Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3810 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-05-27
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Arabic, Bulgarian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
In 1960 producer-director George Pal's The Time Machine reshaped HG Wells' thoughtful, ironic novel into a two-fisted action movie, but one that still appeals to children and adults immensely and deserves its classic status. Wells' themes of biological and social evolution are played down, but there is a surprisingly melancholy thread as Rod Taylor's Time Traveller keeps stopping off at future wars to find that human stupidity still persists. In the first week of 1900 a group of fussy Victorians gather in Taylor's chintzy, overstuffed parlour to hear him tell of his expedition to the future, where the world is divided between the surface-dwelling, childish, beautiful Eloi and the hideous, underground, cannibal Morlocks. Wells intended both factions to seem degenerate, the logical final evolution of the class system, but Pal has Taylor pull a Captain Kirk and side with the Eloi and teach them to fight against their oppressors. The time travel sequence remains a tour de force, with a shop window mannequin demonstrating a parade of fashions as the years fly by in seconds and charming but still-effective stop-motion effects. The future is a wonderfully coloured landscape with properly gruesome cave-dwelling monsters and a winning Eloi heroine in Yvette Mimieux. It may not be totally Wells, but it's a treat.

On the DVD: The Time Machine arrives on disc in a lovely widescreen print which makes the film seem new all over again. The featurette "Time Machine: The Journey Back" combines some mild behind-the-scenes stuff about the film (and its star prop) with a moving mini-sequel reuniting stars Rod Taylor and Alan Young in a scene that actually addresses a plot point skipped over in the original. --Kim Newman

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

Behind-the-Scenes documentary Time Machine: The Journey Back hosted by Rod Taylor and featuring Alan Young, Whit Bissell and others involved in the film
Trailer
Languages: Audio 5.1 English; Audio 1.0 French, Italian
Subtitles: English, French, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Romanian, Bulgarian; Hearing impaired, English, Italian
Widscreen 1.85:1

Synopsis
Setting the temporal starting point of the classic H.G. Wells novel in the year 1960 (rather than 1900), this engrossing adaptation follows time traveller George (Rod Taylor) as he passes through World Wars I, II, and III and finally stops in the year 802,701. There he finds an apathetic, placid people called the Eloi and falls in love with one of their number, the beauteous blonde Weena (Yvette Mimieux). To his horror, however, he learns that the Eloi's apathy is generated by a maniacal, cannibalistic underworld--and that the only way to help them is to incite a revolution. George Pal's version of THE TIME MACHINE is an exciting and faithful cinematic production of H.G. Wells's 1895 classic.

Customer Reviews

A timeless tale
George Pal directed this classic from 1960, starring Rod Taylor as the scientist who travels back through time (George, although we are meant to understand that this is a character-cipher for H.G. Wells), and Yvette Mimieux in a very early role (interestingly, she became an anthropologist, the study of which has a concern in the overall plot development and socio-political points Wells was trying to drive home with his novel).

The plot follows Wells' late Victorian novel fairly well. Scientist George invents a time machine, and after making the proclamation to several of his nay-saying friends, including a test with a miniature time machine, takes off on a few journeys. The early journeys are just to test, and we see a few fascinating effects here. But the greater story lies in George's hope for the future, so he sets himself to go nearly a million years in to the future - the year 802701.

Trivia buffs will recognise the date on the machine as October 12, the same date Columbus discovered the new world. George embarks into this new world, finding the human race has evolved into a split species - the above-ground Eloi, and the below-ground Morlochs. The Eloi are carefree airheads for the most part - that is, until the Morlochs threaten, and then they become the hunted. The Morlochs are presented as base creatures, following only their appetites, and afraid to remain above for too long.

The effects of the time machine itself and the transition scenes are quite good for the time - I recall as a child watching this film on television and being mesmerised by the passage of time, the scenery changes through George's window as the time streamed by, and the contrast between the Victorian household set and the future world.

The more recent remake did homage to this classic film by incorporating a few of the same ideas - the scene changes through the windows, for example. Also, Alan Young (who played Filby in the 1960 film) appeared in the more recent film, the only actor to appear in both.

George has a tough decision to make - his time machine is stolen by the Morlochs; does he risk his life to get it back? And does he opt to stay in the future or go back to his own time if he recovers it?

Only time will tell.

One of the warmest and most beautiful sci fi films ever made
I have watched this film many times from when I was a child so I had to get the DVD. I totally reject the idea of the recent remake that was understandably awful. I hadn't seen the film in a while so it was a real treat to watch. It's still as magical as ever. The colours on the DVD are bright and the quality is excellent. It shows the work that has gone into restoring it.

The film is rather quaint to watch nowadays and it's faintly nostalgic. The stop motion effects are still quite impressive, even now. Some even look more realistic than today's CGI effects because they don't look so digital and cold. They look more real. It also manages to suggest (like the book) that the time traveller George and his point of view of what is important to a society isn't necessarily what is best. It supports the basic ideas of the book but it still makes some minor changes. Weena is suddenly a blonde beauty and doesn't die halfway through. The happy ending of George going to be reunited with Weena is totally different from the book too. In the book the time traveller just disappears and is never seen again. None of these changes detract from the basic idea too much because the essence is still there.

The extras arn't worth bothering with. There's a very dull documentary that discusses the special effects and cast for only 10 minutes and then waffles on about the time machine itself for nearly an hour. It describes in excrusiating detail how it was lost and then found in a junk shop and restored and then lost again and so on. It's dull beyond belief. There's a mini scene of George meeting his friend again many years later which is frankly quite embarrassing to see. And then there's the trailer which is well worth seeing if only to see how marketing of films has changed over the years. The original trailer is so over the top and naive it made me laugh out loud. It's cute.

Still a great classic sci fi film from the past. All the actors perform well. The star who plays George puts a huge amount of effort in - just watch his battle with the Morlocks. A great film I can highly recommend.

Future Shock
This film is a forgotten gem, unlike the recent re-make which should be quietly forgotten. HG Wells' story is treated with respect by the author and vividly shows the after affects of a post nuclear earth.
No real awards for acting but the special effects (good) and the mutants' costumes (bad) combined with a good script, ensure an enjoyable 90 minutes viewing.
Watch the movie with an uncynical eye and enjoy it for the period piece it is.