Time After Time

Plot synopsis:
In 1893 London, England, popular writer Herbert George "H.G." Wells (Malcolm McDowell) displays a time machine to his skeptical dinner guests. After explaining how it works (including a "non-return key" that keeps the machine at the traveler's destination and a "vaporizing equalizer" that keeps the traveler and machine on equal terms), police constables arrive at the house searching for the serial killer Jack the Ripper. One finds a bag, with blood-stained gloves, belonging to one of Herbert's friends, a surgeon named John Leslie Stevenson (David Warner), whom they are unable to locate in the house, concluding that Stevenson might be the infamous killer. Wells races to his laboratory, but the time machine is gone.Stevenson has escaped to the future, but because he does not have the "non-return" key, it automatically returns to 1893. Herbert uses it to pursue Stevenson to November 5, 1979, where the machine has ended up on display at a museum in San Francisco realizing that due to the machine traveling backwards by the geographic longitide and latitude, the machine had ended up in the unfamiliar USA.As Herbert walks around the city, he is deeply shocked by the future, having expected it to be an enlightened socialist utopia, only to find chaos in the form of airplanes, automobiles and a worldwide history of war, crime and bloodshed.Searching numerous banks for Stevenson - he believes an Englishman might need to exchange old currency - Herbert meets liberated Chartered Bank of London employee Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen). She directs Herbert to the Hyatt Regency hotel, as she previously had Stevenson.Confronted in his room by his onetime friend Herbert, Stevenson confesses that he finds modern society to be pleasingly violent. Apologetically, he states: "Ninety years ago, I was a freak. Now... I'm an amateur." Herbert demands he return with him to 1893 to face justice, but Stevenson, who without the "return key" would be unable to prevent the machine from automatically returning (and thereby blocking Herbert from any further pursuit), attempts to wrest it from him. Their struggle is interrupted by a hotel employees and Stevenson flees, getting hit by a car during the frantic chase on foot. Herbert follows him to the San Francisco General Hospital emergency room and mistakenly gets the impression that Stevenson had died from his injuries.Herbert meets up with Amy Robbins again and she is the aggressor in a romance (succeeding, once Herbert is sure that she is in earnest). Stevenson returns to the bank to exchange more money. Rightly concluding that it was Amy who had led Herbert to him, he finds out where she lives. Herbert, hoping to convince her of the truth, takes a highly skeptical Amy three days into the future. Once there, she is aghast to see a newspaper headline revealing her own murder as the Ripper's fifth victim (a temporal paradox).Herbert persuades her that they must go back - it is their duty to attempt to prevent the fourth victim's murder, then prevent Amy's. However, they are delayed upon their return to the present and can do no more than phone the police. Stevenson kills again, and Herbert is arrested because of his knowledge of the killing. Amy is left alone, totally defenseless, and at the mercy of the "San Francisco Ripper."At the police station, Herbert unsuccessfully tries to convince the police of Amy's peril (his claim to be "Sherlock Holmes" has marked him as a lunatic well before mentioning a "time machine"). At the same time, Amy attempts to hide from Stevenson. When the police finally do investigate her apartment, they find the dismembered body of a woman. Since he was in custody at the time Herbert is released having been cleared as a suspect.As Herbert wonders the dark streets mourning Amy's brutal death, he is suddenly confronted by Stevenson, who has actually killed Amy's co-worker Carol, who had accepted an invitation for dinner and to meet Wells. Stevenson then kidnapped Amy in order to extort the time machine key from Wells.Stevenson flees with the key - and Amy as insurance - to attempt a permanent escape in the time machine. Herbert gives chase in a car (despite not driving very well while Stevenson forces Amy to drive her car at gunpoint). Breaking into the museum, Herbert bargains for Amy's life, she is able to escape. As Stevenson starts up the time machine with the key, Herbert removes the "vaporizing equalizer" from the machine and Stevenson nods in understanding. The removal of this component, Herbert had confirmed earlier, causes the machine to remain in place while its passenger is sent traveling endlessly through time, with no way to stop; in effect sending him to oblivion.Herbert proclaims that the time has come to return to his own time, by himself, in order to destroy a machine that is too dangerous for primitive mankind. Amy pleads with him to take her along (despite her aversion to living in Victorian England). As they depart back to the past, she says that she is changing her name to Susan B. Anthony. The end credits reveal that the two later married.

Tags: murder, violence, cult, romantic, alternate history, sci-fi

Review:
The time travel effects are cheesy and mercifully few, but the film puts story and character way above visual effects, making for a good trade off.Malcolm McDowell is H.G. Wells who, in this movie, actually invents a time machine rather than just writing about one.
There, he enters Wells' time machine and escapes to the future.Feeling responsible for having turned the maniacal Jack the Ripper loose on the future utopia, Wells enters the machine (which returns to it's point of origin unless a special key is used) and follows Stevenson 90 years into the future.
The time machine, as well as most of his possesions, are on display in a San Francisco museum.While searching for Jack the Ripper he meets Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen), a foreign currency exchange officer at a bank.
This leads Wells to find Jack the RIpper, now decked out in 70s threads, well integrated into modern society...and continuing his fiendish deeds.From there, the movie engages the audience in Wells' and Robbins' pursuit of the Ripper through the streets of San Francisco with an entertaining mix of close-calls, sly humor, and the inevitable romance between Wells and Robbins.Malcolm McDowell plays the part of H.G. Wells with his usual intensity and skill, and comes off as very believable.
In the late 19th century The scientist H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) has build a time machine which his good friend John Leslie Stevenson aka Jack the Ripper (David Warner) uses when the police has just discovered his true identity.
There are countless 'little' fun parts like this in the movie which makes this movie a pleasant and entertaining one to watch as well as a tense nail biting thriller.Malcolm McDowell is extremely good and convincing as a 19th century gentleman and scientist H.G. Wells.
(How many movies can you remember where McDowell was the good guy?) Jack the Ripper is played by David Warner, who exudes something cold and frightening as the infamous killer.
Looking like a nerdy Richard Thomas, Malcolm McDowell plays H.G. Wells in this highly imaginative sci-fi thriller, that has Wells fast forwarded from 1893 to 1979, in a quest to find Jack the Ripper.
Regardless, there is such a good combination of drama, suspense, comedy, action and romance that it would appeal to most anyone.Malcolm McDowell is particularly good as H.G. Wells and David Warner is chilling as Jack The Ripper.
In 1893, in London, H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) has just finished his time machine, when his friend Dr. John Leslie Stevenson (David Warner)  indeed Jack the Ripper  uses it to escape from the Scotland Yard.
What do you get when you put H.G. Wells together with Jack the Ripper; you get this admirably ambitious and candid sci-fi fantasy thriller that sees the idealistic scientist / writer Wells pursing the notorious Ripper in to the future (that's 1979) after using Wells' newly created time machine to escape the authorities from late 19th century London.
Malcolm McDowell is perfectly cast as Wells, fidgety but persistent in his quest and David Warner has that classy, but creepily formidable underlining as Jack the Ripper as he goes about leaving a bloody mess of his victims.
H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) follows Jack the Ripper (David Warner) into 1970's San Franscisco, after Jack Aka John Stevenson steals Well's Time machine.
Eagle-eyed viewers will notice a very young Corey Feldman in a very small part as a youngster who's the first to see Wells upon his arrival in the Seventies.My Grade: B DVD Extras: Commentary with Director Nicholas Meyer & Actor Malcolm McDowell; an article on time travel in movies; Theatrical Trailer; and Trailers for "The Time Mace (1960) & "The Time Machine" (2002).
I think someone like Brook Adams or Karen Allen would have been much more suited to this role, but the rest of the plot and cast are so good this is incidental.Someone mentioned this didn't do very well at the box office, which surprises me as science based fiction was all the rage at the time this film was released (1979).
(This kind of brain-to-brain combat between two very special people is a theme that Nicholas Meyer will return to in "Star Trek II:  The Wrath of Khan.")Particularly interesting is how Jack the Ripper, an evil serial killer, finds himself completely at home in the year 1979, while H.G. Wells, with his idealistic dreams of a perfectible society, is completely out of place in our modern era.
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 .
This after the Ripper (Warner) used Wells' (McDowell) time machine to escape the Whitechapel police back in 1891, thus forcing Wells to track the infamous killer to San Francisco in the future.There have been so many fish-out-of-water based movies over the years, it's so refreshing to find one that has a genuinely original premise to work from.
Additionally, it's quite romantic and is a movie I strongly recommend you watch.The film begins in London during the time of Jack the Ripper (David Warner).
Coincidentally, the famous writer H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) has just built a working time machine and the Ripper uses it to avoid being caught by the police.
"Time after Time," from 1980, stars Malcolm McDowell, Mary Steenburgen, and David Warner, and is directed by Nicholas Meyer.In this story, the author of "The Time Machine," H.G. Wells, lives in England, has invented the time machine, and shows it to guests visiting, among them, Dr. John Stevenson, who has arrived late.
He feels he's found a place and time where he fits.Malcolm McDowell, young and cute here, does an excellent job as the brilliant and earnest Wells, and Steenburgen is lovely as a feminist who falls for him.
But love, he decides, is the perennial constant that makes the decadence bearable; and in this case, his romance with sweet Amy (Mary Steenburgen) forces him to address his pacifist theories--if he wants to save her life.Scripted and directed by Nicholas Meyer (Star Trek: Wrath of Khan), it's a witty, inventive and rather elegant film.
Fans of H.G. Wells' 'The Time Machine' and Ripper buffs will enjoy this movie the most, which covers similar territory to many of the stories of Kim Newman ('Anno Dracula',etc.) Like Newman's work it features a playful and irreverent attitude to 19th genre fiction and history.
Malcolm McDowell and David Warner are both outstanding as friends turned enemies Wells and Jack The Ripper, who end up traveling to present day (that is late Seventies) San Francisco.
G. Wells coming to 1970's San Francisco in search of Jack the Ripper by way of his time machine.
Wells eventually meets a beautiful bank teller (Mary Steenburgen) and falls in love, thickening the plot nicely and providing old Jack the Ripper with a nice bit of leverage.
 and enjoyed it quite a bit, even if it's by no means a classic.McDowell (as H.G. Wells) and David Warner (as Jack The Ripper) were well cast, while Mary Steenburgen  who later married the former!
Mary Steenburgen and Malcolm McDowell are a surprisingly chemical pairing, and David Warner is absolutely perfect as Saucy Jack the Ripper.
Malcolm McDowell as H.G. Wells and David Warner as Jack the Ripper make wonderful adversaries in this squashy fantasy-thriller which doesn't have a firm narrative, doesn't know when to quit, but does include marvelous performances and a handsome production.
Look for good performances by Malcolm McDowell as Wells, Mary Steenburgen as Amy and David Warner as Jack the Ripper..
Just what *did* Wells do there at the end with the Ripper, because I sure as heck found that development from way out of left field.It's probably no coincidence that all this illogic during a time travel jaunt in modern San Francisco comes from the pen of Nicholas Meyer, who repeated the same mistakes again a decade later in his script for Star Trek IV..
Ingenious What IF sci-fi thriller with the premise of HG Wells (splendidly finicky McDowell) creating an actual time machine that transports Jack The Ripper (devilishly evil Warner) into modern day San Francisco with Wells in hot pursuit to stop the serial killer from continuing his historical homicidal tendencies and Steenburgen as the outlet for both their agendas.Swiftly executed and giddy in Wells' fish-out-of-water discoveries like ordering in McDonald's (!) Look sharp for a very young Corey Feldman as Wells' first 20th century encounter (!).
"time after time" is about h.g. wells (malcolm mcdowell) chasing after jack the ripper (david warner) who escaped to 1979 in well's time machine.
while wells searches and gets adjusted to 1979 san francisco, he meets banker amy robbins (mary steenburgen) who helps him find jack the ripper and eventually both fall in love.
At a dinner party with some of his friends (similar to inventor George Wells in "The Time Machine") he reveals the existence of the machine, only to see it used by Dr. Stevenson (Warner) to escape into the future, because the police had discovered that he was Jack the Ripper.
Not every day does a film blend elements of Jack the Ripper, time travel, 1970s sensibilities and romance, topped by a Miklos Rozsa score, so you can consider yourself fortunate to find all of these things blended nicely in a thriller, '70s style.Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen are the offbeat stars who lend a certain quirkiness to their characters (he's H.G. Welles and she's a Diane Keaton type of leading lady).
In genre academic circles, the "Time After Time" movie would be referred to as "recursive" or "science fiction squared." H.G. Wells, viewed as the father of modern science fiction and the socialist author of noted works like "The Time Machine" and "War of the Worlds," is himself the featured character in the film played by Malcolm McDowell.
Using a time machine he invented, Wells pursues Jack the Ripper (David Warner), who he unwittingly befriended and therefore allowed him access to the same machine, into the future circa late 1970s San Francisco.
The characters are believable and fully fleshed out, and the acting by all three principals -- Malcolm McDowell as Wells, David Warner as Jack the Ripper, and Mary Steenburgen as Amy Robbins -- is superb.
(It's such a shame that in the past 15 years, McDowell he seems to have resigned himself to shlock roles like the villain in "Tank Girl.") And there is real, convincing chemistry between McDowell and Steenburgen --who, in fact, fell in love during the filming of "Time After Time" and later got married.What I really admire about "Time After Time" is how well it pulls off the "fish out of water" aspect of the time-travel story, as 19th Century Englishman Wells wanders around San Francisco in 1979 and discovers such things as MacDonald's, plastics, movies, telephones, etc.
When a friend (David Warner), who turns out to be Jack the Ripper, uses the machine to escape into the future, Wells follows after him to 1979, where he must stop the murderer while also having to come to terms with the shocking future, which is far from the utopia he expected it to be...A very interesting and surprisingly lighthearted thriller/adventure, with quite a bit of comedy thrown in, 'Time After Time' has a silly and fantastic feel to it that kinda reminds me of the more young audience aimed films of the 70's and 80's.The actors are very good.
For example, when she is being threatened by the Ripper her lips curl a bit, as if trying not to smile/laugh.The plot has quite a few problems, both story-wise (the usual thriller clichés and nonsense, like the police not questioning Mary's character to check Wells' claims) and concept-wise (it is time travel based after all, though the movie smartly does not delve too much on the implications it carries); it develops quite predictably too, and sometimes far too silly at that.
The idea of H.G. Wells inventing his own time machine and traveling to 1979 San Francisco to catch Jack the Ripper sounds like the sort of movie that would get created by Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay. But "Time After Time" is very well done.
Nicholas Meyer directed this imaginative if dated film that stars Malcolm MacDowell as H.G. Wells, who is an inventor of a real time machine that he shows off to friends in 1890's London.
One of his friends, a surgeon named Dr. John Stevenson(played by David Warner) is really Jack The Ripper, whom the police have finally tracked down to his home, but John/Jack escapes in the time machine to the year 1979, in San Francisco California, where Wells follows him, but instead of his predicted utopia, is shocked to find it more to John/Jack's liking, though Wells is still determined to stop him, with the help of Ann Robbins(played by Mary Steenburgen) a woman he falls in love with...
Time after Time has an interesting premise with H.G Wells, chasing Jack the Ripper through time to modern day 1979 San Francisco.
McDowell is also good as H.G. Wells a fish out of water, and his chemistry is great with Steenburgen who he would go on to marry after the movie.
This film has H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) really inventing a time machine (he wrote the novel).
"Time After Time" takes an interesting spin on the time travel adventure premise by having legendary sci-fi writer HG Wells chase after his old friend John Leslie Stevenson whom it later turns out that he is indeed 'Jack The Ripper'.
The historical character out of another time leads to a few really good tongue-in-cheek moments like for example when in McDonalds he says to the man sitting next to him whilst examining the table 'I've never seen wood like this before!" Although credit is certainly due to both David Warner (Stevenson) and Mary Steenburgen (as Herbert's love interest Amy) I'm mighty impressed with Malcolm McDowell's portrayal of this time traveller from 1893 especially in the powerful desperate conviction he conveys in the police interrogation scene towards the end of the film.
Whether it is Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home or the other H.G. Wells movie, The Time Machine, there is always something quite interesting in seeing someone out of their element.In this film San Francisco is also the location of travel, as it was in Star Trek, but it it Wells (Malcolm McDowell) traveling to capture Jack the Ripper (David Warner), who has managed to steal a ride to the future.The addition of Mary Steenburgen (Melvin and Howard , One Magic Christmas) as the love interest was superb!
David Warner is the fantastic John louis Stevenson aka Jack the Ripper and Malcolm McDowell is HG Wells.
Very good film on many levels...only negative aspect may be weak special effects regarding the time machine's travel (i'm sure there were budget concerns).outside of that...the plot, about a young H.G. Wells in 1893 who finds out the notorious Jack the Ripper is actually his best friend; who then takes off for 1979 in Wells' time machine is taut and pretty imaginative.
Malcolm Mc Dowell excels as the brilliant, baffled and nerdy Wells, as does David Warner as the Ripper/Stevenson...Wells' former best friend...and notably Mary Steenburgen is fine as the liberated, love interest of Wells'.it's a fine companion to 1960's The Time Machine...and a good entry into the fantasy genre.
A little known factoid about this movie...Nicholas Meyer (director) didn't allow Malcolm McDowell to see Mary Steenburgen until their first meeting on film, to capture authenticity.
This film is basically about Jack the Ripper, who steals HG Well's time machine and travels to 1979's San Fransisco, where he begins murdering people!
The year is 1893.Malcolm McDowell plays H.G. Wells, who has invented a time machine, but hasn't tried it yet.A cold blooded murderer Jack the Ripper(David Warner) uses the time machine to travel into the future to the year 1979.Wells has to follow Jack to 1979.And it is pretty much different in the 20th century.There are many new things for Wells in the future.He meets a lovely bank clerk called Amy Robbins, played by Mary Steenburgen.Time After Time is a nice time travel movie.Malcolm is good as Wells and the other actors do a great job too..
When one of his dinner guests - the infamous Jack the Ripper (David Warner) - steals away in the device, Wells (Malcolm McDowell) valiantly pursues the serial killer to 1979 San Francisco.
The film stars Malcolm McDowall, David Warner and Mary Steenburgen.This is a very interesting sci-fi thriller.
Wells and some friends are shocked to discover that Jack the Ripper is one of their friends Dr. Stevenson(David Warner), Stevenson escapes into the future in the time machine.
McDowall and Steenburgen fell in love while they made this and they married the following year.The film is a very good thriller and a great time travel story.
A terrific premise: What if H.G. Wells really invented a time machine and Jack the Ripper escaped to the year 1979 in it?
There is one question, however: How did the time machine first get there before Jack the Ripper arrived and how did it end up in San Francisco not London?