The Time Machine (1960)Adapted from H. G. Wells' novel of the same name, The Time Machine tells the story of a turn-of-the-century (19th Century, that is) inventor who discovers the means to transport himself and his carriage into the future. The story of inventor H. George Wells (Rod Taylor), who goes by "George", is recounted to his well-to-do Victorian era colleagues over a post-New Year's dinner party, almost a week after George had previously demonstrated his discovery to them, to their equal parts incredulousness and befuddlement...with the potential exception of his closest friend, David Filby (Alan Young).
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George's journey comes from a place within him where he is dissatisfied with his life at the end of the 19th Century, filled with an influx of war and sense that his innovations are being squandered in his age. George believes that he belongs in a different time, and that he feels he will find more in common with those in the future than in his own time. Ultimately, George's hubris comes from his presumption that the future has to be wiser, more enlightened than the present. It reminds me of a quote attributed to Albert Einstein: "I do not know how the Third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth — rocks", the idea being that our own capacity for self-destruction means that we're doomed to incur our own self-wrought "dark ages" again and again, as we are incapable of controlling our destructive impulses. The Time Machine embraces this philosophy by making continuous allusions to war--the ongoing Second Boer War taking place at the turn of the century, and into the first two world wars. As the film was made in 1960--much in the era of the Cold War by the movie's count--in 1966 the audience would have an atomic holocaust to look forward to, and the ubiquitous presence of war would last for ages to come, as recounted later by the "talking rings", a somewhat prescient precursor to CDs, with the exception being that you spin them to make them play. When George finally emerges (hundreds of thousands of years later) he is thrust into a veritable "garden of Eden"...but one with a terrible secret: the attractive (yet ignorant) Eloi are the human cattle of the surface, culled by the subterranian Morlocks as a food source for the cannibalistic cave dwellers. More shocking than this presence of monsters lurking beneath sphinx-like structures are that we later discover that these Morlocks were once humans, and have cultivated the Eloi to be incapable of anything but submitting to their dark masters, who employ devious tactics like antiquated air-raid sirens to drive them underground, when wars have been gone for epochs.
The majority of the story is a framed narrative, as George tries to convince his contemporaries that he has, in fact, traveled through time and comes bearing a cautionary tale. As any skeptics would be apt to do, they discount his story, with the exception of David. In the end, David's trust for his friend brings him back to try to dissuade George from departing from their time for good, but George is committed to the plight of the Eloi, and his enchantment to the beautiful Weena (Yvette Mimieux). One of the most interesting scenes is when David discovers that George has brought three books with him into the future--the Eloi's library leaves a lot to be desired--and posits to the housekeeper about the unknown three books taken, "which three books would you have taken?" This question lets the audience consider which three they might have taken themselves, and makes the aftermath of The Time Machine richer for it. For its strong anti-war message, the film remains something of a camp classic, with painted backdrops and fight scenes and locales that would not feel out of place in the original Star Trek. However, this kind of time capsule of a movie produced in the early '60s is also more fascinating over fifty years later...and more comforting for modern audiences, who need not be concerned about nuclear annihilation in 1966 (as for what the future holds, well...). But The Time Machine also possesses one of the most exceptional of movie props, the time machine itself, a cradle of vivid color which carts George across time to see the fruits of human labor across eons, which has made its way into the collection of film historian and collector, Bob Burns. Though The Time Machine may be firmly rooted in the gaudy technicolor days of classic sci-fi and admittedly questionable portrayals of femininity in Weena, the film possesses a magic and charm that makes it a delightful gem of loosely adapted fiction and a meaningful tale of the futility of war and the ease with which we can misuse technology.
Recommended for: Fans of classic sci-fi fare from classic science fiction literature, and for those less concerned with authentic adaptations but those who enjoy a rollicking Hollywood take on H. G. Wells' perennial classic.
The majority of the story is a framed narrative, as George tries to convince his contemporaries that he has, in fact, traveled through time and comes bearing a cautionary tale. As any skeptics would be apt to do, they discount his story, with the exception of David. In the end, David's trust for his friend brings him back to try to dissuade George from departing from their time for good, but George is committed to the plight of the Eloi, and his enchantment to the beautiful Weena (Yvette Mimieux). One of the most interesting scenes is when David discovers that George has brought three books with him into the future--the Eloi's library leaves a lot to be desired--and posits to the housekeeper about the unknown three books taken, "which three books would you have taken?" This question lets the audience consider which three they might have taken themselves, and makes the aftermath of The Time Machine richer for it. For its strong anti-war message, the film remains something of a camp classic, with painted backdrops and fight scenes and locales that would not feel out of place in the original Star Trek. However, this kind of time capsule of a movie produced in the early '60s is also more fascinating over fifty years later...and more comforting for modern audiences, who need not be concerned about nuclear annihilation in 1966 (as for what the future holds, well...). But The Time Machine also possesses one of the most exceptional of movie props, the time machine itself, a cradle of vivid color which carts George across time to see the fruits of human labor across eons, which has made its way into the collection of film historian and collector, Bob Burns. Though The Time Machine may be firmly rooted in the gaudy technicolor days of classic sci-fi and admittedly questionable portrayals of femininity in Weena, the film possesses a magic and charm that makes it a delightful gem of loosely adapted fiction and a meaningful tale of the futility of war and the ease with which we can misuse technology.
Recommended for: Fans of classic sci-fi fare from classic science fiction literature, and for those less concerned with authentic adaptations but those who enjoy a rollicking Hollywood take on H. G. Wells' perennial classic.