A relatively innocent and naive H.G. Wells, well-played by a Malcolm McDowell very different from the one that played Alex in "A Clockwork Orange", sets the stage for Jack the Ripper, played by David Warner, to travel forward into 1979 to menace modern San Francisco.

The movie has a few flaws. The special effects of time travel are a bit cheesy. Fortunately time travel is a device to set the stage for the movie, and the weak special effects can be forgiven given the quality of the rest of the movie. As for why the time machine moved from London to San Francisco, there isn't any really good way to explain how that happened. The best explanation I can give is that the Earth was spinning below the time machine as it maintained a fixed location. However, gravity must have played a role because had that been really true, both Jack the Ripper and H.G. Wells would have ended up in outer space as The Earth and the solar system moved out from under them. If you can suspend your belief in time travel you can also suspend your belief in how the time machine moved.

Getting past the special effects you get to a marvelous early performance by twenty-five year old Mary Steenburgen. She plays a very modern woman to Malcolm McDowell's Victorian naivete, and while she is very modern, holding an executive position and talking about sexual relationships with the casualness of pre-aids 1979, she also has an innocence of her own that is well suited to Malcolm's character.

David Warner, who has often played in bad guy roles, moves from relatively restrictive Victorian London to the relatively violent society of 20th century San Francisco, where, as he tells Malcolm McDowell, he fits right in with his violent ways. David projects such a wonderful matter-of-fact evil that is perfectly believable and all the more frightening because he seems so normal except when threatening or killing someone. His casual tendency to bloody violence (which unfortunately leads to more periodic weak special effects when blood splatters) contrast well with the relative innocence of McDowell and Steenburgen.

The entire point of the movie is that H.G. Wells created the time machine that allowed Jack the Ripper to escape to wreak havoc on modern utopian society (so H.G. Wells thought it would have to be), and Wells feels obligated to stop him. Jack must prevent Wells from interfering with his plans, and so must obtain the key of the time machine from him. So each is pursuing the other for the majority of the film.

While the principal story is the chase between McDowell and Warner, McDowell and Steenburgen develop a perfectly matched romance that becomes the secondary and ultimately a very important part of the story. The movie would have survived on the romance alone, but then it would have been very similar to the Christopher Reeve movie "Somewhere in Time" released the year after this movie that was primarily about romance, and relied more on fantasy than science fiction.

The climax of this movie builds until the ultimate showdown between McDowell and Warner that contains enough surprises that all but the most jaded of movie fans should find suspenseful (no, I'm not going to give away the ending just in case you haven't seen the movie). The first time I saw this movie I know I was surprised by the last 15 minutes or so.

The DVD is filled with a variety of extras that more than make this movie worth the relatively paltry price. Certainly the story makes it a fitting companion to the earlier George Pal version with Rod Taylor taking the lead role.

Almost a 5-star rated movie, be prepared to watch it for McDowell's wide-eyed innocent view of modern San Francisco as he chases about after someone who has no such innocence. One of the best stories set with a time travel background, and well done by the lead actors.

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