Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

higherall7 Nothing but admiration for this film, which won an Academy Award for Special effects back in 1960. While it is a moot point whether or not we can all be trained scientists or inventors and technocrats, the beauty of THE TIME MACHINE to my mind is that anyone can understand it. This is not a dumbed down version of H.G. Wells masterpiece of Science Fiction, rather, it is a literate and jaunty romp through concepts about Time and Space and Cultural Development in a thoroughly entertaining way. Such a cinematic work as this stimulates thought for all ages and genders and gives us fascinating cultural perspectives regarding the Past, the Present and the Future.Earlier, I suggested that Michael Rennie as Klattu in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL was the ideal Science Fiction Hero to my mind. This is because his performance effortlessly caused the viewer to associate him with Sherlock Holmes, Abraham Lincoln and even Jesus Christ. A noteworthy feat for one man to accomplish, but owed in large part to the great writing and direction of the piece. One could say more easily that Rennie was simply right for the role of an alien emissary with a message for Earth to mend its ways.But considering that Rennie as Klattu was a wonderfully dignified paradigm for the Visitor from Outer Space as Hero, who would do so on a more Earthbound plane? I nominate Rod Taylor's George as a fit candidate, until someone extrapolates a Science Fiction Hero from the likes of Lewis Latimer, George Washington Carver and Garnet Morgan. Once again, we have someone in the person of Mister Taylor who brings to mind Winston Churchill, Knute Rockne and finally Thomas Edison.We find our hero at the outset suffering from a situational and, later we learn, psychologically bad case of Temporal and Spatial discontinuity. He laments being in the wrong place at the wrong time, however true or false this conclusion may be. He harbors a latent wish to be a member of a more enlightened society, less inclined to warring and more amenable to projects for social betterment.Therefore, he has devised his own way out. Enter his latest invention; the Time Machine. After a short tutorial and lecture about how Time and Space affect each other, he presents a prototype to his dinner guests. He discovers much to his chagrin that his explanations have produced more culture shock than enlightenment and finds himself the object of disgruntlement and scoffing from his close friends.But our hero is resolved to act, and throwing off the tarp to a full scale model of his invention, off he goes into the wild prismatic yonder of brilliant time lapse photography chronicling his adventures in Time. He makes sundry mental notes here and there as his journey progresses, and lands himself eventually and unknowingly in the midst of a cultural divide between two races of men, the Eloi and the Morlocks.Thought it was fascinating to see a group of people often portrayed as representing the concept of Aryan supremacy presented here as passive sheep and slaves to be sheared. Freed up the thinking considerably on that front. The Eloi are these people and our hero discovers them in a veritable Garden of Eden, little realizing that there is figuratively and literally a dark underside to their existence. This is all vividly addressed in the simplest terms with all the sweep and romance of a grand adventure bordering on being a fable or a fairy tale.These comments should explain the across the board appeal of THE TIME MACHINE and how enjoyable is the learned, virile grace that Taylor brings to his role as the hero inventor. The fey innocence of the beautiful Yvette Mimieux as the Eloi Weena, and Alan Young's portrayal of Filby, the friend for the ages are also elements that stand out in this film.There was a remake made in 2002, but this original version has the burnish and the glow of a classic.

Quentin X An absolute gem of a movie. Some aspects have dated, but at the core is the most wonderful characters and storytelling that transcends time.Probably George Pal's finest work. Unique for its day, and never bettered. The visual effects were ambitious and cutting edge for the time, but as the years go by, I sometimes wish they'd gone further. Some of the painted backdrops are marred by visible matte lines, and a few of the miniatures betray their scale. But I only single these out for criticism because just about every other aspect of this film is so perfect to me. And they don't get in the way of the story; they exist purely to convey it in the most direct way.Rod Taylor has never been better, but for me the most memorable performance in the film is Alan Young as Filby. I consider him the heart and soul of the picture. Revisiting this movie is a total joy.It just gets better every time.

oOoBarracuda It must be said that one has to be ambitious to tackle a literary giant like H.G. Wells. This master has crafted works that persist as classics more than 50 years after his death. Never one to shy away from heavy themes, H.G. Wells' work is one that would unnerve me to explore on film. Nonetheless, The Time Machine (1960) directed by George Pal brings Well's words to life on screen. Tackling such heavies as class, society, and modernization, The Time Machine fails to disappoint in either format.The Time Machine starts out as another backwards tale, which I am quite partial to. We meet a group of friends in a dining hall when a disheveled scientist George (Rod Taylor) arrives with unkempt hair and tattered clothes. He is visibly shaken at first, and then begins to explain to his friends about his unique travels. Having met his friend Filby's (Alan Young) son on his travels, he is especially interested in telling him his stories. George didn't just take any trip, he traveled through time. As Filby and George previously discussed, George has a preoccupation with time. He believes he has been born to the wrong time, and because of this feeling, devotes his scientific research to trying to manipulate time. George hopes to discover a utopia in the future in which minds are celebrated and innovation encouraged. On the eve of the 20th century, his time machine finally works and George sets out, cautiously, to explore the future he will never know. After gingerly going hours then weeks in the future, George has made up his mind to travel hundreds of years. When he finally lands, many thousands of years into the future, George is greeted with a civilization of sheep, all following one another with no knowledge of how their government works or if they even have one. George is optimistic to find that war and famine are worries of the past, but disheartened when he is taken to the "library" of the civilization to see all the books being stored there crumbling to dust. George is devastated to learn that the utopia he was so sure to find is actually a dystopia. These people are called Eloi, and at first assumption look as though they lead care-free lives, once the city becomes dark however, we can see that is far from the truth. The Eloi actually live in constant fear of the Morlocks, a group that provides the Eloi with clothes and nourishment, as well as periodic population control. Blindly following the Morlocks' command, George is committed to showing the eloi that they needn't be under the Morlock's control, even if that means rescuing them himself.The Time Machine has been hailed for its use of special effects, which were way ahead of their time. It only makes sense that a film about traversing time would have effects that also superseded it. As George firsts experiments with his machine and is dancing through the hours and the days, we see the flowers in his garden rapidly grow and die again. Seeing the flowers blooming and retracting was a nice special effects tool for the audience to witness. We also see in George's travels, the earth succumbing to a fierce magma. I do not know how this magma was created, but its thickness and texture was incredibly realistic. When we see George pitted against the Morlocks we see that they all have beaming eyes. This effect was also interesting considering it was 1960. These effects today would all be easy to create, but considering this film was made almost 60 years ago, they were definitely ahead of their time.H.G. Wells was noted for his exploration of themes that concern the human condition. This film definitely fits into that category. Civilization is greatly explored, as George is certain that the future will only produce advancements for society. When he sees that the future society has devolved to such a great extent, he learns that advancement does not always produce a positive outcome. Modernization is also explored as we learn with George that production means are irrelevant if the human mind stops growing. Finally, the most blatant issue explored in The Time Machine is class. We are introduced to two classes, producers and consumers. The consumers are subservient and completely dependent upon the producers. The producers are shown to be ugly, nonhuman like creatures, while the consumers are beautiful, yet the exact same as one another. One can draw the conclusion that, as we see the producers coming up from underground in which they live that the production of society is the grunt work done only to preserve itself. Even though the Morlocks are hideous and primitive, the Eloi live in constant fear of them, yet completely dependent upon them for everything with which to sustain life. They also live in blissful ignorance about what they are missing out on, unrestricted life. Clearly, Wells reserves no love for the producers; even classifying them as cannibalistic. This film does wonders to show the dangers of submitting to a ruling class of producers and warns one to always maintain individuality.I quite enjoyed The Time Machine, and would recommend this version to anyone who enjoys any of H.G. Well's works. I also would recommend this film to fans of the sci-fi genre. It is interesting to see the early workings of such a prolific genre, and to see the special effects achieved by a film of this nature. Something about this film felt very nostalgic and comfortable for me. I am not sure why I felt a kinship to this film, as I have never before seen a film like it. For that reason alone, I would also recommend this movie as it exists as a cautionary tale of maintaining individuality.

Lee Eisenberg H. G. Wells's classic novel popularized the concept of time travel. I've never read the novel, but George Pal's 1960 adaptation of "The Time Machine" is a really cool movie. There were a few things that I interpreted from it.The time-traveling scientist (Rod Taylor, RIP) goes to multiple points in the future and finds repeated wars. I suspect that the screenwriter added these to the plot for historical accuracy. The time traveler notes that in his own time he sees governments creating more and more ways to kill each other. No doubt Wells's socialist views led him to grow disgusted with this. Indeed, the Eloi and Morlocks are supposed to be the descendants of the rich and poor, respectively.The depiction of a future in which all the world knowledge has died out reminds me of Mike Judge's "Idiocracy", in which a man gets cryogenically frozen and wakes up 500 years later, finding the world populated entirely by stupid people (to the degree that there's a TV show about a man suffering repeated crotch injuries, and a movie that's a two-hour shot of someone's butt).As for the rest of the cast. Alan Young (Filby) is best known as Wilbur on "Mister Ed"* and Scrooge on "DuckTales". Yvette Mimieux (Weena) later starred as the Princess in a segment of Pal's "Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm". Paul Frees (the talking rings) provided the voice of Boris on "Rocky and Bullwinkle" and also the Ghost Host in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.Basically, it's one of the neatest movies that you'll ever see. Ditto Pal's movies "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" and "The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao". There was a 2002 adaptation of the book, but I think that I'll skip that movie.*I only watched that show to see Wilbur's wife Carol. You don't know what a hottie is until you've seen her.