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"Time after Time" is a clever battle of wits between Jack the Ripper, who has used H.G. Wells' time machine to escape to the year 1979, and H.G. Wells, who steps into the machine to get to 1979 too, and chase after the Ripper. (This kind of brain-to-brain combat between two very special people is a theme that Nicholas Meyer will return to in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.")

Particularly interesting is how Jack the Ripper, an evil serial killer, finds himself completely at home in the year 1979, while H.G. Wells, with his idealistic dreams of a perfectible society, is completely out of place in our modern era.

Malcolm McDowell is believable yet comical as the intellectual Wells, almost bird-like in his quick, darting movements. David Warner is adequate as Jack the Ripper, but you don't get enough of a feeling of the Ripper's insanity and evil. Mary Steenburgen, as Wells' newfound love interest in 1979, acts well enough, but she delivers some of her lines unconvincingly.

The lush Miklos Rosza score is a treat.

Worth seeing.

'Time After Time' is a good old fashioned entertaining adventure with plenty of thrills and a few chuckles. Fans of H.G. Wells' 'The Time Machine' and Ripper buffs will enjoy this movie the most, which covers similar territory to many of the stories of Kim Newman ('Anno Dracula',etc.) Like Newman's work it features a playful and irreverent attitude to 19th genre fiction and history. Malcolm McDowell and David Warner are both outstanding as friends turned enemies Wells and Jack The Ripper, who end up traveling to present day (that is late Seventies) San Francisco. Both actors are roughly the same age, emerged in the 60s, became well known for appearances in two of the early Seventies most controversial movies ('A Clockwork Orange' and 'Straw Dogs' respectively), and after this movie ended up appearing in all kinds of dumb action and straight to video b-grade trash, with sadly very few exceptions. 'Time After Time' features some of their best work, and the two obviously relished working together on such an original and imaginative project. Mary Steenburgen, an actress who has made little impression on me one way or the other, is more than adequate as Wells' love interest, and the supporting cast includes character actor Charles Cioffi (of 'Shaft' and countless TV shows). 'Time After Time' is simply one of the most entertaining SF thrillers ever made, and highly recommended to anyone who wants an intelligent and witty fun ride. A great movie well worth a rental.

1979's "Time After Time" marked the directorial debut of Nicholas Meyer, previously the author of "The Seven Percent Solution," which featured the fictional Sherlock Holmes encountering the actual Sigmund Freud. Here, we are treated to real life novelist and 'women's liberation' advocate H. G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) actually building his legendary time machine in the year 1893, eager to test it until another Whitechapel murder is executed by Jack the Ripper, not surprisingly revealed to be Wells' best friend and chess rival John Leslie Stevenson (David Warner). Only after authorities leave does Wells discover how easily the Ripper vanished into thin air, stealing his prized time machine to make his way to modern day San Francisco in 1979, a period that Wells predicted would become 'Utopia.' Trailing his quarry in a manner befitting Sherlock Holmes (a pseudonym he actually uses when dealing with police), Wells appears in a museum display of works he has yet to achieve, and in exchanging pound notes for American currency meets a very liberated, independent divorcee working the Bank of London counter, Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen), who instantly takes a shine to this literally lost soul to not only show him the town but take him to her bed in highly amusing fashion. Meanwhile, the Ripper has taken to this new world like a duck takes to water ("90 years ago I was a freak, today I'm an amateur"), but Wells, in a nice allusion to their many chess matches, has the means to figure out how he can foil his rival, unless Amy winds up his next victim. David Warner is very good but in his low key, genteel way doesn't possess the kind of menace the part calls for, so the thriller aspects are overshadowed by the love story, which in this case was true to life, Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen proving that on screen chemistry works even better off camera as they were wed for 10 years and had two children. It was a delightful change of pace for the often villainous McDowell, exuding a wonderful sense of wit and likability that is nicely paired with screen novice Steenburgen, her only previous film Jack Nicholson's "Goin' South," an unconventional beauty perfectly cast as a fully emancipated woman escaping a miserable first marriage to become a genuine free spirit ('free love' indeed!). It is the two stars together that carry this picture beyond its science fiction origins for a fully fleshed out romance under most unusual circumstances, concluding with a most telling line: "every age is the same, it's only love that makes any of them bearable."

Looking like a nerdy Richard Thomas, Malcolm McDowell plays H.G. Wells in this highly imaginative sci-fi thriller, that has Wells fast forwarded from 1893 to 1979, in a quest to find Jack the Ripper. The film's screenplay, direction, cinematography, editing, and costumes are all top notch. And Mary Steenburgen gives a fine performance in a support role.

"Time After Time" has an ever so slight comic book, tongue in cheek, feel to the plot, suggestive of Batman and Robin. Yet, right behind this entertaining, if somewhat superficial, facade is a serious message that is both timely and credible: no matter how much society advances in its technology, our world will always have two things ... violence and love.

Having a premise of HG Wells ( Yes that one ) pursue Jack the ripper ( Ditto ) to the 20th century has all the makings of a really camp and totally crap film , but despite the outrageous idea TIME AFTER TIME is a very enjoyable fantasy .

Unlike most time travel films ( THE TERMINATOR , BACK TO THE FUTURE not to mention several DOCTOR WHO and STAR TREK stories ) TIME AFTER TIME doesn`t really concern itself with concepts like the blinovitch limitation effect ie a temporal paradox , instead it concentrates on how a radical 19th century idealist like Wells would have found 20th century " Utopia " and how he would have been sickened by it . It`s here that the film works best with Wells travelling through the time vortex listening to the history of the 20th century and the scene with Wells and Jack watching television . It`s also interesting to note that the movie`s most amusing moments ( And they are genuinely amusing )are when Wells notices the difference in sexual mores of the present day . The film is much weaker when it switches to " Hero tracks down serial killer " type thriller but that`s not really what the film is about .