Time After Time - The Time Machine
Who doesn’t enjoy a good time travel movie? The opening scenes of this cleverly-written, well-acted romp about science-fiction writer H.G. Wells’ pursuit through time of the infamous Jack The Ripper are set in Victorian London in 1893; they were filmed at the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California ...
A young woman staggers out of a bar and giggles her way down a foggy street in Whitechapel. A well dressed gentleman (seen only from the back) propositions her and takes her down a nearby alley. ZZZZIP! - another victim of Jack The Ripper meets her fate.
Meanwhile H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell), an up-and-coming author, has invited a group of close friends to his home to make a startling announcement. He has invented and built a Time Machine. He proudly takes them down to his basement to explain how it works.
It’s quite simple, actually. Captured sun’s rays are converted to electricity which juxtaposes fields of energy, creating friction that lifts the machine from one time sphere into another. There you have it. Herbert, as he is known to his friends, extracts a red key from the dashboard, telling them that without it the time traveler cannot return. Behind him Dr. John Leslie Stevenson (David Warner), a renowned surgeon who has just arrived late, seems to take a special interest in what he is hearing.
Later they are interrupted by the appearance of the police conducting a house-to-house search for The Ripper.
When they find a bloodied glove in Stevenson’s bag they know they’ve found their man. One small problem - during the hubbub he had made his escape.
After everyone leaves, Herbert returns to the cellar … the machine is gone! Clearly, Stevenson must have made his escape in it. As he watches, the machine, sans occupant, returns, materializing before him. Wells can see on the instruments that it had journeyed forward 86 years to 1979. Determined to find and stop Stevenson before he can continue his murderous ways he resets the machine to the same time coordinates, grabs some money and valuables and launches himself into the time and space continuum.
After a wild ride he arrives, - but where is he? He climbs down from the time machine and looks around, perplexed; he appears to be in an exhibit about his life at a museum! The sign explains that the machine, on loan by the British Museum, had been unearthed in London two years earlier. (The museum exhibit scenes, like the London scenes above, were filmed at the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank).