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The Time Machine (1960)

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137 comments in total

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33 out of 40 people found the following comment useful :-
George Pal Realizes His Vision, 14 March 2002

Author: jhclues from Salem, Oregon

In 1960, filmmaker George Pal brought to fruition a visionary concept for a film based on a novel by H.G. Wells, about an inventor who builds a machine that enables him to travel through time, specifically into the future, where he learns a timeless, universal truth about the machinations of society and some of the basic tenets of human nature. `The Time Machine,' which Pal produced and directed, stars Rod Taylor as George, the inventor/time traveler/hero, who, born into a time and world that doesn't suit him, decides to do something about it.

A week into the 20th Century, four of George's closest friends, Dr. Philip Hillyer (Sebastian Cabot), Anthony Bridewell (Tom Helmore), Walter Kemp (Whit Bissell) and his best friend, David Filby (Alan Young), are gathered at his house for dinner, but George is late; when he finally shows up, he is disheveled, disoriented and hungry-- and has a story that is beyond belief. It's a tale that actually began one week earlier, on New Year's Eve, 1899, when the five had last been together. On that evening, George, after a discussion of the reality of a `Fourth Dimension,' had given them a demonstration of a model of a `Time Machine,' he had built, a miniature prototype of the machine he hoped would take him some day into the future.

His demonstration is met with interest, but skepticism; only Filby, it seems, is able to keep an open mind, but even he encourages George to accept the constraints of Time, which to the rational mind are absolute and immutable. George, however, views Time as a parameter; a variable whose value is subject to change. And on that last night of the 19th Century, after his friends leave-- gone off to celebrate the arrival of the new century-- George acts on his theory by stepping into his machine and beginning a journey that will prove to be the adventure of a lifetime. A journey during which he sees a number of wars and changes in the world around him, and which ultimately transports him some 800,000 years into the future, where he finds a world ravaged by fate, where humankind has been divided into two sects: The gentle Eloi, living on the surface of the earth, and the Morlocks-- mutants who dwell beneath as the Master Race, and who prey upon the weak and simple Eloi.

He also discovers the dark secret of the Eloi and the Morlocks, and determines to address the situation. But first he returns to his own time, to tell his friends the story, and to retrieve something he needs. When his guests leave, Filby remains behind with words of caution for George; but as soon as he leaves, George is off to fulfill his destiny, and he has all the time in the world to do it.

Going into this project, George Pal had a definite vision of what he wanted to accomplish with this film, from the way the time machine itself looked, to the way he wanted to present the future of mankind and the world. And working from the intelligent, imaginative screenplay by David Duncan, he succeeded by delivering a film that has since become a classic of the Science Fiction genre. The nature of the story demands that the viewer suspend disbelief, of course, but Pal develops his story in such a plausible, straightforward manner that it is easy to do just that. He puts George on the journey of a lifetime, and he takes his audience along for the ride. He does an exquisite job of establishing the Victorian era in which the story begins, as well as the world of the Eloi and the Morlocks. The F/X he employs to convey the sense of George's movement through time-- like the swift arcing of the Sun and Moon, and the quick, subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) changes George observes-- are entirely effective. Pal obviously had a devotion to detail that pays off handsomely here. A dedicated filmmaker, he refused to settle for less than what he knew was right for his picture, and it shows. The result is a film that is entertaining, timeless and memorable.

As George, Rod Taylor is perfectly cast and gives a solid performance in which he embodies the boldness, the imagination and tenacity of his character. Most importantly, he makes George believable and his motivations credible, which enables the viewer to be swept along with the story. Taylor has a commanding presence that serves his character well, and he is, in fact, the veritable personification of the explorer/adventurer, a man willing to take a chance or face unbelievable odds to accomplish his goal. Taylor is a fine actor who has made a number of movies, but of them all, this is the role for which he will probably be best remembered.

Also perfect in her role is Yvette Mimieux, as one of the Eloi, Weena. A talented actress-- now something of a ‘60s icon, in fact-- her fair beauty, along with the innocent demeanor and vulnerability she manages to convey, makes her character entirely convincing. And the way she plays it makes George's actions more likely, as well. Granted, her character is well written to begin with, but Mimieux's the one who sells it in the translation from page to screen.

The supporting cast includes Doris Lloyd (Mrs. Watchett), Bob Barran (Eloi Man), James Skelly (Second Eloi Man) and Paul Frees (Voice of the Talking Rings). A transporting flight of fantasy, expertly crafted and imaginatively presented, `The Time Machine' is captivating entertainment that will make you believe that time travel is possible. it paints a bleak picture of the future, to be sure, but it gives you and leaves you with that which has kept Man putting one foot in front of the other since Time began: Hope. That's the legacy of H.G. Wells and the promise of George Pal. And it's the magic of the movies. I rate this one 8/10.

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30 out of 37 people found the following comment useful :-
Great film, very well done., 31 July 2002

Author: LebowskiT1000 from Escondido, California, USA

I recently saw the 2002 film "The Time Machine" and liked it a great deal, so I thought that it was probably in my best interest to see the 1960 version of "The Time Machine". So, I went ahead and rented it and watched it. I knew that this film was made in 1960, so I wasn't expecting anything spectacular, but I still hoped that it would be good. I must say that I was REALLY impressed with the film! I thought it was great!

The story is brilliantly told, smartly done, and quite interesting. I noticed a great deal of similarities (and differences) between this film and the 2002 version. There was virtually nothing I didn't like about the film, as far as story goes. I'm really interested in reading the H.G. Wells story now, so hopefully in the near future I'll bust out my copy and read it.

I thought the actors in the film did a fantastic job as well! Sadly, I'd never even heard of any of the actors in the film. I thought Rod Taylor, Alan Young and Yvette Mimieux all did a great job. The rest of the cast was good, but these three really struck me as great. Also, I have to say that Yvette is one beautiful woman!

The special effects in this film were surprisingly good, especially for a movie made in 1960! I must admit that I was really impressed with the sets and the special effects in the film.

The only thing that I would complain about, if I had to, is some little things. For instance, the classic "monster about to grab the guy, but then doesn't" sort of thing. Little things like that kind of bothered me, but I realize that it was just the style back then, so I can't really complain about it. Also, I wasn't too terribly impressed with the mouth and face of the Morlocks, but again, given that it was made back in 1960, I can let it slide.

Overall, I really enjoyed the film, and would definitely recommend it to anyone that liked the 2002 version of the film or just enjoys films about time-travel or science fiction. I truly hope that you enjoy the film as much as I do. Thank you for reading,

-Chris

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25 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
An early and all-time favorite, 9 August 2002

Author: PRSLRider from The Pine Barrens of New Jersey

In the early 1960s my mother used to take my younger sister and me to a nearby one-screen theater to see Saturday kiddie matinees. It was a great way to keep us entertained and out of her hair for a few hours, particularly after our baby sister was born.

One movie I saw during those matinees was the 1960 version of The Time Machine. It made such an impression on me that, for quite a while afterward, I would play Time Machine with my sister and cousin with me as the Time Traveler.

It wasn't until sometime in the 1990s that I was able to see it again when I got a VHS copy. It was very much the way I remembered it to be. I have since read the book and have found that the movie is quite faithful to the text, though some scenes involving two stops in the 1900s were added and a few bright spots appeared that weren't in the book, which is pretty dark.

The special effects look primitive by today's standards, but they did win the Academy Award for Special Effects in 1961, and rightfully so, though I have no idea what other films had been nominated.

This is still one of my top 10 movies and likely always will be. I haven't seen the 2002 version, which is probably just as well, since I'm happy with the 1960 version and don't want to ruin it.

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22 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
Politically Laundered Sci-fi, 17 May 1999
Author: ROMANVS from Toronto, Canada

In isolation, this film is an interesting and rather enjoyable tale. It is only when you appreciate the underlying theme in the original 1895 novel penned by H.G. Wells that you discovers how the story had been "laundered" to be "politically correct" for American public release. In a land where "socialism" has almost always been a dirty word and at a time when the McCarthy political witch hunts (that hit Hollywood rather badly) were still a fresh memory and when the "Cold War" was at its height, M.G.M. Studios was not going to take the risk of preaching a cautionary story about how the seeds sown by the capitalist system could exact a gruesome nemesis in a distant future. Instead, the studio took the story, stripped it of its ideology and presented it as the adventure of a gifted Victorian inventor.

Throughout his career, Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) placed his sympathies with the working class. In 1905, he joined the Fabian Society, a socialist think-tank whose ranks included George Bernard Shaw and that gave birth to the British Labour Party. It is not surprising that his ideology would embed itself in his writing -- and this was certainly true of his first novel, The Time Machine. The book tells of an enterprising inventor who crafts a device that can carry a human passenger forward or backward through time. The hero travels 800,000 years into the future and finds a world in which humans had evolved into two species: an illiterate and child-like race called the Eloi, devoid of technology but similar in appearance to modern humans who inhabited the surface of the planet; and the more repugnant Morlocks, technologically sophisticated and living in perpetual darkness in underground caverns. The hero gradually learns that it is the Morlocks who supply the Eloi with food, clothing and other basic necessities of life, but they exact a terrible price. At periodic intervals, the Morlocks "harvest" the Eloi for food.

(By his own drive, Wells, who lived an impoverished childhood and became literate only in his teen years, entered university where he studied biology under Thomas H. Huxley, the illustrious and outspoken champion of Charles Darwin. He was aware of the debates among evolutionary biologists of his day over the discovery of Neanderthal remains, about how two "distinct" species of humans -- Neanderthals and our Cro-Magnon ancestors -- existed in a prehistoric Europe and whether it was a peaceful co-existence or whether the two species competed, perhaps violently, for control of resources. Wells merely extrapolated the concept of two competing human species to a distant future.)

The hero in the novel also discovers how this world came into being. At some less remote future time, the industrialists collectively chose to establish their factories and means of production underground, leaving the surface of the earth green. Eventually, the politically powerful classes decided to banish all workers underground as well, leaving the world of sunshine and blue skies as a playground for the wealthy and the privileged -- a paradise that would eventually turn sour when the passage of time would adjust the genetic makeup of the two classes in their different environments and when a successful "slave revolt" would place the descendants of the workers in control.

Clearly, such a political fable could not be put on screen in the United States in 1960. If a cinematic version of the story was going to be made, another explanation had to be conjured up to account for the evolution of the two human species -- and it was found in the Cold War itself, a war that turns "hot" and forces huge populations underground for survival. Toady, however, almost forty years after the movie was released and more than a hundred hears since the novel first broke onto the world, that M.G.M. explanation seems horribly dated and it is the original Wells plot that holds up much better in today's international, political and industrial climate.

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16 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Fourth Time Was A Charm: A Thought-Provoking Film That Looks Better Than Ever On DVD, 6 January 2007

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

Boy, did a nice DVD transfer of this not only mak me appreciate the visuals in here more but made the story seem better, too, for some reason. I only acquired the DVD as a memento, so to speak. I had to have at least one movie which had the woman I had a crush on back in the early '60s: Yvettte Mimieux. She still looks great, too. The main thing, however, is how I now viewed this story and how much more I wound up liking it than in the past. This was my fourth look at this movie over a 45-year span and I enjoyed it the most this last time.

Since time travel stories always fascinate me, my favorite part of the film is when "George" (Rod Taylor) is actually in his time machine and experiments with it, slowing it down here and then and then stopping it a couple of times to observe World War I and then WWII. Then, he stops in 1966 when supposedly there was a nuclear attack. (Apparently, scare-mongers back in '60 thought that was a short-term likelihood.)

Anyway, when "George" (H.G. Wells, the author of this story) finally stops, in the year 200,000-something, the story loses some of its momentum. However, it's a fairly interesting study of a group of ultra-passive people being dominated by others who live underground and then literally eat the good people. Taylor is astounded that mankind has not progressed as he had figured but seemed to have regressed.

The message I got on this last look is that man is still man, meaning sinful and capable of anything bad as well as good, and to put one's faith totally in man is a mistake. It's only going to lead to disappointments as "George" found out on each of his stops. (Notice he never stopped during a peaceful, progressive period.) Yet, "George" is still an optimist and wants to be one to help initiate change for the better. There's always hope for a better world and people like George, with his idealism put to action, can make a difference.

Overall, an entertaining and thought-provoking film.

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19 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
It's always the right time for The Time Machine., 9 August 1999
Author: yenlo from Auburn, Me

One of those Sci-Fi films that's made just right to be watched over and over again and never gets old. The special effects were ahead of their time but the film is not bogged down with them and the actors are allowed to ply their trade. Rod Taylor puts in a solid performance as George the time traveler. George Pal did a great job with this picture. A remake would probably be flashier with the FX but would be hard to beat this classic.

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11 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
It fired the imagination of a 10 year old boy for a lifetime, 3 July 2006

Author: (andy.cippico@gmail.com) from United Kingdom

OK, so some people are intent on pointing out factual or historical inaccuracies. Some people ridicule the costumes and accents, but what's important is the spirit of the film. I sincerely doubt anyone made the same kind of comments back in 1960. It was a seminal film and must have inspired a generation of film makers. You don't need CGI to make a good film. It's all about the story and the ingenuity of having to make do with the things you've got to hand. This film exemplifies that attitude.

I first saw The Time Machine as a 10 year old in 1970 and was utterly captivated. The stop-motion photography was spell-binding to me; particularly when George kills one of the attacking Morlocks. The gory footage of the body decomposing will abide with me forever. More importantly, and for the first time in my life, I was completely swept away with the concept of time travel. This film was unlike anything I had ever seen before and sowed seeds of profound thought for many years after.

This film may not be for everyone, but it was for a certain 10 year-old boy all those years ago. How I wish I could go back and recapture those moments...

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9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Journey into the far future and danger, 28 November 2005

Author: Chris Gaskin from Derby, England

I first saw The Time Machine when I was young and is one of my favourite sci-fi movies.

An inventor, George develops a machine that can travel through time and he shows the model version of this to his friends to prove it. Despite it disappearing, they don't believe him. He then starts time travelling and first stops off during World War One, then briefly World War Two and then arrives in 1966 and discovers a nuclear war in progress (which never happened of cause). After the nuclear bombs have dropped, causing a volcanic eruption, he travels to the far future where he ends up in the world of the Eloi and the Morlocks, cannibalistic mutations. After meeting Weena and falling in love with her, George helps to defeat the Morlocks and then returns to his own time. After saying goodbye to his friends, he returns to the far future.

This has great special effects and a good music score.

The excellent cast includes Rod Taylor (The Birds), Yvette Mimieux as Weena, Alan Young, Sebastian Cabot, Tom Helmore, sci-fi regular Whit Bissell (Creature From the Black Lagoon, I Was A Teenage Frankenstein) and Doris Lloyd as housekeeper Mrs Watchett. Taylor and Mimieux were to be reunited in 1968's Dark of the Sun.

The Time Machine is a must see movie for all movie fans. Fantastic.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5.

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10 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
The special effects are still remarkable after more than 40 years!, 7 June 2001

Author: Robert Reynolds (minniemato@hotmail.com) from Tucson AZ

This is a very well-done adaptation of the H. G. Wells novella, with an Oscar for the special effects that are still impressive more than 40 years later. Good performances by an ensemble cast and a good script also help. One interesting side note: character actor Whit Bissell was in both the 1960 version here and the version done for television in 1978, playing essentially the same part with two different character names! Recommended.

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
A Firm Favourite, 18 June 2002

Author: Theo Robertson from Isle Of Bute , Scotland

The original film version of THE TIME MACHINE is almost certainly the best adaption of any of H G Wells work and deserves its status as a classic SF film. That`s not to say it`s without flaws , it starts very slowly and I found Filby`s obviously false Scottish accent very irritating ( Notice when a Scotsman appears in a SF film or series his accent is poor ? Scottie from STAR TREK , Jamie Mcrimmon from DOCTOR WHO etc ) , but once the hero goes off into the future it`s entertainment all the way.

Special mention should go to the very intelligent script, it does simplify much of Wells subtext but also adds an anti war theme , you can actually believe the hero`s thought processes came out of the mouth of Wells , and during the nuclear war the Earth show`s its anger at mankind with a series of devastating volcanic eruptions. Is this the first time that " the Gia Theory " has appeared on film ?

Perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay this film is that it reminded me of the early DOCTOR WHO stories . Praise indeed

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