- George Pal's The Time Machine is a mostly faithful, occasionally goofy, and obviously affectionate tribute to one of the great pioneers of science fiction, H. G. Wells. Whereas the source novel employed time travel primarily as an effective means of illustrating the increasing social divisions between management and labor at the turn of the last century, the film instead focuses on what must have seemed at the time to be the inescapable imminence of nuclear war. The end result, however, is much the same, namely that humanity has split off into two very distinct species, the childlike Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks. Instead of simply writing about these events, Wells participates in them personally as the time traveler himself, slyly referred to as "George" (Rod Taylor).
- The highlight of the film is certainly the machine's transit through time, which is handled beautifully with an extensive sequence involving stop-motion animation. At first, the changes deal with trivialities such as the Sun's progress across the sky and the evolution of women's fashion over the seasons. George even has the chance to meet the son of his friend Filby (Alan Young), who bears a striking resemblance to his late father. As the years flicker by more and more rapidly, we catch just a glimpse of a few world wars and a jarring experience of some final conflict that completely buries George's old laboratory in rubble. When erosion finally uncovers the location of the time machine, the world has truly become a different place.
- Unfortunately, neither the film's present nor its future quite live up to the trip between the two. Although George's incredulous dinner companions (Sebastian Cabot, Tom Helmore, Whit Bissell) provide some humorously obtuse moments, they are interesting only insofar as they provide a stark contrast to the painfully simple or downright nonverbal (and apparently cannibalistic) denizens of the future. Still, such shortcomings hardly prevent George from falling in love with an Eloi named Weena (Yvette Mimieux) and having a few Morlock-bashing adventures along the way. The proceedings aren't as incisive or ultimately cynical as I recall the source material being, but at least the filmmakers adequately acknowledge the greatness of Wells.
- Alan Young is totally the voice of Scrooge McDuck.
