought he is looking at a poster, especially considering that it is so obviously painted like for a comic magazine and to top it all, you could even see the top of the paper it is painted on!!! I was simply shocked by such a poor quality. The guy who shot the insert seemed not to be able to fill the frame. One or two more inserts like this occur in this movie with the same effect. There is a lot of senseless running back and forth inside the city, maybe just to kill time, since the story is so thin. Ulmer proved that he could make good movies, but here he proved that he could make really bad movies as well!