The Time Machine (1960)

What Genre Is It?

Sci-Fi Adventure

For being a 1960s Sci-Fi Adventure film, this classic has stood the test of time. While it is not the most accurate depiction of this literature story, the changes give this film version a more hopeful tone than that of the original novella by H.G. Wells. Also, the special effects were well done for a film from this time.

Why Watch The Time Machine?

Rod Taylor stars as scientist George Wells. George dreams of conquering the laws of physics and traveling through time. He invites his scientific friends over for dinner during the year 1899 to discuss the possibility of traveling through the fourth dimension. To his dismay, the men dismiss his time traveling theory—all that is except for one friend, David (Alan Young). David believes George may have something to the theory of a physical object remaining constant in a specific space while that same object may be transported into the future—unseen by the present individuals observing with the human eye.

Eager to prove his theory correct, George sets his machine for 14 years then 40 years into the future. Finally, he attempts the unbelievable– setting his machine for thousands of years into the future. What he sees haunts him. The human race has developed into a group of beings called Eloi. The Eloi are innocent to the cruelty and reality of life. However, the Eloi are also unfeeling and unobservant of the world around them. They spend their days in childish play. George is frustrated and confused by what he sees.

Being a scientist, he was eager to learn of the human race’s future discoveries but finds that the beings of the future don’t even understand what a book is. As he spends time with these citizens of the future, he questions their strange behavior. Why do the Eloi fear the nighttime? Why are there no elders in the Eloi’s city? And what is the strange noise that hypnotizes the Eloi—causing them to travel deep into the depths of the Earth, below ground into the den of the Morlocks?

Behind The Scenes Fun

Memorable Quote

“Gentleman, all I am asking you to do now, is to witness a demonstration of the possibility of movement…within the fourth dimension.”

~GEORGE WELLS