4am PST – Time Machine, The (1960) – A turn-of-the-century inventor sends himself into the future to save humanity. Cast: Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Yvette Mimieux, Sebastian Cabot Dir: George Pal C-103 mins, TV-G
George Pal’s take on the classic story by H.G. Wells is further proof that story triumphs CGI. Even as a kid watching this on a fourteen inch television, the special effects looked cheesy. But it takes more than bad costumes and cheap models (the stop-motion photography remains impressive, however) to undermine imagination and a great story. You get so wrapped up in the drama and ideas the bad effects barely hit the radar. The remake came out in 2002 (directed by Wells great-grandson Simon, no less) and enjoyed all the latest technical movie magic available, and still it laid there like poorly written, PC-infected roadkill.
Today’s pick was an annual late show event while I was growing up, the kind of film you worry won’t hold up as an adult because the memory surrounding it might have colored the experience. No worries here. To this day, Rod Taylor’s journey to the year 200,000 and beyond remains an annual late show event. It also doesn’t hurt that those lazy, narcissistic Eloi remind me of Flower Children. Maybe George Pal could see a few years into the future.
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