User Reviews

If it weren't for Ib Melchior, Irwin Allen would never have made Lost in Space or The Time Tunnel. Yet Allen had connections so Ib mostly shut up. This, one of my three favorite time travel movies from the 60s (then others being the incomparable The Time Machine & Beyond the Time Barrier) is so well done it transcends it's low budget. Every penny is on screen. A group of scientists opens a portal into the future - a horrible one - and must find a way home.

Whew! Had someone remind me of this movie just recently and I

did a "Boy, did that take me back". A time travel in & of itself.

Here is one that should get released on DVD, or at least get some

TV play on a late-night show. I remember this being great fun

when I was a kid, new to the movie experience.

Yes, saw it in an actual theatre, probably the same one where I

saw "Crack in the World" (1965) with Dana Andrews. Both high in

"cheese" content, but no less fun.

Not really giving anything away, plotwise, this movie deals with our

fearless scientists who because of having the ability to time travel

into the future, try to go about changing it. Something that has been

dealt with over & over again in the ensuing years. Just remember

they are in fairly new territory here. Can one change what

"happened" in the future?

I also remember being scared witless by the mutants they run

across in the future. One guy who has legs, but no feet. You don't

have to be a rocket scientist to figure out they had an actor with

birth defects or an amputation, but to a kid in a dark theatre – it

was really frightening!

Let's see if someone can get this out as a "late night" DVD, eh?

In 1964, a group of scientists create a portal that takes them to a barren, mutant inhabited, Earth in the year 2071.

The general assumption is that if a film is picked to be on "Mystery Science Theater", it must be a bad movie. And more often than not, this is correct. They really have found the worst of the worst. But "Time Travelers" is not one of them.

Yes, some of the acting is a bit silly, and there to plenty to make fun of. Some of the science does not really make very much sense. But you have to be impressed by the work that went into the androids. Wow. For what was likely a very low budget, the androids come off as some quality work. And mixing in a few clever tricks of the camera turns simple scenes into complex ones.

There are a zillion B&W sci-fi cheapies out there, and every one is somebody's favorite. This is one of mine.

Scientists working on a time-camera experiment discover that it's actually a portal. They step through it into the far future, where remnants of a high-tech civilization battle troglodytes for survival. The cave-dwelling good guys and their androgynous androids are engaged in a desperate race against time to build a rocket to take them away from the ruined Earth. Our time travelers fall in with them, fall afoul of them, fall in love with them... well, you know.

This movie is one of those irresistible gems where the real battle is between energetic actors, imaginative directors, and talented technical people who toil fearlessly against a low budget and cheap sets. But if you're a fan of the genre, give this a watch. You'll thank me.

An aged and out of shape Preston Foster leads a small group of scientists through a time portal into a future where nuclear war has decimated the Earth and the few humans left are holed up in a mountain stronghold. Outside, hostile mutants roam the arid wasteland. The concept is fine, and the acting passable, but the cardboard sets are from hunger. Irwin Allen, never one to pass up an opportunity, stole the basic elements of this Ib Melchior movie for his "Time Tunnel" TV show. It also appears to have strongly influenced certain "Star Trek" episodes. The main reason to watch this moldy oldie is to see the lovely Merry Anders wearing skintight jumpsuits and also doing a nude shower scene. Several other undressed and semi-dressed Hollywood starlets are in the shower scene with her. Shot in color, which is a good thing, and a pretty decent musical score helps a lot. Worth a look for what passed for a sci-fi flick in 1965. Big changes in the genre were only a few years off, of course..

Three scientists and the inevitable everyday Joe are catapulted over a hundred years into the future by a lab accident, into a post-apocalyptic nightmare in which atomic war has devastated the planet. Pursued by a band of savage mutants, they're rescued by the last few humans, a small group of scientists and technicians engaged in a race against time to construct a starship and get away before the more numerous mutants can break through their defenses.

None of these elements is particularly new to the genre, but writer/director Ib Melchior manages to combine them into a fairly entertaining and occasionally original piece of "upper low-budget" sf cinema. This isn't to say that the pace doesn't occasionally lag a bit toward the middle, with some sequences feeling like they were inserted just to pad out the running time. (Like a totally unnecessary scene devoted to what's supposed to be a demonstration of their futuristic "matter transmitter", which is clearly just a stage magician's prop.)

Mostly, though, there's scarcely a moment wasted in exposition or character development, as the story barrels along to its truly unique conclusion.

Set design, miniatures, costuming and makeup -- particularly the androids -- are surprisingly good, for its budget. The optical effects are sparse but imaginative. Though it's early in his distinguished career, having Vilmos Zsigmond behind the camera also contributes considerably to making this a much more polished and expensive-looking production than you'd normally expect to see from American International.

The one thing that struck me right away was the static camera shots. Usually just one master shot and one other angle. I thought it might be the fault of the cinematographer, but when I looked it up I found that Vilmos Zsigmond was the cinematographer on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Witches of Eastwich which are 2 of my favorite films with stunning cinematography. Of course, made for the big screen it wouldn't be as bad as watching it on a small TV. Actually this kind of cinematography is preferable to a lot of today's films that are shot like a music video. I am sure that having a low budget is constraining to the cinematographer's creative endeavors.

I saw this movie many times when I was growing up and was fascinated by the concept. I must have seen this movie at least a dozen times and I am now in the process of purchasing this DVD through EBay. I just noticed some very close similarities between parts of this movie and Director George Pals, "When Worlds Collide". The parts that look to be similar are when they are building the spaceship. My best guess is that the Director of "The Time Travelers" copied this part from "When Worlds Collide". Nonetheless, this movie in my humble opinion is a classic for SciFi. I just wish that they considered a sequel. Are there any Directors out there would would consider a remake?

Danish filmmaker Ib Melchior is a good example of a man's determination to entertain audiences with stories that played with his vision of things to come (in the early 1960s), but the quality of his work only moderately justifies the effort. He was a counter-intelligence volunteer for the Americans during II World War, relocated to the United States, and at the peak of his career wrote for television series and science-fiction films (including a couple of contributions to the "red menace" trend, and "Death Race 2000", "Reptilicus" and "Robinson Crusoe on Mars") and directed two features. Considering the poor results of "The Angry Red Planet" that he made in 1959, "The Time Travelers" is his greatest achievement: the film has a lot of admirers, but it is quite telling of his capacity as director. Compare it with Edgar G. Ulmer's "Beyond the Time Barrier", a drama with a similar plot, made four years before with half the budget of "Travelers", and one can perceive the difference between an inspired filmmaker as Ulmer and a less gifted director as Melchior. More akin to "Queen of the Outer Space" (1958) without the campiness, "The Time Travelers" is also visually strident (cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond was still years away from the mastery he demonstrated in a long list of classics, including "McCabe & Mrs. Miller", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Deliverance"), the rhythm is pompous and slow, and leading man Philip Carey is as good an actor as Zsa Zsa Gabor. His character of a scientist (or the way he plays it, I really cannot tell) is too much of a ruffian, and he does not have much support from Steve Franken's comic relief interventions, Delores Wells' "Playmate of the Month" attitude, or Dennis Patrick's expressions to convey a dogmatic soldier. Merry Anders and Preston Foster are wasted, and only John Hoyt and Joan Woodbury maintain the impassivity and good judgment that their parts as regents demand. The script is one of those that give too many explanations while telling something far from original and, although it has occasional "intelligent" sparkles here and there (as the ending) to please the science-fiction audience, it does not prevent the film from being an average product.

This is a 60's 'B' sci-fi movies that might seem ridiculous and should be switched off after five minutes, but is worth staying with if you're into Time travel. The sets are cheap and the dialogue silly, but it definitely has something. That probably is due to the writer/Director IB Melchior, who amongst other things was responsible for the first Outer Limits episode and the Death race 2000, a famous cult movie.

The reason a film such as this (low budget '50s or '60s sci-fi) is on many viewers favorites lists is not necessarily fond childhood memories or nostalgia - it's because it's well made. Of course, they had very little money for props and such, but the story is more inventive than 95% of the stuff that's released now or has been since the nineties; no, make that the eighties. Yes, I'm one of those guys who saw it 30 years ago as a kid on TV during a Saturday matinée slot or something; but I've seen it again within a couple of years ago and it's still quite entertaining. Here, the writers proposed a question, a 'what if?' question about time travel. What if certain people, a small group of scientists, accidentally invented a time travel device? What if they used it? (Again, accidentally). What if the device short-circuited too early? What if this, what if that - and so on, with inventive answers provided to each question. If you've never seen this picture, you're in for a treat - you'll be wondering what's the next answer every 5 to 10 minutes. This is a quality sorely lacking in most films today. Maybe all the good ideas have been used. The same concept was utilized a couple of years later in the short-lived "Time Tunnel" TV series, but that show lacked the wild turns of this sci-fi set up. Some of the further situations in this story of the future are a bit goofy, but I believe it's intentional. The ending, which I won't give away here, actually puts some pressure on the viewers to wrap their minds around. Watch for famous sci-fi fan & publisher Forrest J.Ackerman in a cameo. Whatta trip!

This is a little- known gem which, if it was made 5 years earlier, would have been a classic of the genre. AIP sci fi films are usually risibly bad but this one is very good and they have done a fine job with a limited budget. The colour photography is sharp and beautiful. The performances are adequate, just avoiding going over the top. The effects, apart from the rocket which is probably too small to be realistic, are excellent and for the most part are physical rather than optical. The android having his head taken off and replaced without any cutting is fantastically well done and so is the android ripped apart by the mutants. The film also moves at a fair crack and has the odd plot turn that keeps the viewer on their toes.

Give it a go. You will not be disappointed.

The Time Travelers (1964) -

This film was like an early message about the way mankind was destroying our own planet. A message that's even more true now than it was when this film was made. This particular narrative blames the atomic bombs/nuclear weapons and that is still a very clear threat, but it is also much more likely that we will all die in Tsunamis and a brand new ice age more akin to that depicted in 'The Day After Tomorrow' (2004), due to climate change. I found it interesting then to see that even back in 1964 there was some concern about these things and yet, despite the hippy movements and so on, nowhere near enough has been done about it, as if our governments don't care about their grandchildren.

This film explored what was left of the world's population after its near annihilation, the mutants that it created and the solutions that the few humans had to come up with in order to keep the human race going. It was all explored through the eyes of a team of travellers in time from the 60's, who leaped forward 100 years and found nothing but what appeared to be wastelands on their first arrival.

None of the actors were top notch, most of them were over the top, as was to be expected from the genre and the time. Danny (Steve Franken) provided more than a few cringey moments that might have added comic relief in 1964, but certainly seemed corny in 2023, a mere 50 years before the post apocalyptic events in which the film was mainly set.

None of the other cast specifically stood out, for good or for bad reasons though.

There were quite a few moments throughout the film that were dragged out in what seemed to be an attempt to cause tension or amazement at the technology of the future (Special Effects), but ultimately just slowed things down, although it wasn't a long film anyway. Perhaps a more romantic element could have been added to fill out where these bits could have been shortened.

The montage at the end could have been skipped or at least sped up too.

Apart from that, overall it was hardly any worse than many episodes from the William Shatner years of 'Star Trek' (1966-9) and it was definitely one of the better "B" Movies from the era.

I actually liked the concept of the film and believe that it could be used as the basis for a film today, although some may consider the message of self preservation being hammered home too hard with so many films like it out there already. Perhaps a new version of this one might get things done though and might show the humans, currently residing on the planet, the errors of our ways (I really should recycle more).

520.01/1000.

The likelihood that our future is some kind of apocalyptic hellscape, while being somewhat depressing, was a huge boon for makers of low budget scifi films. In the post apocalyptic future of Ib Melchior's 'Time Travelers,' most of the action takes place indoors, where the human survivors of the apocalypse must stay so as to avoid the requisite race of post-atomic savage mutants. Shooting outdoors on location is expensive...shooting on small, spartan sets on sound stages is much cheaper.

The other great thing about the human race having to live indoors is that women have to take off their clothes and go into a room together to bathe in the rays of a sun lamp, with a few carefully positioned props covering up their naughty bits so that the scene is cheesecake, rather than being soft-core porn. In my lifelong study of low budget scifi films, this is the only film I have seen where this aspect of our future post-apocalyptic life was explored.

Scifi fans or film buffs looking for any kind of serious artistic or dramatic content should look elsewhere. This movie was obviously aimed at kids and adolescents, and the value of it now is just pure goofy fun.

Comic actor Steve Franken, while not the leading man, is a highlight in this quirky opus, playing an electrician wearing coveralls named Danny McKee. Danny McKee has the habit of saying 'Holy McKee!' to express surprise or amazement. I have never in my life ever met a real person who used his own last name in this fashion...imagine if, say, Matthew McConaughey said 'Holy McConaughey!' whenever he was surprised or amazed. But for some reason, Danny McKee likes to say 'Holy McKee!'

There is an improbable sub-plot of one of the beautiful future women, one of the gals in the semi-nude 'sunbathing' scene, falling in love with goofy Danny McKee. If they had married, would she also say 'Holy McKee'? If they were married by a clergy person, would they be united in Holy McKeetrimony?

Another highlight of this film is that many of the special effects are simply bits of stage magic, perhaps adapted slightly to fit the setting. There is a scene, for example, where a head is removed from an operational android...this is done in the exact manner as a popular magic trick where a head is 'removed' from a living stage assistant. There are other stage magic tricks scattered throughout this film, such as the depiction of a high tech future assembly line and other business with the androids. I don't know if director Melchior was also a stage magician, or whether his FX person was, but the magic tricks provide unintentional humor and add to the goofy charm.

American International Pictures produced this science fiction film about four time travelers to the future who wind up in a conundrum. Preston Foster, Philip Carey, Merry Anders, and Steve Franken are the four intrepid travelers without a TARDIS.

What they have instead is a time portal, created quite accidentally because all they wanted was a window of the future in their university laboratory. Instead they get a portal and all step into a world over a 100 years in earth's future.

As for earth it has been ravaged by atomic war and the survivors are either these advanced scientists, savage mutants, or something in between. The scientists led by John Hoyt, Joan Woodbury and Dennis Patrick are constructing a rocket to take the survivors on a pre-set course to a new earth in the Alpha Centauri system. Will they make it before the mutants invade their citadel and how will that effect The Time Travelers?

This film will never be a classic in the genre, but it's not too bad and does raise some interesting questions especially with the conundrum ending that it has.

At least Rod Taylor when he was time traveling had a much better machine.

Some scientists and comic relief Steve Franken open a "time window" to 100,000 years in the future which turns out to be a door, so they go through to discover it's gone to H.G. Wells' Eloi vs. Morlocks.... only the Eloi are scientists getting ready to fly away to another planet, and the Morlocks are mutants. There's some scientific bafflegab, nothing is really resolved, the comic relief is very mild, and someone plays. electronic music, but you do get to see Forrest J. Ackerman for eight seconds, so I'm sure it got a glowing review in Famous Monsters of Filmland.

The script and direction are by Ib Melchior -- he should've done a double act with Ub Iwerks. He was the son of Lauritz Melchior, and went into the business behind the screen, working for Perry Como at one point. After he wrote the script for DEATH RACE 2000, his credits faded away. He died in 2013, aged 97.

Four scientists go forward in time to a future populated by a group of folks dressed in jumpsuits and house shoes, the last of the human race. The climate will no longer sustain them and they must vacate to another planet and, of course, can't take the scientists who must then figure out how to go back after losing their time portal. The beginning and end were fairly good, but the middle was bogged down with dull workshop scenes and goofy comedy. The 1964 props looked a tad silly.

This title has remained one of my favorite sci-fi films. The excellent F/X of both the suspended-in-air time portal and the collapsing time portal, the early electronic music, the interstellar spaceship in the crater, the raging mutant attacks, the futuristic underground society, and the incredible ending sequence were some of the iconic sci-fi sights and sounds that left an indelible impression on my young mind.

In addition, veteran actor John Hoyt (who appeared in classic Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, and Star Trek episodes), bright Merry Anders, TV sitcom fave Steve Franken, and even a cameo by Forry Ackerman certainly contributed a nice cast to cheer for.

This was a well staged, imaginative, colorful film that should delight any true fan of vintage sci-fi.

I first saw this movie back in 1965 or 1966, when I was 5 or 6 years old. The mutants really scared me, and I had some bad nightmares. So I would not recommend this film for small children. I recently re watched this and found it not too scary (for adults) but still a good, thought-provoking film. It is a low budget film so some of the special effects and script are obviously dated, but this film heavily influenced Star Trek, and The Time Tunnel was also a spin-off. The scene where Dr White first encounters a half-mutant/half human is still kind of creepy. And the doomsday scenario and the race against time and the mutants lends some good suspense. This film deserves a wider audience, and would be a good candidate for a serious-minded remake.