Time After Time

The mythical art of time travel has, not surprisingly, fascinated Hollywood for a great many years, and continues to do so on a regular basis (ironic, in a way, considering that Hollywood itself embraces the past with such enthusiasm!) Many have taken the time travel concept and run with it - most famously Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future films, which went to a great deal of effort to exploit the possibilities of the concept. But the seminal time travel story, of course, is H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, a novel written in the late 19th century and brought to the screen both in 1960 (by George Pal) and less successfully in 2002 (directed by Wells’ great-grandson, no less).

"...only used by a little old lady to get to church on Sundays. In 1842."

Time After Time’s clever conceit is to have H.G. Wells as the lead character in the story - as the inventor of a real time machine. As the infamous Jack the Ripper runs riot across London, slashing his way through prostitutes in dark, dank alleyways, Wells (Malcolm McDowell) and his well-off friends are comfortably ensconced in a comfy home, having dinner and drinks and making conversation. But on this particular night, Wells has something to announce: he’s built a working time machine, and intends to use it to travel into the future, to a time when, he supposes, the world will be a violence-free, tolerant and blissfully happy utopia. But one of his dinner guests, Dr John Lesley Stevenson (David Warner), harbours a dark secret, and not at all surprisingly (the movie gives the game away from the first scene) it involves a scalpel, a gold coin or two and a fondness for being called Jack. Busted by the police in a fortuitous (and fictional) moment of brilliant detective work, the law shows up at Wells’ house to arrest their man. But Stevenson has fled - in the time machine, to 1979. There he discovers a world that has everything a violent bastard like him could want - lawlessness, debauchery, chaos and... disco! Wells has no choice - he must follow Stevenson to the future, stop him, and somehow find time for a little bit of romance with Mary Steenburgen.

The concept is a winner, and back in 1979 when this hit the cinemas it seemed both clever and unassailably hip. But time changes all things, and watching Time After Time nearly a quarter of a century later it’s hard not to be distracted by the things that aren’t quite right. Part of the problem is that the two basic story anchors - the time travel escapade and the notion of the “fish out of water� - have been done much more cleverly since. The amusement value in seeing a Victorian-era English gentleman trying to cope with modern-day San Francisco is lessened by the passage of time as well; the modern city of the “present day� looks, with all its bad clothes and boxy cars and cheesy discos and quaint technology, almost as antique as Wells’ 19th century home. The politics, too, are forced and clumsy; director and screenwriter Nicholas Meyer obviously wanted to make a broad statement about the role of women in modern society, but it’s handled by inserting slabs of primary-school level didactic speech that is often cringeworthy.

Those objections - and the masses of silly plot holes - aside, this isn’t bad as light entertainment. Both McDowell and Steenburgen (this was only her second movie) are good when the script allows them the chance, and there’s a sense of fun throughout that manages to push its way through even when the going gets truly silly. But it’s a film that’s very much a product of its time, and as a result seems goofily “yesteryear� while other entries in the genre remain timeless.

Though this is another NTSC region 4 release from Warner, the good news is that unlike much of their recent retro product, this is one of those rare films that scored a complete remastering for DVD release. As a result, fans of the film are treated to a brand new transfer in glorious 2.35:1 Panavision, 16:9 enhanced and looking better than it ever has on home video.

Or as it's known on telly, ME AFTER TIM.

The transfer itself is good, though not perfect; while the occasional scratch on the negative is to be expected (they’re rare), the main issue some will have with this effort is the ever-so-slightly-too-dark nature of much of the footage here. This does appear to have been a deliberate decision, though, and when you take into account both the age of the film and the fact that it’s unlikely much money was spent on the video transfer, you’d have to be churlish indeed to complain. For those who aren’t watching for nit-picking purposes it’s fine-weather sailing right the way through, with a razor-crisp image, perfect colour saturation and an opportunity to see some old-school special effects in sharp, flaw-revealing detail.

Placed on a dual layered disc but using very little of the extra space the format offers, this disc breaks for a layer change at a very cleverly-chosen point that most won’t notice.

The original film’s gritty Dolby Surround soundtrack is given some remastering attention for DVD as well, but only to the extent of sourcing a good-quality magnetic master tape and giving it a bit of a gentle tweak. Those hoping for a 5.1 remastering will be disappointed, but this early entry in the world of surround sound comes across well enough. Dialogue’s as tinny as you’d expect from the vintage (designed as it was to match cinema speakers of the day) while Miklos Rozsa’s magnificently over-the-top orchestral score (this was the guy who scored Ben-Hur, after all) is of reasonable fidelity but unlikely to win raves from audiophiles. It all serves the film well, and it’s worth pointing out that it sounds way better here than it ever did in the cinema.

Actual extras grace this disc, though not very many of them. As with all Warner NTSC offerings, this is made from the exact same master that the region 1 release was, so there is no difference between versions. It also means that this disc includes DVD Text and a jacket picture for players (Sony, mostly) that support those features.

Audio Commentary: Director Nicholas Meyer tries to remember making Time After Time after two-and-a-bit decades and two Star Trek movies. Time After Time was his directorial debut, and despite the intervening years he’s got plenty to say about his movie. Chatty as well is Malcolm McDowell, who turns out to be very good at this commentary lark and has plenty to offer - including reminiscences about working with Mary Steenburgen, who he would marry the following year (and then divorce a decade later). Even for those not obsessed by the actual movie, this is a very worthwhile listen.

It’s About Time: Ah, an enigmatic title. What could this be? An hour-long documentary about the concept of time travel? “Bzzt�. Oh, alright then, is it a half-hour doco about all the different ways they made the time machine zip in and out using late-'70s optical effects? “Bzzt.� Alrighty then - a 20-minute featurette on the making of the film? “Bzzt.� Err… a six minute EPK-style self-congratulatory blurb? “Bzzt.� An interview snippet? “Bzzt.� Okay, okay, get your hand off that buzzer, Sergeant Plod of the Extras Police. I’ll fess up. It’s About Time is actually a limp six-screen text summary of some other time-travel films, written with all the grace and enthusiasm of high school homework. The back cover, amusingly, calls this an “essay�.

Trailers: Three of ‘em, one each for Time After Time, The Time Machine (the 1960 version) and The Time Machine (2002’s troubled effort). All are 16:9 anamorphic, and look terrific.

Cast & Crew: The traditional Warner static screen with no filmographies.

Inescapable Copyright Notices: Three of these as well - two in languages you won’t comprehend. Which makes the decision to make this 30-second block of multi-lingual legalese compulsory viewing (you can’t even press “stop� once they hit the screen) is more frustrating than usual. Relax and be amused, though, by the stern legal warning that the disc is not to be used outside of Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Oops.

Corey Feldman: This was his first film. Hours of fun await as you work out drinking games based on who spots him first.

A fun, novel story with enough holes in it to single-handedly end the colander shortage that plagues kitchens worldwide on a regular basis, Time After Time makes for good nostalgic escapist entertainment as long as you come prepared to laugh at some seriously dated dialogue and one of the worst approximations of a “disco� song ever created. The three principal actors - McDowell, Steenburgen and Warner - make the most of the material, and technically the film’s well made.

Warner’s DVD is a pleasant surprise, offering a brand new widescreen transfer of the movie that was probably done in a hurry but still blows away any earlier efforts as well as many transfers of present-day films. As a budget-priced disc it’s well worth picking up if you’re a fan of the film or its stars - just be aware that you’ll need a TV that can handle NTSC to play it.