The Time Machine (1978 film)
| The Time Machine | |
|---|---|
|
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| Based on | The Time Machine novel by H.G. Wells |
| Written by | Wallace Bennett |
| Directed by | Henning Schellerup |
| Starring |
John Beck Priscilla Barnes Whit Bissell Rosemary DeCamp |
| Music by | John Cacavas |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Charles E. Sellier Jr. |
| Producer(s) | James Simmons |
| Cinematography | Stephen W. Gray |
| Editor(s) | Trevor Jolly |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Sunn Classic Pictures |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | November 5, 1978 |
The Time Machine is a 1978 American made-for-television science fiction-adventure film produced by Sunn Classic Pictures as a part of their Classics Illustrated series. Despite updating the plot to take place in the late 1970s, the film, which starred John Beck and Priscilla Barnes, was intended to be a more faithful plot recreation of the original novel by H.G. Wells—as opposed to the 1960 film adaptation, which took several liberties. The film was broadcast November 5, 1978 during the November Sweeps on NBC.
The film was a modernization of the Wells' story, making the Time Traveller a 1970s scientist working for a fictional US defense contractor, "the Mega Corporation". Dr. Neil Perry (John Beck), the Time Traveller, is described as one of Mega's most reliable contributors by his senior co-worker Branly (Whit Bissell, an alumnus of the 1960 adaptation). Perry's skill is demonstrated by his rapid reprogramming of an off-course satellite, averting a disaster that could have destroyed Los Angeles. His reputation had secured a grant of $20 million for his time machine project. A month from completion, the corporation wants Perry to put his project on hold so that he can begin work on a new weapon's project, the "anti-matter bomb." The unexpectedly early completion of the power module permits Perry to test his time machine the weekend before he is to begin the new project.
Perry time travels twice over the course of the weekend, and reports to Haverson (an analog to the novel's Hillyer), Branley, and J.R. Worthington (Andrew Duggan), chairman of the board of Mega Corporation. As Neil tells the story of his travels, reversed time-lapse images of building construction demonstrate Neil's passage backwards in time. Unlike the novel, the time machine and its rider do not stay in the same place as they travel through time, and the machine can travel to different locations. Perry first goes to 1692 Salem, Massachusetts where he is caught up in the Salem witch trials and found guilty of witchcraft. He is sentenced to be burned at the stake with his time machine. Tied up in the seat of his machine, he is able to free himself in order to escape. He detours into 1855 to avoid a time warp and arrives in the midst of the California Gold Rush, where he is shot at by miners and arrested for stealing a gold shipment. Perry's ingenuity and the distraction of a bank robbery allow him to escape.
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