How the hell had I not seen this movie before?? Time After Time is just the right kind of cheesy for me. It’s the directorial debut of Nicholas Meyer, director of the best two original Star Trek films, and it’s a pretty likeable if not quite technically adept first offering. The insane premise alone sells this movie, but the execution is nothing incompetent, so much so that you enjoy every minute of its bizarre story.
In 1893, H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) has actually invented a time machine that he unveils to his club of science enthusiasts. However one of these guests, John Stevenson (David Warner), is actually Jack the Ripper, and when the police finally catch up to him, he escapes in Wells’ machine. Because of a key Wells has that retrieves the machine after use, it returns to his present. So he decides to pursue Stevenson into the future arriving in 1979. As Wells adjusts to the modern world of San Francisco with the help of a bank clerk called Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen), he attempts to prevent his old friend from unleashing terror in this new time and returning him to justice in the nineteenth century.
As I said, this plot is bonkers in all the right ways for me. Firstly it’s dealing with nineteenth century historical figures: one a famous, trailblazing author, and the other a serial killing enigma. And just the idea of a time travelling Jack the Ripper being hunted by H.G. Wells is so outlandish it’s kind of brilliant. While this very much sounds like the premise for a B-movie or one of the lesser Hammer Horror fare, the biggest surprise is that Time After Time manages to take itself seriously and turn out a good movie. Not too seriously obviously, given the set-up, but there is investment and genuine care behind the story, and the result is very enjoyable. Nicholas Meyer’s screenplay is full of the type of fish-out-of-water clichés I love for a time travel story, and the dialogue can be hammy but in thoroughly likeable way. There’s just a kind of innocent charm to it. It’s that same kind of charm that pervades one of the original Star Trek movies that Meyer didn’t direct, but whose influence in the screenplay is clearly palpable: The Voyage Home; which also deals with time travellers adjusting to the modern era while trying to complete some kind of mission that brought them there in the first place. It’s that ability to make the boring modern world seem exciting and/or overwhelming. This is used to comic effect obviously, by Wells being unfamiliar with basic devices and concepts. But also, by seeing the machinations of this new world through the eyes of Wells, using known details about his biography and beliefs, it creates an interesting perspective. Though prepared for the technological advancements of the twentieth century, Wells, a proto-socialist, is initially disappointed that humanity hasn’t moved past things like crime and war –in fact, they appear to have gotten worse. This informs the movie’s dim commentary, because Stevenson of course, is thrilled by the chaos, feeling he belongs in this world. That philosophy is somewhat humourously naïve, as there was quite a bit of violence in their era as well (Jack the Ripper was hardly the only serial killer, and, when they left, Britain was involved in at least two wars); and it’s an incredibly broad, cynical sentiment. But Wells comes to see the value of this new society over the course of the film, largely through learning from and falling for the affable Amy. It’s predictable but it works. It’s too genuine not to.
Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen have great chemistry, which makes sense considering they were married for ten years after making this film. Wells and Amy’s relationship is one of fairly quickly falling in love with each other, her getting drawn into his world and his conflict, him being forced to tell her the truth about his time travelling despite knowing she won’t believe him, and her doing just that until being proven otherwise. Steenburgen could never have thought she’d play a character with the exact same arc eleven years later in Back to the Future Part III. It’s uncanny how similar this romance is with Doc Brown and Clara’s, even down to a few exchanges, making the latter time travel movie look less inspired in its casting of Steenburgen. But I will say Clara was a stronger character. As adorable as Amy is in her infatuation, as curious and concerned, she’s not written with much dimension. Her role becomes much like a companion on Doctor Who: an audience surrogate whom Wells can appear smart to, and eventually a plot device. However, I’m strangely okay with this. She’s the kind of character a movie like this needs and though she’s not very interesting, Steenburgen is too genial a presence not to like. As for Wells, McDowell is great. It’s so nice and refreshing to see Malcolm McDowell, who spent the 70’splaying antiheroes and horrible people, getting the chance to be a noble hero in a movie for a change. And he’s really good at it! His earnestness and sense of justice is believable, and he greets every new discovery with the right amount of wonder or bewilderment. Also, he’s just a really nice guy and a gentleman -something he proves in one love scene with Amy. He’s not entirely accurate to the real H.G. Wells, who as progressive as he was, was surely not this perfect –and obviously writing The Time Machine doesn’t mean he could invent one himself (additionally, McDowell was vocal about avoiding the authors’ thick South London accent). But he’s still a more faithful representation than Hugh Jackman’s P.T. Barnum. And then there’s the always dependable David Warner as the charismatic English psychopath. Warner’s at his best when he’s playing these kind of charming villains, chewing the scenery and having a time. There’s also something to be said for this Jack the Ripper being uniquely normal -for lack of a better word. He’s not the Pandora’s Box Ripper whose murders seem to stem from a psychological condition; nor the From Hell Ripper doing it as part of a conspiracy; nor just the crazed one-dimensional killer from so many other interpretations. This movie never explains why he commits these crimes, he just does. What would be lazy characterization comes off as just unabashed acknowledgement that he’s merely a very clever villain to be stopped. For a movie like this, that completely flies. But is also doesn’t hurt that Warner is good enough to make you forget how thin the character really is.
And even with Jack the Ripper murdering people, Time After Time is actually a delightful family movie. Yeah, there’s cursing once in a while and with the Ripper territory naturally comes some violence -but it’s usually implicit. It works for the same reasons yet another time travel movie, the first Back to the Future, does. It has a mad central concept, but has fun with it, and is made by a very talented cast and crew at their most endearing. Yeah it’s cheesey, and kind of dumb in places, but it wears its heart on its sleeve and I can’t help but find it wonderful. And if you think this movie should be more serious and realistic, remember how many times it uses the word “poppycock”, and you might just be able to see it in a better light.
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