''The Time Machine'' is a 1978 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

produced by

Sunn Classic Pictures Sunn Classic Pictures, also known as Sunn International Pictures, Schick Sunn Classic Pictures, and Taft International Pictures was an independent U.S.-based film distributor, founded in 1971. The company was notable for family films and document ...

as a part of their ''

Classics Illustrated ''Classics Illustrated'' is an American comic book/magazine series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as '' Les Misérables'', ''Moby-Dick'', ''Hamlet'', and '' The Iliad''. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication ...

'' series. The film is loosely based on the 1895 science fiction novel of the same name by English author

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

. The film stars John Beck and

Priscilla Barnes Priscilla Barnes (born ) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Terri Alden in the ABC sitcom'' Three's Company'' between 1981 and 1984. Barnes also has appeared in films, including '' A Vacation in Hell'' (1979), ''Licence to ...

, and was broadcast November 5, 1978 during the November Sweeps on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

Plot

Dr. Neil Perry is a 1970s scientist working for a fictional US

defense contractor A defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military or intelligence department of a government. Products typically include military or civilian aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and ...

, "the Mega Corporation". According to his senior co-worker Branly, Perry is one of Mega's most reliable contributors. Perry's skill is demonstrated by his rapid reprogramming of an off-course satellite, averting a disaster that could have destroyed

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. His reputation had secured a grant of $20 million for his time machine project. A month from completion, the corporation wants Perry to put his project on hold so that he can begin work on a new weapons project, the "anti-matter bomb." The unexpectedly early completion of the power module that Perry needed to complete the time machine permits him to test his creation the weekend before he is set to begin work on the anti-matter bomb. Perry time travels twice over the course of the weekend, and reports to Haverson, Branley, and J.R. Worthington, chairman of the board of Mega Corporation. As Perry tells the story of his travels, reversed

time-lapse Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and th ...

images of building construction demonstrate Perry's passage backwards in time. Unlike the novel, the time machine and its rider do not stay in the same place as they travel through time, and the machine can travel to different locations. Perry first goes to 1692

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem was one ...

, where he is caught up in the

Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Not everyone wh ...

and found guilty of witchcraft. He is sentenced to be burned at the stake with his time machine. Tied up in the seat of his machine, he is able to free himself in order to escape. He detours into 1871 to avoid a time warp and arrives in the midst of the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

, where he is shot at by miners who thinks that he is trying to steal their gold shipment and is arrested. Perry's ingenuity and the distraction of a

bank robbery Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank Branch (banking), branch or Bank teller, tel ...

allow him to escape. When Perry returns to his lab in the present, he receives a chilling report of the environmental impact of Mega Corporation's latest weapons. Perry then travels into the future to supply proof for the report's projections and convince Haverson that Mega's current agenda will lead to global devastation. Perry witnesses the fiery destruction of civilization, but also the re-emergence of nature from the wasteland. During the devastation humanity retreated underground. Eventually some decided to return to the surface. Those who did so became the

Eloi The Eloi are one of the two fictional species of post-humans, along with the Morlocks, in H. G. Wells' 1895 novel ''The Time Machine''. In H. G. Wells' ''The Time Machine'' By the year AD 802,701, humanity has diverged into two separate sp ...

. Those who remained underground became the

Morlock Morlocks are one of the two fictional species of post-humans created by H. G. Wells for his 1895 novel ''The Time Machine'' (the other being the Eloi). The origin of the names is not established (with regard to Wells' inspiration or inspiration ...

s. The Morlocks have just begun to "harvest" the Eloi for food when Perry arrives on the scene (the year is not made specific). He is befriended by Weena, who explains how the Eloi-Morlock world came to be. A special

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

of technology, showcasing weapons from Perry's era, includes Perry's name on a card identifying a weapon he designed. A video and audio presentation in the museum reveals that Perry's new assignment at Mega Corporation will be directly responsible for the world's destruction. Before he returns to his own time, Perry and Ariel, the male Eloi, use plastic explosives found in the museum to seal off the Morlocks' three entrances to the Eloi habitat. Perry gives his report to Haverson and Worthington, and discovers they are uninterested in saving the world from destruction. Instead, they are interested in using the time machine to gain a military advantage over other world powers. Perry leaves them and returns to Weena and the Eloi, who are now free of the Morlocks.

Cast

* John Beck as Dr. Neil Perry *

Whit Bissell Whitner Nutting Bissell (October 25, 1909 – March 5, 1996) was an American character actor. Early life Born in New York City, Bissell was the son of surgeon Dr. J. Dougal Bissell and Helen Nutting Bissell. He was educated at the Allen-S ...

as Ralph Branly *

as Weena * R. G. Armstrong as General Harris * John Zaremba as The Secretary of Defense *

Andrew Duggan Andrew Duggan (December 28, 1923 – May 15, 1988) was an American character actor. His work includes 185 screen credits between 1949 and 1987 for roles in both film and television, as well a number more on stage. Background Duggan was born i ...

as Mega Board Chairman J.R. Washington (pronounced "Worthington") *

Rosemary DeCamp Rosemary Shirley DeCamp (November 14, 1910 – February 20, 2001) was an American radio, film, and television actress. Life and career Early life Rosemary Shirley DeCamp was born in Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona on November 14, 1910 to W ...

as Agnes, Neil Perry's Secretary *

Jack Kruschen Jacob "Jack" Kruschen (March 20, 1922 – April 2, 2002) was a Canadian character actor who worked primarily in American film, television and radio. Kruschen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Dr. Dreyf ...

as John Bedford * John Hansen as Ariel *

John Doucette John Arthur Doucette (January 21, 1921 – August 16, 1994) was an American character actor who performed in more than 280 film and television productions between 1941 and 1987. A man of stocky build who possessed a deep, rich voice, he p ...

as Sheriff Finley * Nick Steury as Dark Morlock *

Parley Baer Parley Edward Baer (August 5, 1914 – November 22, 2002) was an American actor in radio and later in television and film. Despite dozens of appearances in television series and theatrical films, he remains best known as the original "Chester" ...

as Henry Haverson *

Bill Zuckert William Zuckert (December 18, 1915 – January 23, 1997) was an American actor. Early years Born and raised in The Bronx, New York, Zuckert worked in the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington, D. C. for six years. During that time he beca ...

as Charlie

Critical response

Film critic David Sindelar defends the film against the accusation that it departs entirely from the novel. He states that the film's anti-war message was done better and more subtly by the George Pal film. Sindelar pokes fun at Perry's adventures in colonial America and the California Gold Rush and feels the Eloi appear and act too much like contemporary American young people.

Shooting locations

The Collier & Heins Financial Consultants building complex in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, was used for some of the modern era scenes. James Collier was president of the company in the late 1970s, and his office was used as Haverson's office. The Morlock scenes were shot in

Park City, Utah Park City is a city in Utah, United States. Most of the city is within Summit County, Utah, Summit County, with some portions extending into Wasatch County, Utah, Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is sou ...

- in at least the Silver King Mine - and around other mines. Parts of the film were also shot in

Kamas, Utah Kamas ( ) is a city in southwestern Summit County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,092 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is east of downtown Salt Lake City. Its main industries are cattle ranching and lumber. The town i ...

and also inside the Timpanogos Caves in American Fork, Utah (Section VII of article cited, Per #49).

Cast note

John Zaremba and Whit Bissell were cast regulars in

The Time Tunnel ''The Time Tunnel'' is an American color science-fiction television series written around a theme of time travel adventure; it starred James Darren and Robert Colbert. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen's third science-fiction televisi ...

, regularly working together on the tunnel set. Bissell also appeared in the 1960 film adaptation of H.G. Wells' novel.

References

External links

*
''The Time Machine'' at AllMovie
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Time Machine, The (1978 film) 1978 television films 1978 films 1970s science fiction adventure films American science fiction adventure films Films based on science fiction novels Films based on works by H. G. Wells Films set in 1692 Films set in 1855 Films set in 1871 Films set in 1978 Films set in the future Films set in Los Angeles Films set in Massachusetts Films set in the United States Films shot in Utah NBC original films The Time Machine Films about the California Gold Rush Salem witch trials in fiction 1970s English-language films Films directed by Henning Schellerup 1970s American films 1978 science fiction films English-language science fiction adventure films