The Time Travelers (1964)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Ib Melchior

Writers:

Ib Melchior (story) and
David L. Hewitt (story) ...

Release Date:

29 October 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Romance | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Step Through "The Time Portal"

Plot:

A time travel experiment that was supposed to produce a window into time turns out to be a portal instead...

Plot Keywords:

Portal | Time Travel | Post Apocalyptic | Post Nuclear War | Time Loop

Cast

Preston Foster	...	Dr. Erik von Steiner
Philip Carey	...	Dr. Steve Connors
Merry Anders	...	Carol White
John Hoyt	...	Dr. Varno
Dennis Patrick	...	Councilman Willard
Joan Woodbury	...	Gadra
Delores Wells	...	Reena (Danny's girl)
Steve Franken	...	Danny McKee, the Electrician
Berry Kroeger	...	Preston
Gloria Leslie	...	Councilwoman
Mollie Glessing	...	Android (as Molly Glessing)
Peter Strudwick	...	The Mutant
J. Edward McKinley	...	Raymond
Margaret Seldeen	...	Miss Hollister
Forrest J Ackerman	...	Square-frame technician

Also Known As:

Depths of the Unknown
The Return of the Time Traveler
The Return of the Time Travelers
This Time Tomorrow
Time Trap

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Alpha Omega Studios - 821 Glendale Avenue, Glendale, California, USA

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

Producer Ray Dorn "borrowed" much of this movie for his own movie Journey to the Center of Time (1967). Irwin Allen also borrowed much of the concept for his TV series "The Time Tunnel" (1966). Director Ib Melchior declined to make waves so that he would continue getting work in Hollywood.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Out of this World Super Shock Show (2007) (V)

Time Traveling can be a mind-warp, er, headache

The reason a film such as this (low budget '50s or '60s sci-fi) is on many viewers favorites lists is not necessarily fond childhood memories or nostalgia - it's because it's well made. Of course, they had very little money for props and such, but the story is more inventive than 95% of the stuff that's released now or has been since the nineties; no, make that the eighties. Yes, I'm one of those guys who saw it 30 years ago as a kid on TV during a Saturday matinée slot or something; but I've seen it again within a couple of years ago and it's still quite entertaining. Here, the writers proposed a question, a 'what if?' question about time travel. What if certain people, a small group of scientists, accidentally invented a time travel device? What if they used it? (Again, accidentally). What if the device short-circuited too early? What if this, what if that - and so on, with inventive answers provided to each question. If you've never seen this picture, you're in for a treat - you'll be wondering what's the next answer every 5 to 10 minutes. This is a quality sorely lacking in most films today. Maybe all the good ideas have been used. The same concept was utilized a couple of years later in the short-lived "Time Tunnel" TV series, but that show lacked the wild turns of this sci-fi set up. Some of the further situations in this story of the future are a bit goofy, but I believe it's intentional. The ending, which I won't give away here, actually puts some pressure on the viewers to wrap their minds around. Watch for famous sci-fi fan & publisher Forrest J.Ackerman in a cameo. Whatta trip!