The Time Machine

This is one of the best movies ever made. This isn't just a classic, this movie is one of the movies that paved the way for other sci fi movies. This is as much of a classic as Wizard of Oz or Gone with the Wind and in my opinion this is better than both of those movies put together.

Everyone has his/hers favorite movie, but The Time Machine has to rank way up there on many people's list. Based on H.G. Wells eerily dark vision of the future, George Pal's Time Machine is science fiction at it's best. Inventor George Wells (Rod Taylor) has invited his friends over for dinner at his house. His friends are impatient, as George is late for his own dinner. George soon manages to show up, but his clothes are torn, and his body bruised. His friends sit him down, and George tells the story of what has happened to him. George reminds his friends of the meeting they had five days earlier, in which George demonstrated to them a prototype contraption he had built, which could travel in time. His friends didn't believe George, and when they left, George tested out the full version, sending himself years into the future. Throughout his time travel, George unfortunately became entangled with World War I, II and III (a nuclear war in 1966) and ultimately stopped his machine upon reaching the year 802,701. He found an apocalyptic world of two species, the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi are a childlike race whose pursuits are totally devoted to pleasure. They question nothing, and take life for granted. In contrast, the Morlocks, are brutal mutant monsters forced underground, who operate clanking machinery, and serve to fatten the Eloi like cattle in order to feed on them. This set-up horrified George, who had fallen for an Eloi named Weena (Yvette Mimieux). He embarked upon a mission to spark revolution. Unfortunately, George's time machine had been stolen by the Morlocks and locked within a huge sphinx-like structure. George continues telling the story to his friends, and at this point it's unclear if his mission has been successful. Today, it's hard to believe that George Pal's Time Machine won only one Academy Award (Best Special Effects - Gene Warren, Tim Baar) The Time Machine is a concise and thrilling piece of science-fiction, and George Pal turned the tremendous cinematic qualities of H.G.Wells' novel into a timeless blockbuster.

The movie is a timeless classic, just as I remembered from the first time I watched it a long, long time ago.

Just re-watched this movie this weekend and forgot how good it was. Alan Young plays Taylor's best friend and there are great behind-the-scenes stories for this movie in Young's book MISTER ED AND ME (I believe that is the title) also available on Amazon.com. If you love Morlocks, beautiful women, Oscar winning special effects and clever plots, this movie is for you.

I first viewed this film when I was 11 years old and I must confess that seeing this movie impacted my whole life. I still have drawings I did in grade school of glass-domed futuristic houses with large double entrance doors. The time machine itself, is so humorous, but it is what they would have had in the 1800s for such a contraption. I was entranced by the Eloi and their lack of emotion and having to do nothing but eat fruit all day. My infantile mind thought that would be a GOOD life. I consider this a much better movie than its "twin" Journey to the Center of the Earth, but they were both great and thought-provoking, especially to pre-teenagers. The scenes and special effects are phenomenal. It is because of this movie that I probably eventually decided to write a time-travel novel of my own. Rod Taylor was not my favorite actor, but he did a very good job in this movie.