TIME AFTER TIME (1979)
The Movie
Time After Time was the directorial debut of author and screenwriter Nicholas Meyer, perhaps best-known for later directing Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. Meyer has cleverly written a fictional tale set in modern times involving two real historical people from the nineteenth century - the science fiction author H. G. Wells and the never-found infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper. The movie successfully pulls off an interesting blend of genres: science fiction, romantic comedy and suspense/thriller. Exterior scenes were filmed in San Francisco with most interiors filmed at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California. The premiere, held in New York City on August 31, 1979, garnered positive critical reviews.
The Story
The action begins in foggy Whitechapel in London in 1893 as yet another lady-of-the-night victim of the notorious Jack The Ripper meets her fate. Cut to the home of H.G Wells (Malcolm McDowell) who has invited a group of friends to show them his latest invention - a time machine. The police arrive conducting house to house searches for the Ripper. In the bag of one of the guests, Dr. John Leslie Stevenson (David Warner), they find a blood-soaked glove and know they’ve found their man. But in the consternation he got away; Herbert discovers later that he had escaped in the time machine. When the empty machine reappears Wells can see it had journeyed forward 86 years to 1979. He resets the machine to the same time coordinates setting off on a mission to find Stevenson to prevent more serial killing and see justice done. Along the way he meets and falls for Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen), an independent young woman who believes, much as Wells does, in women’s equality. Their search for the Ripper takes them all over San Francisco.
The Locations
The Time Machine Filmed at Warner Brothers Studio, 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California
(More to come … )