Movies - Time Machine

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	Movies - Time Machine

The Time Machine is a 1960 movied filmed by George Pál (who also made a famous 1953 "modernized" version of Wells' The War of the Worlds
)

Background

Pál, whose unique spirit is all over this film, was a very special director, already famous for his pioneering work with animation. He was nominated for an Oscar almost yearly during the 1940s. Unable to sell Hollywood on the screenplay, he found the British MGM studio (where he'd gone to film Tom Thumb) much friendlier.

The film is based on The Time Machine
, a novel by H. G. Wells first published in 1895. In the screenplay, the division of humanity into the mild Eloi and beastly Morlocks results from mutations induced by a nuclear war during the twentieth century.

The screenplay was written by David Duncan (Duncan was a writer for TV series Daniel Boone (1964) and The Outer Limits (1963), among others.)

MGM art director Bill Ferrari invented The Machine, combining a sled-like design with a big, radarlike wheel. The original Machine prop would later reappear in animator Mike Jittlov's short Time Tripper, and thus in his feature film version of The Wizard of Speed and Time
which incorporated it.

The film received a 1961 Oscar for its then-novel use of time lapse photographic effects to show the world around the Time Traveller changing at breakneck speed. An especially humorous touch is lent by the fashion changes of a Mannequin in the shop window across the street from the time lab.

Players included Rod Taylor as George, Alan Young as David Filby and James Filby, Yvette Mimieux as Weena, and Sebastian Cabot as Dr. Philip Hillyer.

Young, whose sympathetic portrayal of loyal friend Philby lends much to the poignancy of the film, is perhaps best known for his CBS TV role (1961-1966) opposite a horse named Mister Ed. Cabot played Mr. French, who cares for the three orphaned children of his bachelor employer's brother in the CBS comedy series Family Affair. Mimieux soon became one of MGM's most popular ingenues of the early sixties.

Pal had always wanted to do a sequel to the 1960 film. The film was remade in a 2002 version, perhaps in hopes of improving on the original. Starring Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons, it was directed by Wells' great-grandson Simon Wells. Forty years made possible great amplification of special effects, including travel to year 6,000,000+, but despite being well put-together the film did not go over nearly so well with audiences.

Plot

It is New Year's Eve in London. A small group of Victorian men dressed formally are talking in a room. In the center of the room there is a table with a wooden box on it. They are talking about dimensions. One of the men says that he can understand three dimensions: e.g. the length, width, and height of the box, but cannot understand a fourth dimension. The fourth dimension is theoretical, and people do not perceive it as existing. The protagonist (George) says that that is because we are not free to move backwards and forwards at will in the fourth dimension, but are confined to a point on it: the present.

Then George opens the box and inside it is a small-scale replica of the time machine. He explains how it has a lever which when pushed forward will cause travel of the machine into the future, and if pulled backward will cause travel of the machine into the past. Spatially though, the machine stays in the same position on the table. Then one of George's friends, at his request, pushes forward the small lever, causing the machine to blur, then disappear.

Later the meeting is over. The clock ticks 12 a.m.: it is the new year of 1900. George tells happy new year to the lady housekeeper. George opens the door to a room in his house which faces a garden, and in the room there is a full-scale version of the time machine. The machine is like an open sleigh with one seat, a large disk behind the seat which is capable of revolving, and controls in front of the seat. The controls have the lever which can be pushed forwards or backwards, three small elliptical displays: one green, one yellow, and red. The yellow and green are smaller and above the red display: they are for month and the day. The red display is for the year. He sits on it, pushes the level forward slightly. He notices that the candle is melting faster and that the clock on the wall is going faster than his watch (which is unaffected). Then he pushes the lever more and the hands of the clock revolve visibly around the clock. He sees the sun and the clouds running across the sky, again and again, through the skylight windows of that room which is like a greenhouse (because so much of the walls and the ceiling are made out of glass, so that he can see the outdoors). He sees the shifting shadows and patches of sunlight moving across the non-glass walls of the room.

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Movies - Time Machine

Background

Plot

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