The Yesterday Machine (1965)

Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Beginning with a baton twirling scene by a vacuous majorette (old fashioned word), to the terror they experience when they encounter a couple guys in the woods. The boy gets shot and his little cheerleader disappears in her short little skirt. So there's a missing person. Would one not immediately assume that a couple of bad boys got her. No, the sheriff immediately names a scientist from the Nazis during the war who made people old. There is absolutely no evidence to bring about this theory. None! Of course, when our hero investigates with the baton twirler's sister, that's the only conclusion available. And, doggone it, they're absolutely right. The acting is horrible. The girl they are searching for has one of the worst voices I've ever heard on film. Her sister is a two bit lounge singer with a bad singing voice (according to the emcee, she has won two gold records. Perhaps in those days, they were found in a Cracker Jacks box. There are long explanations made by the mad professor for some reason, including how his evil machine works. Then there is the strangulation scene where an Egyptian girl is being strangled while the sister sits and watches doing nothing to save her. This film is so dumb and yet one can't help watching it. It also may have the best rant since "Plan 9 from Outer Space."

Tim Holt who besides being a B movie cowboy also was directed at different times of his must have wondered how he came to be in this rather atrocious science fiction film shot on your average household budget for a family on food stamps.His will be the only name you recognize from this cast of never wases in The Yesterday Machine. One of Hitler's top scientists escaped and has set up shop somewhere in the southern USA near the Battle Of Shiloh's site. We know that because a couple of Johnny Reb soldiers show up in the present day of 1963 and kidnap a young coed from that era.Investigative reporter James Britton follows up the story with Holt playing a police detective. Together with coed Linda Jenkins's sister Ann Pellegrino they find the source of the problem. It's Jack Herman playing a mad scientist who if he were a little more mad would be Professor Irwin Corey. Herman was one of Hitler's top physicists and he's cracked the space time continuum and he's even brought back a Nubian slave from the court of Rameses II. We don't get specifics, but Herman is going to a mess with time sufficiently that Hitler will triumph.My high school plays showed better talent than this one did. Poor Tim Holt played it tight lipped and grim which was how he must have felt for being in this wretched film.

If "Goofy" had a scale from 1-10, this would be about a 8.5.It's a Scienece Fiction, or roughly Science Fiction, bit about a time machine invented by a Nazi.It starts off okay, and when you watch how it begins, you will get a big thrill, because you will recognize a later classic for using much of what you see here. If you see it, you'll instantly know the name of the satire that uses much of the early part of this movie.There are a few things to like. The girl with the legs at the start vanishes for a while, but then you get to see her again.We have the "reporter and cop friend" cliché, which is sometimes not too bad, depending on how much "atmosphere" you get. This movie does give a pretty good amount of atmosphere for the few special effects it has.Most of the early sixties and late fifties science fiction has good atmosphere, and a camaraderie among local folk. We get that here. What we don't get are good lines. These movies aren't usually this "corny". And the acting usually isn't this poor, either. I am usually not that particular with "acting", but these actors cross the line. They are truly just reading lines. Ironically, the best acting comes from the hot babes. The men are the dweebs here.The atmosphere would usually let me forgive the corny writing and acting, but the second half just had too many "horrible" scenes. The worst one is where a girl helps the heroine escape, and the heroine just stands and watches while the girl who helps her is strangled to death. No explanation can cover this. Then there is the Hitler's scientist, whose lines are the most "expository" you will ever see on celluloid.Not the worst, by far, but it leaves you with a feeling that even for a low budget horror, it should have been much better.

This film has to be seen to be believed. A post-war Nazi physicist who is exploring the concept of time travel to bring back Adolph Hitler, sets up his laboratory in a farmhouse in Texas!!! What happened to hiding out in South America with the rest of the gang? To add insult to injury, he manages to kidnap a majorette(!) the day before the big game. This really ticks off the local police, led by an aging Tim Holt whose star was sinking fast. Also involved in the investigation is a reporter and a nightclub singer (??!!!). They must take on the band of evil henchmen, which consists of 2 or 3 heel clicking guys and a slave girl from somewhere in the past. And if you can believe it, it goes downhill from there.The reason to even consider watching this horror, is for the joy of seeing Jack Herman as the unapologetic Nazi. This is a man who at one time worked in the Yiddish Theater, a proving ground for such stars as Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson. His performance can be summed up in one word......ludicrous. Flailing arms, rolling eyes, clenching fists....unbelievable!! I am not familiar with Mr. Herman but I have to believe that he did not use this type of emoting in the Yiddish Theater. This was near the end of his life and possibly he was failing in health. Whatever the reason, it is the type of performance that hasn't been witnessed since. It is for this alone that I recommend this film for the bad movie buff. You will love it!!!!