Time After Time (1979)

H.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to the 20th Century when the serial murderer uses the future writer's time machine to escape his time period.

Director:

Nicholas Meyer

Writers:

Karl Alexander (story), Steve Hayes (story)

Stars:

Malcolm McDowell, Mary Steenburgen, David Warner

7 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Malcolm McDowell	...	H.G. Wells
David Warner	...	Stevenson
Mary Steenburgen	...	Amy Robbins
Charles Cioffi	...	Lt. Mitchell
Kent Williams	...	Assistant
Andonia Katsaros	...	Mrs. Turner
Patti D'Arbanville	...	Shirley
James Garrett	...	Edwards
Keith McConnell	...	Harding
Leo Lewis	...	Richardson
Byron Webster	...	McKay
Karin Collison	...	Jenny (as Karin Mary Shea)
Geraldine Baron	...	Carol
Laurie Main	...	Inspector Gregson
Joseph Maher	...	Adams

Storyline

It's 1893 London. Futurist H.G. Wells believes that the future holds a Utopian society. He also believes in time travel. He has just built a time machine which he is displaying to a group of skeptical friends, including surgeon Dr. John Leslie Stevenson. Unbeknown to Wells or anyone else among that circle, Stevenson is better known to the public as Jack the Ripper. Just as the police are about to capture Stevenson, he uses the time machine to escape, with Wells being the only one who knows what happened to him. Not telling anyone except his trusting housekeeper, Wells follows Stevenson in order to capture and bring him back to face justice. Where Stevenson has gone is 1979 San Francisco. There, Wells is dismayed to find that the future is not Utopia as he had predicted. But Wells is also picked up by a young woman named Amy Robbins. As Wells and Amy search for Stevenson, Stevenson conversely is after Wells to obtain the master key to the time machine. As Stevenson continues his ...

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Plot Keywords:

time machine | jack the ripper | h.g. wells | time travel | bank | 

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Taglines:

The Wildest Chase of the Century!

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 September 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Escape al futuro

Filming Locations:

Trocadero Transfer, 520 Fourth Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion Pictures,Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During chase scenes at the hotel, 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.

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Goofs

In the film, Wells, claimed that his writings on "Free Love" financed the construction of his time machine. In reality, H.G. Wells was only 26 years old in 1893 and he would not yet have been an established, acclaimed, and well paid writer that had a large circle of peers, as depicted in the early scenes at his house. The early 1890s was a struggling period for Wells and he was actually living with his aunt due to being unemployed and having little money of his own. This would be after his short lived stint as a secondary school teacher, his first real professional position after graduating with a Bachelors Degree in 1890. Wells did not get his big break until 1895 with the publication of The Time Machine, only after which he was able to support himself with his writing.

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Quotes

Jack the Ripper: My mother was rather an atrocious woman in her way, but her many failings did not include raising mentally deficient sons.

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Connections

Referenced in Traceroute (2016)

User Reviews

Very Enjoyable Fantasy

Having a premise of HG Wells ( Yes that one ) pursue Jack the ripper ( Ditto ) to the 20th century has all the makings of a really camp and totally crap film , but despite the outrageous idea TIME AFTER TIME is a very enjoyable fantasy .

Unlike most time travel films ( THE TERMINATOR , BACK TO THE FUTURE not to mention several DOCTOR WHO and STAR TREK stories ) TIME AFTER TIME doesn`t really concern itself with concepts like the blinovitch limitation effect ie a temporal paradox , instead it concentrates on how a radical 19th century idealist like Wells would have found 20th century " Utopia " and how he would have been sickened by it . It`s here that the film works best with Wells travelling through the time vortex listening to the history of the 20th century and the scene with Wells and Jack watching television . It`s also interesting to note that the movie`s most amusing moments ( And they are genuinely amusing )are when Wells notices the difference in sexual mores of the present day . The film is much weaker when it switches to " Hero tracks down serial killer " type thriller but that`s not really what the film is about .