The Time Machine 1960 Film Review

Time travel is a very difficult thing to get right regardless of if it's in a film or not with there only really being two films that got it right the first of which is Back To The Future. With the second being the very film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today as the novel that this film is based off helped to define the modern rules for time travel as we know them to be with those rules still being the most used rule in all of time travel history and so then join me as I review the film that technically has a sequel scene in the documentary film Time Machine: The Journey Back with the film in question being called simply just "The Time Machine" enjoy.

The plot of this film is an inventor at the start of the 1900's invents a time machine in which he uses it to go millions of years into the future where he has a help a group people to over come there oppressors. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. To this films plot was good would be underselling thew film as it was such a good plot due to how simple it is as this films plot is one that doesn't need to be this deep and thought and provoking plot in order for it to work as what makes the films plot work is the basic idea of a man finding himself in a far flung future with that being something that does always work. Wile yes this films plot really could have been a lot more stronger as the idea of the films plot being told in flashback is a good idea that does make good use of the time travel aspect it's not really one that adds alot to the plot of the film itself and therefor does feel kind of pointless in this regard with even the main threat of the film the Morlocks not being introduced till quite late into the film where as if they were more of a present threat all throughout the film then it would allow for the films plot to be alot more stronger and while the plot of the film does get a lot of focus it doesn't feel that fleshed out which is fine as the idea of the film is more then strong enough to support the film but it still would have made the film all the more better if it was more fleshed out withy the plot of this film really being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Rod Taylor as H. George Wells and Ducktales star Alan Young as David Filby and James Filby. Also starring in this film is Monkeys, Go Home! star Yvette Mimieux as Weena , Sebastian Cabot as Dr. Philip Hillyer , Tom Helmore as Anthony Bridewell , Whit Bissell as Walter Kemp , Doris Lloyd as Mrs. Watchett and One Hundred And One Dalmatians star Paul Frees as voice of The Rings.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. There really isn't a single bad performance in this whole entire film as all of this films actors are just so good even the suit performers playing the Morlocks do a really good job with this being something that is quite surprising as outside of Rod Taylor even one in this film is basically a little known actor and yet it's because of that that we are allowed to see more of the character ad not just the actor with this being something all of this film actors use to there advantage. With the best actor in this film being Rod Taylor as H. George Wells which might be something of a cliche as he is the films main actor but it's also something that is true as he does have to play this man out of time character for alot of the film and even when he's in his own time one could argue that he's still a man out of time as he's looking ahead into the future and not staying in the now and present with Taylor really giving us a performance that does highlight that aspect of the character when it would have been super easy for him to just downplay in and focus on literally anything else and while Rod was really a very a good looking person George still really does feel like an everyman with his performance really highlighting that aspect with Rod having a alot of charm that really does shine through in his performance in this film. With the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fat that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Character wise much like with This Island Earth there really isn't alot to this films characters as alot of them do have nothing going for them. While George is understandably the best written character in the film due to the fact that he's the films main character none of this films other characters one of which it could be argued is a main character aren't written all that well and while that makes sense for the characters in the Victorian era as they are only n screen for a few minuets at the most it doesn't make sense for Weena as she is basically just there to be a love interest for George and nothing more then that as there's nothing to her character that makes her interesting outside of the fact that like all of the Eloi she is very childlike in nature. With her not knowing how to do basic things like write and spell but there's nothing to her character that makes her stand out from all of the other characters in the film and yet when we get to George we see that he is always thinking of the future instead of the now with him being impulsive as he built two time machines just because he could do and yet he's also proud to be a human so much so that when he sees that the Eloi have effectively allowed books to crumble and die he yells at them for it these are things that yes are small but they at least make him a fully formed character and yet if we look at David Filby for example we see that while he is very much like George he's not as forward thinking as George is with him preferring to think of the now and not the future which is by no means a bad thing for a character but outside of that and the fact that he likes to study flowers we don't get to know all that much about him and what Weena we know nothing about her and yet we are expected to feel something for her when she and George are forced to be separated yet that doesn't work as the makers of this film haven't given us a reason to care for her character as there's really nothing to her character to begin with.  

The idea of humanity splitting itself into two different groups of people one of them being the peace loving Eloi and the other being the the more ruthless Morlocks. Is a very good idea with both sets of groups getting equal screen time with the thing that sets the Morlocks apart is not only the fact that they look like monsters but also the fact that they eat young members of the Eloi something which was hinted at earlier on in the film when Weena says that they have no older people which is just such a cool thing to have revealed in the film as it does add that element of threat that was sorely missing from the film as without it the film still would have been good but it would have been missing that extra something and while the film doesn't show us any of the Morlocks eating any of the Eloi just the fact that we see there skeletons alone is more then enough to convey the message that the Morlocks really are evil. With the thing that lets them down being the fact that we don't get to see all that much of them as even when George does arrive in the future they are mostly off screen in there own temple of sorts with them only coming out at night and even then we barely get to see them when it would have been far more better if we did get to see more of the Morlocks as then we could get the chance to see more of how they are different from the Eloi outside of the obvious like maybe there smart maybe there are cunning these are things that would have made them more fleshed out as villains and yet for one reason or another they don't appear in this film all that much and yet when they do appear it does leave a lasting impact of the film with even the creatures having these really impressive designs where they do look over wordily.

This films of course based on the 1895 novel of the same name by author H. G. Wells with the film being a mostly faithful adaptation of the book. As the events that happen in the film do occur in the original book altho just based off of a very quick read of the books Wikipedia page it does appear as if the stuff with James in both in 1910's and in the alternative sixties were made up for the film which is something that des make alot of the sense as the makers of this film had the benefit of knowing all about the first world war and had the foresight to think up something new for the then still forthcoming nineteen sixties something which wouldn't have been possible when H. G. Wells was alive ad writing the original book in the first place altho there is always a chance that something like those scenes were in the original book tho. This film does do something that all truly great adaptations should do and that's make you want to read the original book as the book does sound really interesting and it would be interesting to see how Wells envisioned the future from his point of view and heck even tho this book is regarded as one of the best time travel books out there its only been made into a film three times when could very easily keep on adapting as the future is always changing and we can always add in things to certain scenes that make them feel unique and different again, heck there's even been a bunch of unofficial sequels to the book as Wells himself never put pen to paper and wrote a sequel with this proving that the book does have alot of staying power and that it can still influence people all of these centuries later.

As was mentioned at the start of this review this film wrote the rule book on time travel something which back To the Future sticks to as it works so well. With this film going by the rule that the machine can only move backwards and forwards in time which means that when George leaves his lab in 1899 wherever he lands be in it past or in this case the future it will always be in the exact same spot where his lab once stood as he's build a time machine not a time a space machine as there is a difference the main one being that a time and space machine like for example TARDIS allows the user to move backwards and forwards in time and space but a time machine like for example the Delorean can only movie backwards and forwards in time. The one thing that not alot of people myself included would expect this film to have is a tragic ending as when the Morlocks are attacking George just before he goes back to his own time they look the door on there temple to stop Weena his love interest and the other Eloi from helping effectively dooming Weena to never see the one person that she loves from her point of view and while the film does have a happy ending as we do see George take off again in his time machine after visiting his own time the fact that they even toyed with the idea with them not really ending up together despite the fact that they do make a pretty cute couple is a pretty shocking ending for this film to end on as usually a film like this would end up with the love interests kissing each other as the films comes to an end and yet here they go the opposite way and it's something that does work as while there was a scene in a 1993 documentary that confirmed that they ended up together the fact that the makers of the film left it open ended was a really good idea.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and forty two minuets and forty one seconds. Which for a film like this was a pretty shocking running time to have as nine times out of ten a science fiction film in the sixties would run for no longer then one hours and thirty minuets and yet here we have a film that is almost two hours long and yet you don't notice it as the film foes need to be that long as it does have to set up things like what happens to humanity in the far future and how this film films world works in both the future and the past and it wouldn't be able to do all of that and still a good story as the film would crumble under its own weight with the film having more then enough plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet even so the film still doesn't use its running time all that wisely as the film really doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot as the film doesn't show us things like how the and why the time machine was built in the first place both of which are key things as the time machine itself is a key plot point and nor do we get to see more of George and Weena falling for each other which again is a key thing as that's who he is meant to be going back to at the end of the film with the makers of this film putting more thought into there use of narration then they did into giving the films plot some actual plot development. The same thing is also true for the films character development as none of the films characters get any kind of character development which for the characters that george leaves behind in the Victorian Era England does make sense as we don't see those characters for very long but we do spend alot of time with both George and Weena and yet we don't get the chance to see either of them grow as characters with the makers of this film putting alot more thought and effort into showing us the time machine working from George's point of view then we do get character development but I really will admit that this film really does have some rally good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. The action in this film is quite frankly alot more better then what it really had any right to be as no one would expected a film from 1960 to have this good action in it and while the action isn't of course the min focus of the film that does goes to the films time travel aspect but when the film does have a good action it works as the makers of the film have taken the time to let you get to know George as a person and not just as a character. With the best action scene in the whole entire film being the attack on the Morlocks underground base as when the Morlocks basically hypnotize the Eloi by using an air raid siren to get a dozen of them to come to there base to be used as food George and a bunch of others sneak in threw another entrance to get them and Weena who was one of the ones that got into the base and tries to rescue them all with there being a big fight breaking out between the Eloi and George against the Morlocks with our heroes only just winning by causing the Morlocks base blows up which in turn causes the ground above them to cave in, this is a really good scene as we get to see the Eloi take back the freedom that they lost an unknown amount of time ago and we get to see George stand up for what is right with there being a really impressive looking fire stunt that really tops it over the edge with the rest of the films action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall it really isn't that hard to see why this film and this story as a whole are as beloved as they are as this film is just that good and is one that is more then wroth checking out as it is just a masterclass in not only storytelling but in giving u a good plot in the first place in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and a such that really really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally sued in this very revie from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.