Time After Time (1979)
Happy Valentine's Day! I like watching Malcolm McDowell, Mary Steenburgen, and David Warner (LOVE David Warner! He's brilliant in Big Finish audios!). The premise of this strange romance is that a friend of H.G. Wells (quiet, awkward and very british McDowell) is Jack the Ripper (sinister, solemn, and intimidating David Warner) who steals Wells' time machine to evade the police, and ends up in the 1970s. Wells follows him, and they both come across Steenburgen's character. Romance and adventure ensues. Also murder. Murder ensues. One of the best things this film does is not making the Ripper sympathetic, even though he's given a face. Unfortunately, the film has a weakness. Although I generally enjoy a mix of genres (this one tosses science fiction, romance, adventure, and detective fiction into a lovely genre salad), the balance and the transitions don't work well for a contemporary audience. Back then, perhaps, it was okay to abandon the life-and-death strugg