TIME AFTER TIME [1979 / 2016] [Warner Archive Collection] [Blu-ray] [USA Release] A Scientific Genius Named H.G. Wells Races Through Time To Catch Jack The Ripper! Enormous Wit, Terrific Suspense and Three Outstanding Performances!
London 1893 is home to a killer with a macabre nickname... and also to a visionary genius who would write “The Time Machine.” But what if H.G. Wells' invention wasn't fiction? And what if Jack the Ripper escaped capture fleeing his own time to take refuge in ours – with H.G. Wells himself in pursuit?
From writer/director Nicholas Meyer, ‘TIME AFTER TIME’ is a marvellous entertainment of shivery suspense and sly social comment. In modern-day San Francisco, Jack the Ripper [David Warner] finds our violent age to his liking. H.G. Wells [Malcolm McDowell] dislikes the brave new world of fast food and television, far from the utopia he envisioned. But he is cheered by the emancipation of women, particularly one irresistible banker Amy Robbins [Mary Steenburgen]. For mystery, romance and excitement, ‘TIME AFTER TIME’ is time well spent.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1980 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films: Win: Best Actress for Mary Steenburgen. Win: Best Writing for Nicholas Meyer. Win: Best Music for Miklós Rózsa. Nominated: Best Science Fiction Film. Nominated: Best Actor for Malcolm McDowell. Nominated: Best Supporting Actor for David Warner. Nominated: Best Director for Nicholas Meyer. Nominated: Best Costumes for Sal Anthony and Yvonne Kubis. 1980 Edgar Allan Poe Awards: Nominated: Best Motion Picture for Nicholas Meyer. 1980 Hugo Awards: Nominated: Best Dramatic Presentation for Nicholas Meyer (director/screenplay), Karl Alexander (story) and Steve Hayes (story).
FILM FACT No.2: According to Nicholas Meyer the audio commentary track for the DVD and Blu-ray release of the film, the author of the novel presented Nicholas Meyer with 55 pages of his unpublished novel and asked Nicholas Meyer to critique his work. Nicholas Meyer liked the premise and immediately optioned the story so he could write a screenplay based on the material and develop the story his own way. Malcolm McDowell was attracted to the material because he was looking for something different than the sex and violence in Caligula, in which he played the title character. While preparing to portray H.G. Wells, Malcolm McDowell obtained a copy of a 78 rpm recording of H.G. Wells speaking. Malcolm McDowell was "absolutely horrified" to hear that Wells spoke in a high-pitched, squeaky voice with a pronounced Southeast London accent, which Malcolm McDowell felt would have resulted in unintentional humour if he tried to mimic it for the film. Malcolm McDowell abandoned any attempt to recreate H.G. Wells authentic speaking style and preferred a more "dignified" style. According to David Warner, the studio wanted Mick Jagger for the role of John Leslie Stevenson but director Nicholas Meyer and producer Herb Jaffe fought for David Warner to get the role. It was one of the last films scored by veteran composer Miklós Rózsa, who received the 1979 Saturn Award for Best Music. ‘TIME AFTER TIME’ was filmed throughout San Francisco, including Cow Hollow, North Beach, the Hyatt Regency hotel, California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, the Marina District, Ghirardelli Square, Fisherman's Wharf, the Richmond District, the Golden Gate Bridge, Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill, the Embarcadero Center, Chinatown, the Marina Green, the Palace of Fine Arts, Potrero Hill, and the Civic Center.
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, David Warner, Mary Steenburgen, Charles Cioffi, Kent Williams, Andonia Katsaros, Patti D'Arbanville, James Garrett, Keith McConnell, Leo Lewis, Byron Webster, Karin Collison, Geraldine Baron, Geraldine Baron, Laurie Main, Joseph Maher, Michael Evans, Ray Reinhardt, Robert Shaw, Stu Klitsner, Nicholas Shields, Gene Hartline, Clement von Franckenstein, Shirley Marchant, Larry J. Blake, Antonie Becker, Hilda Haynes, Read Morgan, Mike C. Gainey, Jim Haynie, Wayne Storm, John Colton, Corey Feldman, James Cranna, Earl Nichols, Bill Bradley, Clete Roberts, Rita Conde, Gail Hyatt, Shelley Hack, Dan Leegant, Regina V. Waldron, Liz Roberson, Anthony Gordon, Lou Felder, Doug Morrisson, Glenn Carlson, Neil Armstrong (archive sound) (uncredited), Judith Burnett (uncredited), Winston Churchill (archive sound) (uncredited), Anthony Garibaldi (uncredited), Jimi Hendrix (archive sound) (uncredited), John F. Kennedy (archive sound) (uncredited), Douglas MacArthur (archive sound) (uncredited), Edward R. Murrow (archive sound) (uncredited) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (archive sound) (uncredited)
Director: Nicholas Meyer
Producers: Herb Jaffe and Steven-Charles Jaffe
Screenplay: Nicholas Meyer (screenplay), Karl Alexander (story) and Steve Hayes (story)
Composer: Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography: Paul Lohmann (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 (Panavision Anamorphic)
Audio: English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 112 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Warner Archive Collection
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: IMAGINE! A Scientific Scientist genius named H.G. Wells stalks a criminal genius named Jack The Ripper across time itself in the most ingenious thriller of our time. Also, “What if H.G. Wells really was a time traveller?” is a logical question and one that many narrative works have sought to explore. With ‘TIME AFTER TIME’ [1979] Writer/Director Nicholas Meyer goes one step further, in thinking the premise if Time travel could actually happen? Nicholas Meyer is best known for his association with the STAR TREK films based on the original TV series, particularly ‘The Wrath of Khan.’ Keeping that in mind, it’s hardly surprising that he produced a thoughtful work imbued with a strong humanist point of view. The historical H.G. Wells was a utopian socialist, and so is this fictional counterpart; unapologetically so, in fact, H.G. Wells goes into the future assuming the human race will build a perfect society within four generations, but humanity disappoints H.G. Wells by improving its efficiency with warfare and violence. By contrast, Dr. John Leslie Stevenson feels more at home in the new age than in his own time. Nicholas Meyer, Malcolm McDowell and David Warner lay out the differences between the characters in a chilling sequence about halfway through the film.
H.G. Wells’ novel has inspired three films. The first of which was aptly named ‘THE TIME MACHINE,’ next up was ‘TIME AFTER TIME’ and the third film was the stupid crass ‘THE TIME MACHINE’ that was remade in 2002 and a complete failure. The first film stayed true to the novel, but the middle veered a bit, but the last film was in my mind a complete and utter failure. In this adaptation, we find the title character of H.G. Wells [Malcolm McDowell] alive and well in 19th century London. Around a group of friends, H.G. Wells unveils an invention that he calls, aptly enough, a time machine. H.G. Wells explains how it works and why he wants to use it. But this is the time of the infamous Jack the Ripper [David Warner] and the prostitutes of London are not safe; as are its citizens. After a murder, the police are scouring the area and come across the little party that H.G. Wells is throwing for his friends, but Jack the Ripper just happens to be one of them. Believing himself to be captured, he jumps into the time machine, unbeknownst to anyone else, and heads to the year 1979. And when the time machine returns automatically to H.G. Wells basement, Malcolm McDowell hastens in pursuit in order to protect what he assumes will be a crime-free socialist utopia in 1979 from the evil he has inadvertently helped deliver.
For many scientific purists, concept of time travel is so preposterous that they tend to bar time travel films and novels from science fiction domain. According to them, time travel books, comics and films should be branded fantasy instead. That position might find its arguments in the way that Hollywood usually treated time travel. Most of the time, that concept was nothing more than a convenient excuse for exotic, but standard adventures and films without any ambitions of seriousness. But every once in a while there comes a time travel film that has some brains. George Pal's classic adaptation of equally classic H.G. Wells novel ‘THE TIME MACHINE’ is one of them. ‘TIME AFTER TIME,’ the 1979 film and directorial debut by Nicholas Meyer, is the perfect companion piece.
H.G. Wells manages to see what the killer has done and follows him to the modern era; even though his plan had been to visit the "future" I doubt that 1979 would have been his first stop. H.G. Wells then meets a bank teller by the name of Amy Robbins [Mary Steenburgen] who helps equate him to the ways of the modern San Francisco. As we can assume, a chase begins and H.G. Wells won’t let up until Jack the Ripper has been caught or killed. While this is a rather offbeat drama for the time, it uses elements that we’re all familiar with and as such, it’s widely accepted that we’re more prone to accept them. The performances of the actors we stick with them because the basic concept of time travel is interesting to most people.
Time travel has always fascinated mankind in much the same way as the proverbial fountain of youth. Authors have had great fun with the notion our perishable bodies might find eternal preservation, either through the looking glass via novelist Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” or off into Never-Neverland via J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan.” H.G. Wells was, of course, an extraordinary daydreamer on such matters; his life’s work committed to a sort of occultism in his search of immortality, Darwinian philosophising, or even his more clairvoyant powers of social observation.
Malcolm MacDowell as H.G. Wells is instead a sort of avuncular time-traveling naïve person, whose scientific powers of observation borders on genius at times, even if his mercurial social skills barely rank him two points above an autistic savant. The time-honoured movie-land cliché has always been that men with very large brains equally suffer from a tragically emasculated libido, and general inability to relate to women. And so it is with Malcolm McDowell’s H.G. Wells who hasn’t a clue what to do with a good woman and even a provocatively batty one, preferring the cloistered company of a group of intellectuals and one raving psychotic. Ironically, the estate of H.G. Wells did not take umbrage to the film’s pretence and Dr. John Leslie Stevenson (a.k.a. Jack the Ripper), and played with seedy aplomb by David Warner, who was supposedly H.G. Wells best friend. But in matters of romance, our hero H.G. Wells meets feminism Amy Robbins [Mary Steenburgen], who also turns out to be a bit of a socialist.
Although it is actually not based on the H.G. Wells novel, this film is closer to its spirit than the 1960 version and one that is my all-time favourite than that ghastly 2002 film. When he wrote the novel, H.G. Wells was less interested in pure scientific speculations; instead, he saw science fiction as a way to talk about burning social issues of his time, as well as to offer some solutions. This film presents us H.G. Wells as a man before his time, socialist reformer who fought for free love, feminism, racial equality, people's rights, and many other things we now take for granted. Nicholas Meyer uses time travel to confront H.G. Wells ideals with reality, when he arrives in San Francisco during the zenith of ultra-liberal, hedonistic era of sexual revolution and counter-culture; he discovers that many of his ideals are reality. But, on the other hand, human nature hadn't improved and, all those ideals are paired with world wars, nuclear weapons, pollution, terrorism and other horrors H.G. Wells couldn't have imagined. While poor idealistic H.G. Wells reformer has trouble fitting into this fascinating, but in the same time frightening 1979 world. On the other hand, bloodthirsty yet cynical and practical Dr. John Leslie Stevenson makes 1979 his home without any difficulty.
Now I know what you must be thinking, why the year 1979 of all times in the world? We never get to know, I can only assume that it’s when the film was made. They wanted to make it "Present Day" and as such, this is when the killer was released into the "modern" world. Unfortunately, David Warner didn't feel particularly inspired in the role of Jack the Ripper. He lacks the charisma of pure evil that is necessary ingredient for any effective villain that this film required. Flawed in the characterisation is just one of the many of this film and totally unconvincing special effects, scientific plot holes and implausibility’s, some rather uninspired lines that culminate in rather disappointing and ultra-conventional finale. The musical score of Hollywood veteran Miklós Rózsa, on the other hand, might have looked anachronistic in any other film of the period, but it was right on the target in this story. But, all in all, ‘TIME AFTER TIME’ is more than good piece of science fiction cinema, that could outrank not only some of the time travel atrocities of its own time, like the ‘FINAL COUNTDOWN’ comes to mind, but even better of course comes to mind is the classic films of ‘TERMINATOR’ and ‘BACK TO THE FUTURE.’ As we get near to the end of the film, the following words appear on the screen: “H.G. Wells married Amy Catharine Robbins, who dies in 1927. As a writer, he anticipated Socialism, Global War, Space Travel, and Women’s Liberation. He died in 1946.”
* * * * *
Blu-ray Image Quality – Warner Archive Collection presents you this ‘TIME AFTER TIME’ Blu-ray with an exceptional 1080p encoded image, and has created a brand new 2.40:1 Panasonic anamorphic aspect ratio for the film and having only seen it a few times, I would have never guessed that it was shot in that gauge. The level of detail and the overall clarity of the film did excite me and yes, I was actually excited, especially from the smoky but foggy London images of the opening credits to the closing ones. Flesh tones are a bit muted due to the time period (no pun intended), but it’s still a great overall transfer. The black levels are great and very little edge enhancement made for a very good-looking film. The brightest hues are reserved for the time travel sequences, where the effects are slightly dated and analogue, but that quality lends them to a certain charm. While the scenes in 1893 feature the warmer shadings of wood panelling and woollen attire. Flesh tones appear accurate throughout.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Warner Archive Collection brings you this ‘TIME AFTER TIME’ Blu-ray with just one audio track experience, which is 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio, while not a great sounding track, such a shame they could not of upgraded it to a 5.1 Dolby Digital mix. The stereo soundtrack has been taken from the original three-track magnetic master. Although there is noticeable stereo separation, especially in the lush orchestral film music score by Miklós Rózsa, which often seems to echo the style of Bernard Herrmann. All in all, it is a so-so audio mix, but was more like a mono mix at times. So no real major complaints, so just enjoy what you experience in the audio department.
* * * * *
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Nicolas Meyer and Malcolm McDowell: Here we are introduced to Nicolas Meyer, who informs us that he was the Writer/Director for the film ‘TIME AFTER TIME,’ and informs us that he insisted that he wanted the specific Warner Bros. shield at the start of the film, because the one that follows it, is more like a sticker that is put on office furniture. At the moment Malcolm McDowell comes in and says, “Brilliant” and also informs us that he plays the character of H.G. Wells in the ‘TIME AFTER TIME.’ Recorded from the 2005 inferior DVD release of the film, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining of a listen, and the star and director were interviewed separately, but their comments have been cleverly edited to convey the impression that they are conversing. The giveaway is that each refers to the other in the third person. Nicolas Meyers also informs us that he went to the University of Iowa, where he made friends with the playwright Karl Alexander in Los Angeles, and approached Nicholas with a 55 page novel he was writing entitled “The Time Travellers,” an its plot speculates what might have happened if H.G. Wells had built a real time machine to travel to the 1870s in search of Jack the Ripper and the novel was adapted to film the same year, under the same title, by Karl Alexander's friend Nicholas Meyer who had optioned the story after reading the early pages. Nicholas Meyer wrote his screenplay as Karl Alexander finished the novel and the two freely shared ideas for their respective iterations. So Karl asked Nicholas to read his novel and to give a critical eye over it, so eventually Nicholas read it and gave it the thumbs up and wanted to option it and thought it would make a swell film adaption, because Nicholas loved the central idea of the scenario of time travel, and was equally keen to direct the film. Malcolm McDowell recalls hanging out with his co-star David Warner during his early days at Stratford-upon-Avon, which is the medieval market town in England’s West Midlands, and is the 16th-century birthplace of William Shakespeare, where Malcolm McDowell would be hanging on the coat tails of David Warner's popularity and getting young ladies in the process. It's interestingly brought out that Mick Jagger was originally slated for the Jack The Ripper part. During the initial time machine journey, Nicholas Meyer admits that while the effects shots were pretty lacklustre, none of it matters thanks to the exceptional story line that the audience gets caught up in. Malcolm McDowell informs us that he had just finished filming the film ‘CALIGULA’ when he received the script for ‘TIME AFTER TIME,’ and he was sick and tired of doing films that had massive amounts of gory violent sex scenes, especially with the film he had just finished, and after reading the script for ‘TIME AFTER TIME, was even more eager to appear in the film and it would have been his first ever film to be working in Hollywood and had a great time. With this film we are informed that this was the first time the people at Panavision allowed them to use their 50mm 1.1 lenses on this film, because it gave the cinematography a greater depth of field image wise. Like Malcom, Nicholas did not want to make a film that was filled with loads of people being stabbed grossly with a knife and seeing lots of gore and blood, so the film turned out more like a horror film, instead Nicholas points out you do not see anything, it is all in the imagination of thinking you are actually seeing something, sort of mind over matter and Nicholas feels this is a much more frightening scenario. Malcolm decided he wanted to try and get the accent of H.G. Wells right, so the BBC lent him an actual recording of H.G. Wells on a 78rpm record and when he heard the actual voice of H.G. Wells he was horrified, as he had a South London accent and this was not on as he knew Americans would not understand the accent of his voice, so Malcolm decided to stick to his own voice. Nicholas informs us that the time machine was modelled on the Nautilus submarine in the film ‘20,000 Thousand Leagues Under The Sea,’ and also informs us that the actual time machine prop is in Nicholas’s home in a Perspex case. Nicholas talks very glowing about the composer Miklós Rózsa and his film score music for the film and did not want a modern music score, as he points out that H.G. Wells was a man of the 19th century and wanted a 19th century symphonic score, but at the time the Warner Bros. Executives wanted to change the film score music, but Nicholas stood his ground and put a large advert in the trade paper Variety, praising Miklós Rózsa film score and the Executives caved in and Nicholas got his way and both Nicholas and Malcolm loves the film score for the film, especially when H.G. Wells takes his trip in the time machine, and Nicholas you would be going so fast you would not see anything, so instead you hear all the old radio news broadcast to emphasis of going through time. One curious anomaly I felt while watching the film, why did the time machine end up in San Francisco, well Nicholas reveals the secret, by informing us that H.G. Wells house and contents were all shipped to the San Francisco for the exhibition and that is why the phenomenon happened, so at last the mystery is solved. One other thing that played on my mind is the actual hotel that Jack The Ripper was staying in, and the one that H.G. Wells goes to confront Jack The Ripper, well Nicholas points out it is a very famous hotel in San Francisco and is the same one Mel Brooks used in his film ‘HIGH ANXIETY.’ Nicholas also informs us that the film was a 5 Movie scenario wrapped up in one, where you have a Thriller, Romance, Comedy, Science Fiction and a mordant social commentary and something you can cogitate each time you view the film, as you will see something different each time. Malcolm points out a very good observation, that today you do not see a character on his own most of the time, where you build up his character slowly, whereas with modern films you get everything with quick edits and do not allow the character to develop. When you see the scene with Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen in the Muir Woods National Monument which is the National Park Service on Mount Tamalpais near the Pacific coast, in southwestern Marin County, California and part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and is 12 miles north of San Francisco, it is the same location as used in the Alfred Hitchcock film ‘VERTIGO’ and is Nicolas Meyer’s favourite location. Nicolas Meyer informs us that during the chase scenes with David Warner and Malcolm McDowell around the hotel area, David Warner is replaced with a stunt double for far shots because he was still on the mend from two broken ankles. In close-up shots, he can be seen running very carefully as not to hurt himself. Also, for scenes where Malcolm McDowell is running through the columns, he is also replaced with a double because of a sprained ankle. As we move to the climax of the film, Malcolm McDowell ponders on the business of acting and especially appearing in films and says, “And the thing about film acting, it has to be a lot of fun, it has to be enjoyable, because if that light is going to go on behind the eyes, there has got to be a twinkle there, it can only be done, and you can only find that feeling with total fun and enjoyment in the character and the process, and Picasso said, that it took him 70 years to learn how to draw a straight line, and Malcolm states that in a weird way, the more that you know, the more you have to forget and let spontaneity and intuition take over. Malcolm also thinks that is the secret in a way for himself anyway, with growing up with work of acting and changing with work, and after another 10 years or so, it changes enormously and you change the person and you change as an actor and you have to keep that sync. One thing that really surprised me, is that we find out that Malcolm has admitted that he had never seen the original George Pal 1960 film ‘THE TIME MACHINE’ and to me that is a sacrilege admission and has only viewed clips on the television. But as to the film ‘TIME AFTER TIME’ Malcolm admits seeing it again while viewing a screening of the DVD, feels it still holds up very well and every element works and also admits it is a fabulous thing and so glad he managed to be cast in the film, and thanks Nicholas Meyer. Malcolm also comments in saying that he is amazes how well this film still stands up, he is also very proud of it, and everybody in the film, especially Mary, who he thought was fabulous, as well as David, and Malcolm informs us that as soon as he can is going to telephone his fellow Stratford actor that evening to tell him how brilliant he as in the film. Malcolm also praises Nicholas Meyer’s script, and his direction, plus the amazing film score music, the lighting, and every single element was fantastic. Nicholas Meyer comments that he felt there were a lot of mistakes throughout the film, but overall it still holds up very well, because he felt it was smart, its sweet, it is exciting and does not feel the film is dated particularly, but wished there had been a lot more close-ups, but most of all it was the happiest experience of making the film and feels it turned out so well and it is so well loved and makes Nicholas very pleased and there is an enormous sweetness to the whole enterprise, gore notwithstanding. As the credits roll up the screen and coming to the end, Malcolm comments that it was a great pleasure seeing the film again; it was an amazing period, despite the short time of only three months shooting time in his life and also at the same time fell in love on the film with Mary and felt she was staggering, and also feels that Mary was right, when she said to our kids, “If you want to see how Dad and I worked, when we were falling in love, go rent ‘TIME AFTER TIME.’ As we get near to the end of the credits, Nicholas says, “The world that is depicted in this film, put aside the time travel stuff, is a world that we recognise all too well, I might add. I think it is a good story, well enough told.” So ends a really fascinating and very informative audio commentary, and Nicholas Meyer and Malcolm McDowell were equally fascinating to listen to and you never get bored, so all in all I give it ten out of ten marks for a totally brilliant audio commentary and not one to be missed.
Theatrical Trailer [1979] [480i] [1.78:1] [2:33] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘TIME AFTER TIME.’ Sadly the quality of the print is atrocious, plus it is not in its proper theatrical 2.40:1 aspect ratio. Despite this, it is a very good dramatic presentation trailer.
Finally, 'TIME AFTER TIME' is one of the films most requested from the Warner Archive Collection, and it has already proven so popular that a second pressing was ordered even before street date release. Fans who have been patiently awaiting the film's Blu-ray release can be reassured that Warner Archive Collection has not let them down. ‘TIME AFTER TIME’ is an enjoyable thinking person’s adventure tale, buoyed by two fine performances and a well thought out set of themes and very much worth looking into. Warner Archive Collection has done a good job with this new transfer, and even though this release sadly doesn't offer any new bonus features for fans, Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso United Kingdom
