When modern readers hear the title TIME AFTER TIME, they are far more likely to think in terms of Cyndi Lauper's song than of Malcom McDowell or David Warner. I would strongly suggest that these readers get themselves a copy of TIME AFTER TIME.
Set in the 19th century, it involves H. G. Wells and his time machine. Somehow, Jack the Ripper finds out about it, and hops a ride to 1979 (conveniently enough, when this movie was released to mainstream theaters). Once Wells figures out what Jack T. Ripper did, he himself decides to follow Mr. Ripper, and ends up in a 20th-century San Francisco museum displaying items relating to Wells.
We follow Wells around the city by the bay, and discover just how much - or how little - he knows of modern civilization. He visits McDonald's and has his first known taste of what he calls pommes frites (French fries). Eventually, he walks into a bank and introduces himself to one Amy Robbins, a bank employee played by Mary Steenburgen. (According to the filmmakers, Wells was actually involved with someone named Amy Robbins at one time.) The pair eventually visits a local upscale restaurant, then become - ahem - intimate, in a scene containing much delightful humor which plays off Wells' lack of knowledge of the way in which dating customs have changed.
Inevitably, Wells and Jack the Ripper meet up with each other and engage in a truly frightening cat-and-mouse game. In the original incarnation of this review, I inadvertently gave away the ending, and I wished to revise it accordingly in order to avoid giving out "spoilers" for such a good film. You have to see the cat-and-mouse chase, and its sequelae, to be able to fully appreciate the film.
Nicholas Meyer's involvement in this film shows. As viewers of the STAR TREK movies he's directed know, he is fond of classic literature (quoting such "biggies" as Moby Dick in THE WRATH OF KHAN, for example), and here, it is obvious. He is able to direct Malcom McDowell (Wells) and David Warner (Jack the Ripper) to excellent performances. I feel it is largely on the strength of his performance as Jack the Ripper that Warner gains his reputation as a superior actor of "bad guy" roles.
The sole weak spot in the entire movie is Mary Steenburgen. In what is apparently her movie debut, or at least her big-screen "big break," she acts, in my opinion, as if she were chronically afraid of the camera. (Steenburgen doesn't really warm to the camera for several movies. In MELVIN AND HOWARD, for example, there are times when she seems not even to be aware of the camera, but once she looks it in the eye, she acts the way she does in TIME AFTER TIME - scared to death that she is actually expected to act as if she were another person, on film, in front of this scary beast with a lens. Not until RAGTIME does she truly act convincing, and as if she were unaware of the camera's recording her every move.)
TIME AFTER TIME is taut, tense, generally well-acted and suspenseful. It is also the sort of fascinating historical science fiction for which Nicholas Meyer is rightly famous. I would recommend it for anyone interested in discovering little-known gems of the film world.
Recommended:
Yes
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older
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