The Time Machine (1960)

In producer/director George Pal's and MGM's science fiction classic, based upon H.G. Wells' 1895 novel 'The Time Machine', about travel across vast amounts of time and space; it told about an inventor in Victorian-Era England who constructed a time machine to enable him to travel forward in time (in the 4th dimension) to the year 802,701, where he discovered a dystopian future caused by an earlier nuclear holocaust. Mankind had been divided into two groups - the passive, vegetarian, childlike, illiterate and carefree Eloi and the monstrous underground-dwelling, cannibalistic mutants known as Morlocks who controlled society.

The film, shot with Metrocolor, won the Oscar for Best Special Effects (its sole nomination), competing against only one other film The Last Voyage (1960), a disaster film starring Robert Stack about the fifth and last voyage of the aging SS Claridon en route to Japan across the Pacific. The most exceptional scenes in the film were the amazing time-lapse photography (also with stop-motion animation and traveling mattes) employed in the scenes of fast-forward travel in the 'time machine.' The film's tagline advertised: "You Will ORBIT Into the Fantastic Future!" Its budget of $850,000 was spread out and used for many fantastic effects in its depiction of centuries of time, including Victorian England at the turn of the century, three World Wars (with the Blitz, nuclear explosions and lava flow), and a post-apocalyptic future with underground caverns and frightening creatures.

It was suave and handsome Australian actor Rod Taylor's first starring role in a major film as the time-traveling character of "George" (there was no last name heard in the dialogue, although he definitely represented H.G. Wells, whose name appeared on a control-panel name-plate of the machine itself), after appearing in minor roles in 50's films, including Giant (1956), Raintree County (1957), and Separate Tables (1958).

Director Pal in the 1950s had been a producer of other sci-fi films, including Destination Moon (1950), When Worlds Collide (1951), H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (1953), The Naked Jungle (1954), and Conquest of Space (1955). Hal's first directed feature was MGM's Tom Thumb (1958).

This influential time travel film was followed by another Wells' inspired movie - Nicholas Meyer's remake Time After Time (1979), starring Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenbergen that was set in both 1893's London and 1979's San Francisco, in pursuit of serial killer 'Jack the Ripper'. It was also remade as The Time Machine (2002), a loose adaptation directed by H.G. Wells' great-grandson Simon Wells, starring Guy Pearce. In the 2002 iteration, it was set in New York, and the main character's name was Alexander.

• in the opening pre-titles sequence, against a black background, various time-keeping devices floated or drifted across the screen -- an ancient rock sundial on a pedestal, an antique hourglass with sand, a Greek water clock, a rotating clock with three golden cherubs reaching up to chimes, two loudly-ticking squarish clocks or timepieces, a grandfather clock in a wooden frame, and additional timekeeping mechanisms, ending with Big Ben in London chiming on the half-hour
• in the first scene on a snowy, wintry night on January 5, 1900, four gentlemen met at 8 pm at the London residence of their friend, scientist and inventor "George" (Rod Taylor); they had met five days earlier on December 31, 1899, and were reinvited back for dinner; the four guests were greeted by housekeeper Mrs. Watchett (Doris Lloyd); the guests assembled in the library, lined with timepieces of all kinds, included red-haired scientist and best friend David Filby (Alan Young), hefty bearded businessman Dr. Philip Hillyer (Sebastian Cabot), cultured Anthony Bridewell (Tom Helmore), and Walter Kemp (Whit Bissell), awaiting the conspicuously-absent host "George"

David Filby (Alan Young)	Dr. Philip Hillyer (Sebastian Cabot)
Walter Kemp (Whit Bissell)	Anthony Bridewell (Tom Helmore)

• the host, known as the "Time Traveler" in the script, arrived late - appearing in the dining room doorway, disheveled, exhausted, with a torn shirt and dirt on his face; he began an explanation of what had happened to him, with a flashback to their earlier dinner meeting five days earlier
• at that time during another dinner get-together in his home, the traveler spoke of the possibility of movement within the 4th Dimension - Time ("The fourth dimension cannot be seen or felt"); he explained: "But when it comes to Time, we are prisoners"; he then unveiled from a box an invention that had been two years in the making - a miniature time machine - a "small experimental model"; he added: "To carry a man, a larger edition is needed" - to journey through time to either the past or the future; George pondered to himself: "Can man control his destiny? Can he change the shape of things to come?"
• when he activated the small-scale model (with a cigar impersonating an individual seated on it) by pushing a tiny lever on the front control panel, it disappeared; George explained: "It worked.... It's still here. But it's no longer in the present. Do you realize, it's traveling through time. To the future, to be exact...Time changes space"; George announced he was planning to take a journey into the future; all the gentlemen scoffed (especially Hillyer) at the "contraption" when it vanished, except for Filby
• after all of the gentlemen left, Philby remained behind for a moment, and expressed worries over George's state of mind and well-being, and strange preoccupations: "You've been behaving oddly for over a month now...You've changed, George, enormously"; George admitted he didn't care for the present very much, especially its rampant warfare and spread of weaponry: ("I don't much care for the time I was born into...I prefer the future"); Philby was concerned about his friend's ungodly tampering with time: "I have no desire to tempt the laws of Providence. And I don't think you should. It's not for man to trifle with....If that machine can do what you say it can, destroy it. Destroy it, George, before it destroys you!"; as the two parted, George told Philby to invite the entire group back for dinner in five days
• George retreated to his laboratory (a converted greenhouse with glass windows) - the location of his full-scale 'Time Machine' - a duplicate of the miniature model; it had the same appearance as the smaller version - a red velvet Victorian seat with a futuristic control panel of levers, and behind the seat, a sled or sleigh-shaped mechanism with a large circular rotating clockwork disc (resembling a solar disc)
• as the film progressed, there were multiple stops along the way in his 'time travel' journey to the future; there were a few predicted elements of the future that author Wells had alluded to in his novel: December 31, 1899 (earlier meeting, seen only in flashback), January 5, 1900 (dinner meeting 5 days later), September 13, 1917 (The Great War, or WWI), June 19, 1940 (WWII in Europe, the English "Blitz"), August 18, 1966 (air-raid warnings and underground shelters, during an atomic blast followed by a volcanic eruption), and October 802,701 (the far future)
• at the start of his first journey, George seated himself in his time travel machine and pushed the crystalline lever forward (the time machine was crystal-powered); after advancing only a short distance in time (about 2 hours), he noticed differences in his environment (visualized through stop-motion animation and/or time-lapse photography) - the candle was shorter in inches; then he proceeded further ahead, watching the arc of the sun, and flowers progressing through their life cycle

Changes in Time Reflected in Stop-Motion (or Time-Lapse)

• as he went faster and pushed the lever further ahead, he noticed other more rapid developments over a series of days and weeks: the mannequin in the store window across the street changed styles and fashions (in voice-over): "I began to grow very fond of that mannequin. Maybe because, like me, she didn't age"

Mannequin Changing Dress Styles and Fashions in Storefront Window

• in the year 1917 (September), things drastically changed as the greenhouse windows were abruptly boarded up and it turned dark: ("Suddenly the light was gone"); George exited the time machine and noticed that in his adjoining house, the furnishings were covered and it was very dusty and full of cobwebs; outside, the exterior of the closed-up house was unkempt and overgrown with weeds, and it was fenced off with PRIVATE PROPERTY-KEEP OUT signs; out on the street, he mistook son James Filby (also Alan Young) for his father David; James informed him that his father had died in the war a year earlier; he also learned that "the inventor chap" from across the street disappeared "around the turn of the century," and that war had been raging between Britain and Germany since 1914; David had been the executor of the inventor's estate, but had refused to liquidate it - believing that the owner would eventually return
• George returned to his house, removed the boards from the greenhouse windows, reseated himself, and proceeded further into the future; his next time-travel stop was in 1940 - due to an exploding bomb nearby; upset that another war was occurring, ("The war with Germany was still waging. Now in the air with flying machines. Then I realized the truth of the matter. This was a new war"), the disillusioned traveler decided to proceed further, and about the year 1942, his house was hit, flames shot up, and his home was "gone in an instant" - and he found himself in the open air

June 19, 1940

In 1942, His House "Gone In an Instant"

August 18, 1966

• due to sounds of strange sirens and other loud noises, the traveler stopped his machine on August 18, 1966, and found himself in an open garden park area; he watched as people were hastily departing from their parked cars and running toward a nearby underground air-raid shelters for safety; he noticed a plaque erected in the park where his sundial had been positioned: "THIS PARK IS DEDICATED BY JAMES FILBY TO HIS FATHER'S DEVOTION FOR HIS FRIEND, GEORGE"; outside the Filby's Department Store, George noticed an elderly James in his mid-60s, one of the Civil Defence Wardens dressed in a silver plastic suit with white helmet, who was scurrying toward the shelter to take cover: ("We'd better be going before the mushrooms start sprouting"); although Filby remembered speaking to him in 1917, he then thought it had to be very unlikely: "That's impossible! You haven't changed. You're not a day older"; ignoring George's questions, he fled when he observed up in the sky: "An atomic satellite zeroing in!"
• George was thrown to the ground by shockwaves from a blinding flash, followed by an explosion and a giant mushroom cloud on the horizon; the atomic blast destroyed the once-beautiful city, and molten lava flowed through the streets; George thought to himself (voice-over): "The labor of centuries, gone in an instant"; the bomb set off volcanic explosions and a massive, red-hot lava flow: ("Mother Earth, aroused by man's violence, responded with volcanic violence of her own. Only my speed through time saved me from being roasted alive and encased in stone forever"); he had no choice but to rush to his time-traveling machine and escape into the future
• as he traveled onward through centuries of time, he prayed to be saved: ("I prayed, wondering how many centuries, how many eons must pass before the wind and rain could wear away the mountain that enclosed me"); he lit a march in the darkness to see the control panel spinning and passing through many hundreds of years ("I put my trust in time and waited for the rock to wear down around me"); suddenly, the rock was finally worn away, and blue sky with a lush landscape surrounded him; he declared: "I was free again"; he asked himself: "Thousands of centuries had passed, but the Earth had stayed green! There was no winter! No wars! Had man finally learned to control both the elements and himself? I had to stop and find out"
• he had hurtled toward October 12, 802701; when he finally pulled the lever back too sharply, his time machine began to wildly spin and capsize, and he was tossed onto the ground; he noticed he had tumbled down in front of large metal doors - the base of a temple with a Sphinx-like head; he wandered into a magnificent green garden area with flowers (and devoid of weeds or briars); he was overjoyed: "Trees and vines laden with fruits of strange shapes and colors. Nature tamed completely, and more bountiful than ever before! At last, I'd found a paradise" - but he wondered if he was all alone: ("But it would be no paradise if it belonged to me alone")
• he came across the gigantic ruins of a weathered and broken-down large structure with two sphinx statues on either side of a large flight of concrete stairs: ("Unrepaired for centuries! Maybe unlived in for as long"); inside were low tables (without seats but cushions for sitting on the floor) with white metal place-settings and centerpieces of exotic fruit; he called out: "Anybody here?" and his voice echoed; outside, as he continued to wander about apprehensively, he began to hear human voices, splashing water and laughter; he found people of the utopian future (youthful, carefree, and innocent-looking barefooted men and women in thin pastel-colored robes) who were swimming, sunbathing, romping, and playing in the sunshine: "So this is man's future, to bask in the sunlight, bathe in the clear streams and eat the fruits of earth with all knowledge of work and hardship forgotten"
• suddenly, he heard screams from one of the drowning girls in the rough current, while other indifferent individuals looked on and completely ignored her plight or came to her rescue; when no one responded to his calls: "HELP HER!", George dived into the water and saved her; however, she didn't respond when he asked: "Are you alright?"; she appeared bewildered, unemotional, and lacking either gratitude or fear for being rescued; he couldn't understand why no one acknowledged his presence

Upon Arrival, the Time Machine Wildly Spun and Tossed Him to the Ground	A Sphinx-Like Statue Atop a Temple Structure	The Time Machine Outside Large Black Metal Temple Doors
Giant Structure - In Disrepair	Inside the Great Hall Were Low Tables Laden With Fruit	First View of the People of the Future by Water's Edge

• afterwards, George watched as the oblivious young people in their multi-colored robes ran over to the Great Hall and entered; he was astonished and perplexed that they were completely uninterested in him, except for the girl he had saved; she came over to him on the steps and asked: "Why did you...come after me?"; to his surprise, she was also apathetic about his rescue of her, like the others, causing him to wonder: "That's a very curious attitude - a very curious world"; after he followed up: "Aren't you interested in who I am? Where I come from?", she answered: "Should I be?"; when he asked to speak to someone older, she replied: "There is no one older" - and he realized everyone was the same age; she gave him her name Weena (Yvette Mimieux), and the name of her race of small and delicate young people (known as the Eloi); he spelled the two words out in the dust of the steps; she was fearful of the dark and led him inside the Great Hall
• through further questioning of Weena and the others, George realized that the Eloi were illiterate, emotionless, didn't value life, lacked inquisitiveness about life or learning, and had no government or set of laws; they also didn't work, and were somehow provided with their clothing and food; he expressed his interest in finding out her civilization and asked: "Do you have books?" and one of the young men answered affirmatively

"Why did you...come after me?" - Naive and Childlike Weena (Yvette Mimieux)	He Spelled Out Her Name and Her Race	Inside the Great Hall, Asking Questions of the Eloi
The Dusty, Neglected Library	Crumbling Pages of a Book in His Hands	The Entire Library Filled With Books That Had Completely Deteriorated
The Eloi - A 'Heavenly' Utopian Society of Emotionless Hedonism, Complete Ignorance, and Cruel Slavery

• he was led to a musty old library with shelves and shelves of books covered by dusty curtains; when he pulled one of the volumes from a shelf, the pages (and then the entire book) crumbled into ashes in his hands and fell to the floor; he reacted with rage for the disrespect and neglect shown to the books, and chastized the confused and apathetic lad for the utter lack of concern shown for the creation of historical works over thousands of years: "What have you done? Thousands of years of building and rebuilding, creating and re-creating so you can let it crumble to dust! A million years of sensitive men dying for their dreams. For what?! So you can swim and dance and play!"
• George strode back into the Great Hall and announced his utter frustration with their society: "I'm going back to my own time! I won't even bother to tell of the useless struggle, the hopeless future, but at least I can die among men!"; he marched back to his time machine, but was stunned that it was missing; parallel tracks (with half-human footprints next to them revealed it had been dragged inside the temple's locked doors; he also noticed some pale, indistinct figures observing and spying on him behind some bushes
• Weena had followed him, to inform him that he was unable to open the metal doors: "No one opens it. Only the Morlocks"; he learned that she was clearly frightened of the underground-dwelling Morlocks whom they were forced to obey, when she told him: "They give us the food we eat and the clothes we wear. We must obey their command"; he commented on her childlike nature for being fearful of the dark - presumably because the Morlocks only came out at night
• he suggested building a fire and await the morning before trying to enter the doors; as they gathered dry pieces of firewood, he reminisced about how his house and laboratory stood exactly where they were now; but he was clearly frustrated with what the future had revealed to him: "I had hoped to learn such a great deal. I hoped to take back the knowledge and the advancement that mankind had made. Instead, I find vegetables. The human race reduced to living vegetables"
• as he spoke to her, she was dragged off screaming by one of the white-haired Morlock creatures into the bushes, and he again rescued her; he hoped the fire he had lit would keep them away; however, she cluelessly reached out into the fire, and he muttered: "No knowledge of fire. No books, huh"; then, he apologized for his outburst earlier against her people in the Great Hall: ("I am sorry I was angry with your people. I had no right to be"); he recognized in Weena a possible and daring spirit of self-sacrifice and inquiry: ("And you have that quality. I think all of your people have it, really. It just needs someone to reawaken it. I should like to try if you'll let me. Will you?"); she answered: "I do not understand you, but I believe you"
• when he further asked her about the Morlocks, she couldn't answer; his questions about the past and future were simply answered: "There is no past....There is no future"; he was hopeful that he could rekindle their spark of emotion and interest in life: "The past, man's past, is mainly a grim struggle for survival. But there have been moments when a few voices have spoken up. And these rare moments have made the history of man, man's past, a glorious thing. I refuse to believe it's dead and gone. We've had our dark ages before. This is just another one of them. All it needs is for someone to show you the way out. I'm only a tinkering mechanic, but I'm sure there must be that hidden spark in one of your people. If only I can kindle that spark, my coming here will have some meaning"
• the next morning to find another way to retrieve his machine, Weena and George surveyed open concrete domed structures through which ominous sounds of giant throbbing machines emerged; Weena mentioned learning about the machines and life underground through "rings that talk"; she led him to a green-walled ancient museum (down a corridor inside the Great Hall) to demonstrate the rings, that she said explained "things no one here understands"; by spinning them, recordings briefly told the de-evolving history of the Earth - marked by continual warfare - (voice of Paul Frees) "The war between the East and West, which is now in its 326th year, has at last come to an end....The atmosphere has become so polluted with deadly germs that it can no longer be breathed. There is no place on this planet that is immune...Some chose to take refuge in the great caverns and find a new way of life far below the Earth's surface. The rest of us decided to take our chances in the sunlight - small as those chances might be"
• in voice-over, George told what he had learned from the rings: "From the talking rings, I learned how the human race divided itself and how the world of the Eloi and the Morlocks began. By some awful quirk of fate, the Morlocks had become the masters and the Eloi their servants. The Morlocks maintained them and bred them like, like cattle, only to take them below when they reached maturity. Which explained why there were no older people among them"
• George was determined to enter one of the domed structures (a well or air shaft) to go below and search for his time machine; Weena was worried: "You won't come back!," but he reassured her: "I'll be back"; she gave him a pink blossom that he put in his pocket; after partially descending, he heard loud air-raid sirens from the Sphinx-like structure blasting a deafening noise; he reappeared on the surface and watched as the Eloi marched expressionless and trance-like from the Great Hall and other locations straight toward the structure to enter into the metal gates that were now open; they were being summoned to their deaths, taking advantage of their instinctual response to the air-raid sirens to seek underground cover
• frantically, George searched for Weena but was unable to reach her and save her before the metal doors closed and locked behind her, when the sirens subsided: ("It is all clear"); after persistent questioning, the Eloi could not tell him what would happen to "the ones who went below"; one man answered: "They never come back. Nobody can bring them back" before everyone calmly dispersed

Down the Air Shaft to an Underground Cavern	Machines Throbbing Noisily	A Feasting Room - Evidence of Cannibalism
Underground, the Eloi Were Herded Like Cattle	The Hideous Morlocks With Blinking, Glowing Eyes	The Morlocks Ready to Attack

• he returned to the domed structure and climbed back down into the rocky shaft to the base floor of an underground cavern; he constructed a makeshift torch, and then after searching around and finding throbbing machines, he was dismayed to locate a feasting room - a depository of human skeletons and remains providing evidence of carnivorous cannibalism; he reacted (in voice-over); "So this was the destiny of the Eloi. They were being bred by the Morlocks who had degenerated into the lowest form of human life"; he watched as a group of Eloi (including Weena) was forced to march in single-file by whip-wielding Morlocks (half-human and half-ape creatures with clawed hands, blinking and glowing eyes, savage teeth, greenish-blue skin, and long white hair on their heads and arms)
• he was able to protect the group of Eloi by fending off the Morlocks with a lit match to blind them; they were fearful of fire and bright light; he also fought them off with a burning torch, as he attempted to guide the Eloi to safety; he also brawled with the monstrous creatures using his fists before he was able to lead the long line of Eloi on a rocky stairway-ledge out of the cavern and up the well entrance to the surface; he encouraged the Eloi to toss piles of dried wood back into the wells, feeding the flames already burning below, and causing explosions that collapsed the wells and swallowed up the entire cave area and obliterated many of the Morlocks
• George described in voice-over the partial victory he had won to free the Eloi from fear, but that he felt trapped in their very different world: ("Another night was coming, but this night, no Eloi needed to fear. The underworld of the Morlocks was gone and so was the life of leisure for the Eloi. But then what of me? I was imprisoned in a world in which I just did not belong"; he explained to Weena that to the people of his own time, he could tell them "about the sorrow and the happiness that the future has in store for them. Maybe they could learn from it. Or could they?"; he assured her that she was his only love: "No one like you"
• as he was telling her - and about to kiss her: "Oh, Weena, I wish we could go back to my time, or even to the time before that when the world was young. We could be so very happy....", they were interrupted by excited Eloi voices, reporting that the temple's Sphinx-like statue was broken in half and that the metal doors had opened - revealing his time machine; George raced inside to prepare to travel back in time, but Weena hesitated too long and the doors shut behind him; it was revealed to be a trap - he was briefly attacked by a few Morlocks before he was able to activate the time machine, and return to January 5, 1900; at first however, as he watched a dead Morlock deteriorate through time before his eyes, he realized he was advancing into the future rather than going back in time, and he corrected himself

George to Weena: "We could be so very happy..."	Weena Blocked From Entering the Metal Doors	Back in Possession of His Time Machine
The Dead Morlock Deteriorating In Front of Him	Realizing That He Was Going Forward in Time, Not Backward	Journeying Back to the Year 1900

• due to the different positioning of the time machine by the Morlocks, George found that when he had arrived home on January 5, 1900, the mechanism was outside in his garden area; as he stumbled into his home, the flashback ended, and he was seated at the dinner table with his guests at 9:20 pm
• his dinner guests were skeptical, calling his tale "preposterous," "ridiculous," and "a good yarn"; even George admitted he could hardly believe what had happened to him: ("Take it as a lie if you wish. I scarcely believe it myself, now that I'm back"); to prove the account of his travels, he showed everyone the still-fresh exotic pink flower that Weena had given him, but they were still disbelieving and soon left, except possibly for amateur botanist Filby; as Filby was leaving, George thanked him for his future faith and dedication in him: "Thanks for being such a good friend, David. Always"

Last Sentimental Goodbye Between David and George

Filby's Epilogue Response to Mrs. Watchett: "He has all the time in the world"

• in the film's speculative epilogue, after briefly leaving, the concerned Filby returned to the house, but realized after hearing the start-up noises of the time machine in the greenhouse that his best friend was taking another time-travel adventure (tracks of the machine revealed it had been dragged back inside from the garden); he began to ponder George's fate with housekeeper Mrs. Watchett: "Weena was standing here when he last saw her. Right here! The same space in a different time. So he dragged his heavy machine back in here, scratching the floor so he could appear outside the Sphinx again and help the Eloi build a new world. Build a new world for himself. Right where he left her"
• David speculated that George wouldn't return "empty-handed to try to rebuild a civilization without a plan" - and had taken three books with him (noticed missing from the shelves); when asked if he might return some day: "Mister Filby, do you think he'll ever return?", Filby answered (with the film's last line): "One cannot choose but wonder. You see, he has all the time in the world"