I came across this film as I was browsing through some videos that I hadn't looked at in years. It did stick in my mind as being pretty good and on viewing it this time around I can say that my initial impressions were correct. McDowell is very believable as Wells, as is David Warner in his role. I found Mary Steenburgen slightly weak as Amy Robbins and at times she seems almost disinterested and just going through the motions. I think someone like Brook Adams or Karen Allen would have been much more suited to this role, but the rest of the plot and cast are so good this is incidental.
Someone mentioned this didn't do very well at the box office, which surprises me as science based fiction was all the rage at the time this film was released (1979). I can only imagine it was dwarfed by sci-fi giants such as Star Trek and Star Wars who were releasing films around this time, and it was subsequently overlooked.
The plot is fairly seamless as the brilliant but naive Wells creates his time machine only for it to be misused by the equally brilliant, but evil, Stephenson. Everything about it is well thought out, with the exception that why does he (Wells) get himself into such a panic about Stephenson's presence in late 20th century San Francisco, when Wells has the machine (and the key to it)to go back before Stephenson left and prevent him going in the first place! I don't pretend to be an expert on timelines(and alternative timelines)but if time is fluid (as is thought) and flows backward and forward, then by going back and preventing something from happening will obviously alter or stop it's progression into the future, no! But of course that would have undermined the films whole premise.
It's also quaint and naive to hear Wells speak of a socialist utopia, without realising that the socialist society, as with any other form of Government, can just as easily become corrupted and distorted from it's original ideal so it produces a monster like Stalin. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. In fact, Wells visited Russia after the Bolshevik revolution and met with it's then leaders (Lenin and Trotsky). I'm not sure how he felt about the revolution, but he did die a disillusioned man having lived through the 1st and 2nd World Wars.
All in all though this is a very good sci-fi adventure,and it is thoroughly recommended.
Someone mentioned this didn't do very well at the box office, which surprises me as science based fiction was all the rage at the time this film was released (1979). I can only imagine it was dwarfed by sci-fi giants such as Star Trek and Star Wars who were releasing films around this time, and it was subsequently overlooked.
The plot is fairly seamless as the brilliant but naive Wells creates his time machine only for it to be misused by the equally brilliant, but evil, Stephenson. Everything about it is well thought out, with the exception that why does he (Wells) get himself into such a panic about Stephenson's presence in late 20th century San Francisco, when Wells has the machine (and the key to it)to go back before Stephenson left and prevent him going in the first place! I don't pretend to be an expert on timelines(and alternative timelines)but if time is fluid (as is thought) and flows backward and forward, then by going back and preventing something from happening will obviously alter or stop it's progression into the future, no! But of course that would have undermined the films whole premise.
It's also quaint and naive to hear Wells speak of a socialist utopia, without realising that the socialist society, as with any other form of Government, can just as easily become corrupted and distorted from it's original ideal so it produces a monster like Stalin. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. In fact, Wells visited Russia after the Bolshevik revolution and met with it's then leaders (Lenin and Trotsky). I'm not sure how he felt about the revolution, but he did die a disillusioned man having lived through the 1st and 2nd World Wars.
All in all though this is a very good sci-fi adventure,and it is thoroughly recommended.
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