Goofs for
The Time Machine (1960) More at IMDbPro »

• Continuity: The sundial in George's yard changes locations, and is missing in the final scene.
  
  
• Continuity: Weena can be seen to be wearing shoes when climbing up the Morlock Chimney and as she gets out.
  
  
• Continuity: Dead Morlock, sitting against cave wall, draws in legs when Eloi rush out of cave.
  
  

• Continuity: During the fight scene with the Morlocks, just after one of the Eloi hits a Morlock over the head and George kicks it against the wall, where it begins to bleed from the mouth, George looks over at his torch and it is almost completely extinguished, however when he retrieves it seconds later, it is burning brightly again.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the Eloi attack a Morlock in the caves and push him against the wall as they revolt, the small lights representing the Morlocks eyes are seen clearly dangling down by his cheeks
  
  
• Continuity: A Band-aid appears on George's finger then disappears when trapped in cave with Morlocks.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: As George travels into the future, the background plate is missing for one frame which shows, instead of the background, some scene number writing and, perhaps, a bit of a thumb. This is not visible at normal speed because the scene is 'flashing' to show the rapid passage of day and night, but on the MGM laser disc, the frame can be isolated.
  
  
• Continuity: At the end of the film, after Filby leaves George's house and Mrs. Watchett shuts the front door, the house is shown in long shot with one light lit downstairs and two, in two different rooms, lit upstairs. Almost immediately, the downstairs light goes out, then in rapid succession first one, then the other, upstairs light. There is no way anyone, let alone a 62-year-old woman (as Mrs. Watchett was said to be), could have possibly shut off three different lights, in three different rooms on two different floors, in the space of approximately five seconds - not to mention the fact that she was fully dressed when she shut the door a few seconds earlier and couldn't possibly have gone to bed in that time either.
  
  
• Factual errors: All the cars shown in 1966 London are American models, complete with left-side steering wheels.
  
  
• Continuity: When the atomic bomb explodes in 1966 London, all the buildings, cars, etc., are instantly incinerated; but in close-up George is shown laying flat on perfect, unburned green grass, unscathed, and the time machine is equally undamaged, sitting undisturbed beside blossoming, untouched foliage.
  
  
• Continuity: When demonstrating the miniature time machine, George takes a cigar with a pointed tip from the doctor , and places it into the model. In the close up when the miniature is about to disappear, the cigar is different, it has a blunt tip.
  
  
• Continuity: Towards the beginning of the film when George is demonstrating the miniature Time Machine, the first close-up shot shows the disk-like device at the rear of the machine rotating counterclockwise. The next close-up, the disk is rotating the opposite direction. In the final close-up (just as it begins to disappear), the disk is again rotating counterclockwise.
  
  
• Factual errors: When George starts time traveling in his lab, we see the sun and moon cross his field of view. But then we see stars circling Polaris in the same area. Polaris is no where near the ecliptic (path of the sun).
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Weena is caught by a Morlock in the woods, the unmasked face of the actor playing the Morlock can be seen.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When George is fighting with a Morlock, he rubs off some of the green make-up under the Morlock's left arm.
  
  
• Continuity: When sitting on the stairs, Weena looks to her right, apparently to the setting sun. But the shadows she and George throw indicate the sun is to Weena's left. In the next shot, when they walk upstairs to the hall, their shadows are much shorter, indicating noon.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: After the Eloi are called into the Morlock's cave and the large steel doors close, George turns around and yells, "Well, what happens to them?" but his lips say, "Well, where did they go?"
  
  
• Continuity: Filby points out, towards the end of the film, that a flower couldn't bloom in the winter time. This appears to add credibility to George's story about visiting the future. Yet, when Filby enters George's laboratory shortly after, several flowers can be seen in bloom in the background.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: After the rocks collapse around George as he's travelling to 802701, in one frame, you can see a piece of paper with 'Back Frame' written on it and a person's thumb.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: After George stops suddenly in 802701, the time machine starts rotating. During the first rotation the year the time machine says is actually January 5, 1900, which is the date that he returns to the present time at the end of the movie.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When George first enters the Morlocks cave to investigate, the stick that he picks up and makes into a torch is already broken. As soon as it comes into view, the break is clearly visible.
  
  
• Continuity: After George discovers the Morlocks have taken his machine inside the temple, he and Weena gather sticks to make a fire. He throws several pieces of wood on the pile while Weena is sitting there. One of the pieces sticks out of the pile against her dress and in the next scene, the wood is no longer sticking up.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When one of the Morlocks catches fire and runs around, you can clearly see the wrinkles of the actor's fire suit.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Wells and Weena meet she looks over her shoulder at the setting sun, but her shadow is in that direction.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the traveler rescues Weena from drowning, the current at the large rock is rushing and torrid but as he is pulling her to safety in the next shot on the other side of the same rock, the water is very calm.
  
  
• Continuity: At the beginning, when the group of friends is waiting for George to show up for the dinner appointment, Filby is sitting in front of a clock that reads about four minutes to 8 pm. Suddenly all the other clocks in the room, which read 8pm, start to clang and gong. When the camera comes back to Filby (only a moment later in move time), the clock behind him reads 8pm, too.
  
  
• Continuity: When George is arriving in the future land of the Eloi, we see the Pyramid rising behind his left shoulder. The time machine is originally facing the street and Filby's store, so the Pyramid would be in the space occupied by George's house. However, after returning from the future from inside the Pyramid, the time machine lands in the garden. George then drags the time machine back into his laboratory so that "he may return to Weena standing outside the Pyramid". This would not be necessary because the space of the garden is actually further away from the Pyramid than the laboratory.
  
  
• Factual errors: When George arrives in 1966,he hears the sound of an air-raid siren and decides to stop and investigate. However it takes him several days to bring the machine to a stop, and the siren can be heard continually for about three days.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When George suddenly stops the time machine in year 802701 the machine spins out of control throwing him out onto the ground. As George lays unconscious you can see "dry ice" being dropped from above near George's body to produce the smoke effects rising up from the grass.
  
  
• Continuity: In the laboratory, George reaches up on the control panel near the lights and flips three switches, then flips one more switch near the bottom. When seen from the chair, the control panel has no switches.
  
  
• Continuity: When George arrives at the Pyramid, before walking off, he takes the crystal control lever and puts it in his front pants pocket, clearly creating a large protrusion. The protrusion disappears until it's time to restart the machine.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: In the great hall when George is at the table, the girl behind him is supposed to be eating a giant fruit, but there are no bites, showing it to be fake fruit.
  
  
• Continuity: When George is in the laboratory and is starting his voyage, you can see the sun and moon race across the sky through the overhead windows as they display the rapid passage of time. These windows also contain the winter frost around the edges of the panes of glass from the January 1900 winter and throughout the rapidly changes years the frost remains in place never even melting and re-appearing each winter as it should.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: In the great hall whenever George is inside, you see parallel and perpendicular white lines painted on the floor. The table arrangements do not conform to any arrangement that fits these lines. This is because the set was constructed over a studio parking lot and they did not put down a floor covering. The revealing parking lines are simply ignored. This info came from a special effects veteran who was on the set during the filming of these scenes.
  
  
• Factual errors: The 20th Century began on Jan. 1, 1901, not Jan. 1, 1900 as depicted in the movie. However, like in the year 2000, it was celebrated based on the change from 1899 to 1900 rather than based on numerical correctness.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: When George enters the laboratory for the first time, he shuts the door and locks it. Rod Taylor must have cut his finger on the lock because as he approaches the Time Machine and touches the brass rail at the control panel he leaves a streak of real blood.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: At the end when Filby and Mrs Watchett are discussing George in front of the open door of his lab, the snow is clearly coming down only in front of the door and not in the windows to the side.
  
  
• Continuity: Immediately before entering the chimney to the underground Morlock cave, George drapes his jacket over the chimney rim. Later, when he's escaping with the Eloi via this same chimney opening, his jacket is no longer where he left it, nor is it on the ground.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When George reaches the bottom of the chimney - deep underground, where the light-fearing Morlocks live - his shadow is clearly visible on the wall behind him.
  
  

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