Additions
6/2/2000

In process of correcting broken links... please bear with me

Credits & Cast

Awards: Academy Award: Best Special Effects - Gene Warren, Tim Baar

Credits: Producer: George Pal, Director: George Pal, Writer: David Duncan (based on the novel by H.G. Wells), Cinematographer: Paul C. Vogel (Metrocolor), Editor: George Tomasini, Music Composer: Russell Garcia, Art Directors: George W. Davis, William Ferrari, Set Decorators: Henry Grace, Keogh Gleason, Special Effects: Gene Warren, Tim Baer, Wah Chang, Make Up: William Tuttle -- links to list of other movie credits

Cast: Rod Taylor(George), Alan Young(David Filby/James Filby), Yvette Mimieux(Weena), Sebastian Cabot(Dr. Philip Hillyer), Tom Helmore(Anthony Bridewell), Whit Bissell(Walter Kemp), Doris Lloyd(Mrs. Watchell), Bob Barran(Eloi Man), Paul Frees(Voice of the History Machine - 'Talking Rings')

Country of origin: U.K.; U.S., Genre: Science Fiction, Color or b/w: Color, Production Co.: Galaxy, Released by: MGM, MPAA rating: G, Parental rating: Acceptable for children, Running time: 103 minutes.

Reviews

"This smashing science-fiction adaptation of H.G. Wells's famous novel has more creativity in every frame than most latter-day rip-offs have in their entirety. Rod Taylor plays George, an inventor who confounds his contemporaries in Victorian England by unveiling his new time machine. His friends think he's lost his mind, but after they leave, George takes off in his machine, whizzing through time but not through space. Therefore, all of his adventures take place in the same general area of England but at various points in history. He makes brief stops at both World Wars, the atomic confrontations of the future (1966 according to this film), and even as far ahead as the year 802,701. In this futuristic era, he finds humanity divided into two groups--the Eloi, normal-looking humans who live above ground, and the Morlocks, horrifying mutants who live beneath the ground. The Eloi are a vapid, incredibly passive lot, and George is stunned to learn that they are nothing more than cattle for the cannibalistic Morlocks. He falls in love with Weena (Yvette Mimieux), one of the Eloi, and sets out to help her people overcome their oppressors. Producer-director George Pal had already made quite a name for himself with his "Puppetoon" stop-motion animation techniques, and here he again delivers some amazing special effects." -- Movie Guide review (www.tvgen.com/movies/mopic/pictures/23/23818.htm)

"A man from the 1890's travels into the far future, encountering beauty and terror. Director George Pal's "The Time Machine" offers wonderful Sci-Fi/fantasy entertainment. The cast includes Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Yvette Mimieux, Sebastian Cabot, Tom Helmore, Whit Bissell, Doris Lloyd. The basic story, based on the landmark H.G. Wells novel, involves an inventer in 1890s England. When he constructs a machine that allows him to travel through time, he embarks on a wild, far reaching adventure. My favorite scene takes place in an ancient building in the future. Time traveler Taylor is thrilled to find books. When he picks up one, it crumbles to dust. In his anger the traveler sweeps his arms across a shelf of books: they all disintegrate into dust. The scene accurately symbolizes the sad state of human knowledge in the far future. Rod Taylor was perfectly cast as the Victorian time traveler. With his rugged looks, and cultured voice, he makes for an elegant representative of the cultured world of a hundred years ago. Yvette Mimieux is beautiful and vulnerable as future girl Weena. After making a string of movies, of varying quality and success, she turned to producing into addition to acting. Alan Young offers great support as a friend of Taylor's from the past. Young is best known for starring in the classic TV series "Mr. Ed." -- Homevideos (www.homevideos.com/revclas/46.htm)

"Imaginative tale based on the H. G. Wells story of a young inventor who constructs a machine enabling him to travel to the future, and the strange adventures he meets in doing so. Trick work is excellent, the story continually interesting and well acted. Oscar, Best Special Effects." -- Mr.Showbiz (www.mrshowbiz.com/reviews/moviereviews/movies/60206.html)

Comments from the Net

"One of the ten best (classic) SF movies".

"A Sci-Fi classic, with pretty good special effect's for it's time. Even though the Morlock's were badly done. The film is still a fun Sci-Fi masterpiece. This is too good to be remade..."

"Wow, I just saw it a few hours ago! But yes, I would very much like to see a remake made. The original movie was made in 1960, and all the supposed "history" that takes place in 1966 with the nuclear attack was just a *little* off the mark. Still though... it was a surprisingly deep and thought-provoking movie for the era, and still holds up today (much more than most). And of course it's a story that is almost more applicable today, for slightly different reasons -- more than the status thing, the Eloi represent a culture that has completely forsaken the pursuit of knowledge for simple gratification, which is an attitude you see all around now with drugs and the like. I would love to have seen George travel past the 60s, and on to the 70s and 80s and 90s. Kind of a quick summary of the *entire* century in a few minutes, not just half. I would also like to see him travel, as in the book, to the end of the Earth, when it grows cold and dies. That would be a very powerful moment...".

"I loved The Time Machine since I first saw it on TV during my preteen years. It is good enough that I wouldn't care if it never got remade. It had a good, logical plot, and great FX and art direction.".

"Several years ago I visited Scott Perry, who was working in the film and sound vaults at Turner at the time. I was complaining to him at the time about the bad audio quality of the various video formats available at the time on "THE TIME MACHINE". He played the beginning of the 3-track mono master for me of Reel 1 to clarify that the quality was quite superior to what I was used to hearing. We also went through some files and found proof that there was an interlock stereo track that was used just for previews, which doesn't exist anymore unfortunately. All release prints were optical mono only. A few years later I managed to convince Rennie Johnson, who was working at MGM-UA Home Video at the time, to approach his superiors to re-master "THE TIME MACHINE" from scratch utilising the 3-track music masters. He suceeded and the laserdisc was released a few months later. So, what is heard on the laserdisc and possibly on cable/satellite is the new stereo mix done at Chace Productions. Back in the late eighties I had the pleasure of Russ Garcia's company at my home. We all sat and watched "TIME MACHINE" and Russ gave a running commentary." - Steve Pickard

"Come-on MGM get this on DVD!"

Scenes
(as I have labeled them from a TNT 'special' commemorating Rod Taylor's birthday in 1992)

Scenes are generally introduced in first person by George. When in the time machine his visual perception is a timelapse(time compressed) observation.

Scene 1: George's Home on January 5th 1900. Dinner with friends(begins without George). George makes a sudden, exhausted return from his journey to the future. In this scene he begins the narration of his journey.

Scene 2: George's Home on December 31st 1899 at previous week's dinner party(same friends). At this party his friends witness smallscale working model of the Time Machine. Most of his friends refuse to believe their eyes. Everyone leaves except for David Filby, George's closest friend. George refuses invitation to David's home for New Year's Eve later that evening. Both friends exchange wishes. David leaves.

Scene 3: George's Laboratory/greenhouse(in his home) on night of December 31st 1899 after the dinner party with friends. First view of the Time Machine located in middle of his laboratory. Hones tip of 'key' on grinding machine. Begins travel in time. Witnesses external changes in his immediate surroundings. His focus is generally on a mannequin in a dress store window across the street. Dress styles change but not the mannequin. He continues through time until the year 1917. Stops machine after windows of laboratory are boarded over. Moves through dusty house. Knocks down boards covering front entrance of house. Passes through yard leveling sundial and into the street.

Scene 3: On the street adjacent to George's home. Observes strange conveyance: automobile. Meets a soldier exiting auto(just happens to be 'Jamie' Filby (David's son) returning to his father's shop). While in conversation with Jamie George learns of David's death in the War(WWI). Saddened and in a trance he then crosses the street back to his home. He removes a couple of boards covering laboratory window which blocked his view.

Scene 4: He decides to continue his 'journey' to see if mankind can learn from its mistakes. Returns to laboratory and continues travel into the future. Observes another war(WWII). Home is suddenly destroyed by bomb in the blitz. Time machine is now traveling in the open where the laboratory once stood. City continues to be developed around the street but the street remains largely unchanged. Mannequin is still in the dress store window. Suddenly he hears an air raid siren. Decides to stop machine. The year is 1966.

Scene 5: The Machine is in a corner of a little park(the site of his destroyed house). Many people are running to air raid shelters. He exits machine, a civil defense worker tries to grab George and direct him as everyone rushes past. He pushes the worker away and as the crowd disappears he walks to a dedication plaque. George silently reads about park dedicated to David Filby for his belief in & friendship with George. George crosses the street(same street as he had crossed in 1917) now empty of people. In front of dress shop window he tries an electric razor(street display). Meets Jamie Filby again rushing(hobbling) to the shelter now an old man. Filby tries to convince George to seek shelter then realizes he met George a long time ago. As it dawns on him that George has not changed at all a final warning siren screams. Filby starts toward shelter pulling George but looses him. An A-bomb explodes. The buildings on street explode. George is thrown to the gound by the blast. Scrambles back to the Time Machine just as lava and debris wash over activated machine. George is encased in small cold cavelike chamber. Must wait countless centuries until rock wears away.

Scene 6: Suddenly rock crumbles away and he is free to see his surroundings. Luxuriant vegetation surround him. Strange monolithic structures appear in the distance. He suddenly decides to stop at the year 802,701...His machine tips over from the violent stop throwing George out & onto a grassy area. A brief rainfall occurs just around the time machine due to the coolness of the air carried along through time coming in contact with the tropical moisture laden conditions(?). After setting his machine upright he carefully removes the 'key'. The machine remains in essentially the same spot that it was in the laboratory. Immediately behind him is a large edifice with metal doors. Atop the sandstone block structure is a sphinx-like carved stone visage. The structure is maybe 20 meters or 60 feet high. The plain metal doors have a worn path leading to them. George turns from the sphinx leaving the time machine behind(taking the key) and locates a path to the left of the sphinx that leads through a luxuriant (almost tropical) forest.

Scene 7: Existing the forest and into a rolling field covered with vine he proceeds on through... whereafter a while he approaches a great domed hall...the same one he observed in the distance from the time machine. George sees that it is partially in ruin but proceeds up the steps until he is at large doors. Pushing on one huge door he enters the rotunda and walking he looks up through the broken glass dome(trick photography is good because the sky and clowds appear to move as he walks and looks up out of the dome). He stops near the center where seating cushins are simply arranged around low tables set with dinner plates. Picking up a plate he rings it against a table while yelling for anyone. Only echoes note the emptyness. Exiting he again follows the path past overgrown pieces of classical columns and on past fruit ladened trees while remarking about the abundance of the nature of this future. He then mentions that this Garden of Eden would be lonely "if it were his alone". He continues more rapidly almost running through this futuristic garden landscape ...trying to find something or someone...the camera work is often from his own head movement : sky to forest and back again... the music continues to build during this sequence emphasizing his desparation.

Scene 8: Exhausted George pauses, however he is soon aware of a many voices...he peers through the forest branches and observes a group of young adults playfully enjoying the bright sunlight...without a care in the world. This he decides is modern man's reward for his progress & hardwork. The present state of society must make physical work a thing of the past. Screams interrupt his contemplation. George runs towards a fast flowing stream where a young woman is drowning while the uncaring crowd lounging on the beach acts as if there is nothing wrong. George yells for them to help her as he rushes into the stream. Fighting turbulence he reaches the woman and carries her onto the shore. Wrapping her in his top jacket she then slowly gets up as in a trance and walks away toward the group. George is left wondering as the crowd slowly drifts away...

Scene 9: The people move onward toward the dome...George follows at a distance...as he approaches the dome he dejectedly sits down on the stone steps. The young woman comes down the steps carrying his jacket and holds it out in her arms towards him. He smiles and accepts the jacket while instructing her to sit, wanting to ask her many questions. What are her people called? "Eloi," she meekly replies. He then spells Eloi in the dust on the step. Her name? "Weena," she responds. Suddenly she realizes it is dusk and grabs his arm to pull him toward the dome. George does not understand why she should be afraid of the dark but allows himself to be pulled along. In the dome everyone is seated for the dinner. George remarks on the variety of enormous fruit while seated on a cushin at Weena's table. Trying to elicit conversation from other Eloi at the table he comments on the Eloi's progress...but the Eloi just ignore him. Finally he asks whether they have a library or books. Immediately one Eloi responds and leads George to a room nearby. Behind one curtain is a bookshelf...as George touches the books they turn to dust in his hands. Angrily George accuses the Eloi of their worthlessness and storms out of the dome back towards his machine...

Scene 10: Arriving back at the clearing in front of the sphinx he discovers his machine has disappeared. The sled-like tracks of time machine show where it was dragged up to the doors of the sphinx. Strange footprints surround the tracks. Running to the sphinx George pounds the side of his hand against the large metal door. It echos heavily. He searches for an object to pound on the door. Picking up a small boulder he smashes it against the door with both hands. Disgustedly he turns from the door...sudden movement to the left of the sphinx catches his attention. Rushing into the vegetation he finds Weena. Weena wants to bring him back to the safety of the dome. She explains others who comeout after the darkness. George asks if they are the keepers of the sphinx. Weena says that they are the Morlocks. He decides to light a fire since they may be repelled by the light. As they are collecting brush a Morlock grabs Weena. George fights the unseen foe in the bushes. Weena staggers back to the clearing. George returns and quickly strikes a match to the kindling. As the fire develops George wraps his jacket around Weena. He quickly realizes how defenseless Weena and the Eloi are against the monster-like Morlock. Telling Weena he was wrong to judge them so harshly he holds Weena. He decides he must find his machine to help the Eloi...

Scene 11: Attempting to return Weena to her people the next morning, George & Weena approach a field with some strange 'wells' emanating a rythmic vibration from below. Weena tells him that this is where the Morlock live, a subterranean world, which George decides to singlehandedly explore in order to find his time machine. She also tells him about the 'talking rings'...George must discover their meaning. Weena leads George into a vault filled with strange machines. In the chamber George is guided to a round mirror-like table. Weena picks up one of two rings lying on the table and spins it on its edge like a top. Immediately the table illuminates under the ring and the ring begins to 'talk'... It tells the story of the Eloi and the Morlock who were once one people. A long global war raged. As the atmosphere became more polluted, the people divided into two groups, one group elected to go underground while the second group decided to take their chances on the surface. Unfortunately, through the eons that followed the Morlock had evolved into a master race with the Eloi bocoming little more than chattel.

Scene 12: More determined than ever George returned to field of 'wells'. He starts to climb down into one well as Weena pleads with him not to go. She presses a small flower into his hand and he promises to return. Slowly he began to inch his way down the stone shaft. A siren begins to wail up at the surface and as he looks up the shaft Weena entranced walks away. George cries out to her but she is gone. He slowly climbs upward out of the well. When he reaches the surface he vainly searches for her. The entire group of Eloi people are drawn like fireflies towards the sphinx. As the siren continues George finally gets to the doors only to find Weena missing and the doors closing. He whirls around from the doors as the siren stops and as the Eloi regain their senses. Confronting them about their missing friends he asks what happens to them. An Eloi answers they never come back and it is "all clear". George realizing these are the words that were used in the past by the civil defense...says that there are no more wars and that they can try to rescue their friends. George leaves to go back to the 'wells'.

Scene 13: George again begins to climb down the air shaft. The timid Eloi slowly approach the 'well' as George disappears down the shaft. Finally raeching the base he crouches in a low side shaft and lets his eyes adjust to the darkness. Finding a short piece of wood for a torch he wraps what material he can find around its end leaving it momentarily unlit. Entering a large chamber he edges along a precipice. Stalacmites hang from the cavern ceiling. Rounding a corner he is suddenly confronted with the real reason why the Morlock require the Eloi. The Morlock are cannibals and the Eloi are their food! As George realizes more than ever the need to rescue the Eloi and Weena he is being stalked by the Morlock himself. Just as a Morlock is ready to grab George the group of 'captured' Eloi including Weena are led into the cavern and toward a curtained side chamber. George grabs one of the whips used by the Morlock to herd the Eloi. He attacks the Morlock but is overwhelmed and is driven back into the chamber with Weena and the Eloi. Then George remembers his matches and as the Morlock closein strikes a match. The blinding light is all that George needs to rush out of the chamber and to grab his wood torch and with Weena's help to light it. This blinds the Morlock but in fighting with the Morlock they use their whips to cause George to drop the torch. As Weena is carried away George rushes to rescue her but is jumped by the Morlock. One Eloi is suddenly maddened and jumps the Morlock. More Eloi join him and George is then able to lead the Eloi back towards the air shaft. George ignites oil-like fuel as he leaves blocking the Morlock from their pursuit. As the last of the Eloi and George emerge at the surface he tells the Eloi to collect all the branches nearby and throw them down the wells. Then he leads the Eloi to the safety of the river bank as one by one the wells blow up. The Eloi were finally free! But his Machine is lost...

Scene 14: Later, alone by the river, George & Weena begin to talk (romance scene). Just as they are about to kiss an Eloi comes running towards them and points to the sphinx. The sphinx has partially collapsed and is burning. George and Weena start running toward it...George sees his machine inside & runs into the sphinx...Weena hesitates & George calls to her. As George is putting in the key to his machine the large metal doors slam shut. George is trapped and the remaining Morlocks are closing in! From the outside Weena and the Eloi try to break in. George fights desperately with the Morlocks as he lunges at the controls. He beats off the last Morlock and we see the Morlock decay in time lapse as the time machine speeds forward. George realizes he is going further into the future and losing Weena. He reverses direction and realizes he must return to the past for help as he is injured and in need of assistance. Barely able to stay awake he homes-in on the night of January 5th 1900. His machine finally comes to a stop but it is in his garden outside his greenhouse. George takes a piece of firewood and breaks a pane on his greenhouse door. Reaching inside he unlocks the door and proceeds with what strength he has left towards the dining room where his dinner party awaits...

Scene 15: In the final scene George bursts into the dining room and falls into a chair.. he now is back to concluding his story which he began in the first scene. (We have been transported back to the beginning of the movie.) Still trying to convince his friends of his fantastic story George remembers the flower Weena gave him. He gives the flower to David and challenges him to identify it with any flower or flora of the19th century. After hearing his story his friends decide to leave George to recover from his fantastic journey. George wearily gets up to escort his guests to the door. At the front door he thanks David for being his friend...'always'. David turns to his friends in their carriage and bids them farewell. His friends ask him if he believes George's story....David comments that the flower could never have bloomed in the winter. As the carriage leaves David suddenly realizes what George meant by 'always'. David runs back to the house and into the living room where he encounters Mrs.Watchell the housekeeper. They both then hear the whir of the Time Machine from George's laboratory. David races down the hallway to the greenhouse lab. The door is locked. Using his shoulder to break through the door David and Mrs. Watchell are confronted only with the tracks of the Time Machine where George dragged it from the garden back into the greenhouse. David turns and remarks that George had to move his machine so that he could reappear in front of Weena before the sphinx and not inside at the mercy of the Morlocks again. Slowly walking back through the house Mrs.Watchell asks if he will return. David replies, that only time will tell, and ... that he has all the time in the world...

Leaving open the possiblity of a Return of The Time Machine in another movie...