The Time Machine (1960)

‘There’ll Always Be an England’ (Really?)

leeduigon(patty)September 19, 2023

Renowned sculptor Luke Perry is putting the finishing touches to his latest piece, 'Strength of the Hijab', which has been commissioned to give visibility to women who wear hijabs as they are largely underrepresented. Believed to be the first sculpture in the world of a woman in a hijab, the …

The city of Birmingham, England, wanted a statue; so they hired some guy to sculpt one, and he’s come up with… oh, call it what you will: a 16-foot tall statue of a woman wearing a hijab. He calls it “The Strength of the Hijab.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/09/19/16-foot-statue-of-hijab-wearing-woman-to-be-unveiled-in-suburb-of-multicultural-birmingham/

Why does this look to me like the memorials left by a defunct civilization–those huge stone heads on Easter Island?

Can you see the resemblance?

But it reminds me even more of that ghastly “temple” in The Time Machine (1960)–it’s where the Eloi go to be eaten by the Morlocks.

SciFi East and West: Film Stills: The Time Machine

Wow! Did special effects wizard George Pal have a crystal ball? Look how close he came to the monstrosity we have now.

Is England about to become the subject of a fire sale (“Everything must go!”)? Will it still be here by the year 2100?

They have to stop doin’ what they’re doin’.

Are We the Eloi?

leeduigon(patty)July 23, 2023

There are readers who don’t know what I’m talking about when I compare us to the Eloi: they haven’t read The Time Machine or seen the movie.

These stills from the movie will clue you in.

The innocent, harmless, child-like Eloi, when they hear the sirens, all drop what they’re doing and shuffle wordlessly off to what is (but they don’t know it) the entrance to a cannibalistic underworld. The message of the sirens is, “Come down into the dark so we can kill and eat you.” The Eloi don’t know that, either. They just obey.

The next time our government sounds the lockdown sirens, they must be made to understand that we’re on to you, charlie, and this time we will not obey! This time you don’t get to scare us into abject compliance with your diktats.

Watch the movie and see what happens when the Eloi finally catch on.

Memory Lane: Coming Home from the Scary Movie

leeduigon(patty)January 11, 2021

Time Machine, The (1960) | Nostalgia Central

Morlocks! I knew they had to be around here somewhere!

I’m 11 years old, The Time Machine is playing at the old Forum Theater, it’s Friday night–and by some miracle, my folks let me go to see the movie. I walked there with my friend Jimmy, from down the street. He’s 12.

Okay, we’ve seen the movie, time to walk home. We could’ve gone via Main Street, but I guess we were feeling kind of grown-up and adventurous so we went by way of the back streets instead. There was nowhere near as much street lighting then as there is now.

It didn’t take us long to get the creeps. The Morlocks, the baddies in the movie… what if there were Morlocks hiding in the darkness, getting ready to jump out on us? We picked up the pace a little. We laughed nervously at our fanciful idea–I mean, come on, really! That didn’t make the Morlocks go away. Happily, we made it home before they attacked us. Dawdling Morlocks.

I wonder if kids even have this experience anymore. All it did for us was to enhance the movie experience and provide me with a pleasant memory. I wonder about the state of their imaginations.

Gee, for some reason the daily nooze this month makes me think of Morlocks… a lot…

Our New Year’s Day

leeduigon(patty)January 1, 2020

Image result for images of the time machine 1960

Well, here we are again, first day of another year. We’ve got rack of lamb for dinner; and, as is our custom, we’ll watch The Time Machine this afternoon, the 1960 movie starring Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux.

Don’t get me wrong: the theology of this movie is totally off-base. A 19th-century inventor creates a time machine and travels some 800,000 years into the future. There he finds the human race split into two separate but unequal offshoots. The hideous Morlocks provide the childlike Eloi with everything they need–can you say “Universal Basic Income”?–and then… eat them. Both races have been debased by the evil system they’ve devised. Sound familiar?

The thing that makes this movie work is the fantastic sets, and special effects, by George Pal, altogether believable. You have to take the story with a boxcar-load of grains of salt, but the sets are awesome. I used to dream of finding Morlock-holes in Edgar woods. I’m rather glad I didn’t.

Anyway, this is one of those movies that totally succeeds in providing 90 minutes’ worth of pure escape.

Just don’t take it seriously. The only thing serious about it is its errors. But we’re hip to those, so we enjoy it.

Movie Review: ‘Death on the Nile’ (1978)

leeduigon(patty)January 1, 2019

See the source image

We hadn’t seen this movie in several years, so we watched it the other day and it was just as wonderful as ever.

It isn’t always easy to get an all-star cast to work together, but in Death on the Nile, the stars are out in force. What a cast! Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot, supported by David Niven, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Lois Chiles, Maggie Smith, Simon MacCorkindale, Jack Warden, Olivia Hussey–whew! With Angela Lansbury, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of an alcoholic romance writer who’s seen better days. Fantastic performances all around.

And if you like movies with lavish sets, exotic locations, and a plot that twists and turns all over the place–well, this one’s for you. Want escape? This film’s got it. For 140 minutes, you’re out of here. Much, much better than the David Suchet remake.

In a little while, we’re going to follow our New Year’s custom of watching George Pal’s 1960 classic, The Time Machine. Followed by Patty’s heavenly pork casserole for supper.

Happy New Year, everybody!

‘Books? Yes, We Have Books’

leeduigon(patty)January 1, 2016

(From George Pal’s The Time Machine, 1960)

Watch what happens when the Time Traveler from 1900 tries to question the dull, almost brainless Eloi of almost a million years into the future. In real life, of course, thanks to public education and nearly universal collidge, we’re getting there a lot faster than H.G. Wells ever dreamed. Many of our people have already attained Eloi-hood.

Knowledge gets lost, even when it’s written down. If no effort is made to preserve it, knowledge evaporates into the past.

The Kardashians. Comic books. Movies based on comic books. Video games about zombies. University-level courses in comic books. Courses in zombie studies. Feminism. Rap music. Gender-neutral pronouns and safe spaces. Hitch ’em all to the sleigh and they’ll take you straight to Eloi country.

In The Time Machine, the Eloi do serve a purpose: the Morlocks, who dwell in darkness underground, eat them.

What purpose is served by a 25-year-old living at home with Momma while he works for his bachelor’s degree in Gender Studies?