On the face of it, Time After Time (1979) would appear to be a variation on the story "The Time Machine" by H. G. Wells as well as on the 1960 George Pal screen adaptation. Surprisingly the movie ends up more satisfying as a romantic fantasy than as full-fledged science fiction.

The protagonist in the old Pal production is referred to as "George" and is assumed to be Wells, a fanciful counterpart to the Victorian author, since the time machine bears the name of its designer and owner "H. George Wells." (In the source novel, the narrator-hero is known only as the Time Traveller.) In Time After Time, Wells is openly established, in postmodern mode, as the main character. As played by Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange and O Lucky Man), the English writer--two years before he would make his mark on literature--is bespectacled, bookish, and slight of frame. He isn't the physical match to the two-fisted Morlock slayer of the year 800,000--or so--as portrayed by lean-n-mean Rod Taylor in The Time Machine. The Wells in Time After Time calls for more than filling out a period costume. He represents an abstract position as a utopian dreamer and social visionary whose tenets are challenged by the pathological amorality of another prominent 19th Century figure, the infamous Jack the Ripper (David Warner). The conflict in beliefs and philosophy deconstructively shapes a commentary on the modern permissive society of America.

Aware that utilizing a character like Jack the Ripper would convey unfortunate slasher-genre connotations and lead to possible thematic embarrassment, the movie shies away from any graphic bloodletting in the hopes of distancing itself from contributing any further to a culture of violence. Like any self-respecting thriller, however, it does have a body count.

Time After Time begins ominously with a gas-lit street of 1893 London, and Jack the Ripper claims another victim. The police follow hotly on his trail to the nearby cosy quarters of H. G. Wells who is hosting a social dinner. He has just shown his gentlemanly circle his big surprise, his time machine project. The time vessel, looking like a Jules Verne one-man submersible, is displayed in all its baroque glory with Wells pointing out the details, discussing theory of operation and the purpose of the individual controls. The bobbies enter the residence and conduct a cursory search, happening upon the medical bag of Dr. John Lesley Stevenson, one of Wells' guests. Inside are a bloody glove and a still wet knife. The link is made and the hunt is in earnest, but the doctor is determined to have fled the premises.

Left alone in a state of shock and recoil, Wells has a sudden inkling. He rushes to his laboratory to find his fear confirmed. The space his time machine once occupied is now vacant. The Ripper has escaped into time. But thanks to a safety feature the time machine returns to him in a blaze of light and colors, and shaking his laboratory with rumbling vibrations. The seat, however, is empty.

Feeling responsible, Wells decides to leave the complacency of his home and era in pursuit of the Ripper aka Dr. Stevenson and bring him back. His machine takes him to 1979 San Francisco, nearly 100 years into the future and across the Atlantic Ocean to the shores of the Pacific. A stranger in a strange land, Wells is comically beset at every point by a bewildering array of cultural differences, technical marvels, unfamiliar lifestyles, and unusual sights. Nevertheless, Wells, being an advocate for equality between the sexes, is able to bridge the years in at least one respect. He manages to start up a relationship with bank clerk and liberated woman Amy Robbins, sweetly played by Mary Steenburgen, while exchanging pleasantries as well as currencies.

With a lucky break, Wells tracks down the Ripper to a room at the Hyatt Regency. (Director Nicholas Meyer explains on his DVD commentary a Wellsian connection to the Hyatt. The hotel was designed after a futuristic scene in the movie Things to Come [1936] directed by William Cameron Menzies and written by H. G. Wells. As a comparison will reflect, the similarities are striking.) It's apparent that the sociopath has adjusted quickly and easily to his new surroundings and circumstances. Wells on the other hand, though forward thinking, is the fish-out-of-water, ridiculous in attire and manner. The English socialite and thinker tries to convince the Ripper to return with him to his own time, but the murderer is having none of it. He argues that where he is now in time is where he belongs. He switches on the TV and the pervasive images of death and horror are presented. Plainly violence is part and parcel of this future time, and a definite blow to the positivism of Wells' utopia. With his declared intention to stay, the Ripper sees Wells as a danger, the one person who can turn him in, and is thus marked for elimination. But before he can carry out his action, they are intruded upon and the Ripper has to flee. But Wells remains in peril, and because of her association with him so is Amy Robbins, Wells' new love. Especially when the Ripper is embarking on new bloody sprees...

As science fiction Time After Time doesn't have a lot to offer. It's not particularly a special effects film, the few effects it does have are of a garden variety (some are allusions to the George Pal movie, the spinning of clocks and the transversals of the sun). And the time machine isn't taken advantage of. For instance, though Wells uses the device to convince Amy that he is a time traveller from the past, it never occurs to Wells to use the machine to capture the Ripper at a safer point in time, such as the dinner party at his home that took place at the beginning of the movie. Perhaps it was considered but thrown out because it meant dealing with tangentials the movie wasn't equipped to handle, such as time loops and multiple versions of characters ala Back to the Future. Such a resolution, too, would undermine the thesis of the movie, that science and technology would not be able to restrain the brute in man.

Time After Time does shine as a romantic film. The chemistry between McDowell and Steenburgen is effectively there, helped no doubt by their offscreen romance during the production. As a side note, the real Wells did know and marry an Amy Catherine Robbins (who fitted his notion of the New Woman), but she was referred to as Jane Wells.

The musical score by Miklos Rozsa is simply enchanting.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older