Time After Time (1979)

Jack The Ripper is terrorizing 1893 London. Soon after the writer/visionary H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) displays his newest invention, an untested time machine, to his dinner guests, the police arrive to report another Ripper killing. They find a medical bag with blood stained gloves and surgical instruments belonging to one of the guests (David Warner), who can't be found. When Wells determines that Jack The Ripper has used the time machine to escape the police, he follows him into the future ..... 1979 San Francisco! This clever conceit of a thriller directed by Nicholas Meyer (STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN) is an exciting and imaginative piece of romantic science fiction with generous doses of comedy provided by McDowell's fish out of water. As usual for the genre, there are loopholes and lapses in logic but when something is this spellbinding, who cares? McDowell makes for a charming if befuddled H.G. Wells and he and the delightful Mary Steenburgen as the present day bank employee he falls in love with have a wonderful chemistry (they had it in real life too and were married shortly after). The spectacular score is by Miklos Rozsa. With Charles Cioffi, Patti D'Arbanville, Corey Feldman and Shelley Hack.