- London 1893 is home to a killer with a macabre nickname. and also to a visionary genius who would write "The Time Machine." But what if H.G. Wells' invention wasn't fiction? And what if Jack the Ripper escaped capture fleeing his own time to take refuge in ours - with Wells himself in pursuit?Running Time: 112 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:Â SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating:Â PG Age:Â 88
Academy Award® winner* Mary Steenburgen and Roddy McDowall star in a pulse-pounding thriller in the tradition of the legendary master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. "You'll find yourself on the edge of your seat" (Los Angeles) with this bone-chilling tale of deception, blackmail and murder in which no one is who they seem to be and any mistake could be your last. When actress Katie McGovern (Steenburgen) is summoned to an isolated estate for a screen test, she finds that her mysterious hosts, Mr. Murray (McDowall) and! Dr. Joseph Lewis (Jan Rubes), have plans for her'that have nothing to do with acting! And when the deadly money-making scheme erupts in a firestorm of double-crosses and cold-blooded murder, Katie realizes she has only one chance at survival: She must turn the tables on her enemies by giving the performance of her life! *1980: SupportingActress, Melvin and HowardThis unofficial remake of the minor film noir classic
My Name Is Julia Ross stars Mary Steenburgen as an out-of-work actress lured to the mansion of a crazy millionaire (Roddy McDowall). Once there, she realizes she has been kidnapped and is being groomed to play someone else. While eerie and unsettling, this 1987 film is also wrapped in a thick, anachronistic melodrama, making it hard to see the movie as anything but an instant artifact. The question is, why did director Arthur Penn (
Bonnie and Clyde) have anything to do with it? On the plus side, McDowall is quite creepy as an elegant psychopath. --Tom Keogh CROSS CREEK - DVD MovieStudio: Warner Home V! ideo Re lease Date: 09/02/2008 Run time: 112 minutes Rating: PgIn this clever speculative tale, story collaborators Karl Alexander and Steve Hayes and screenwriter-director Nicholas Meyer (
Star Trek II and
VI) send two famous historical figures ahead in time. In late 19th century England, writer H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) unwittingly includes Jack the Ripper (David Warner) in his social circle. When one of Wells's dinner parties is crashed by the police looking for the Ripper, Jack uses the author's time machine to escape. But there's one catch--after it has been used, the machine returns to Wells's time. Thus the literary genius bravely sets out to find his evil friend before he can wreak havoc on another time period, and soon arrives in modern-day San Francisco. What follows is a fascinating merger of a suspense thriller--as the charming and polite Wells tries to hunt down the shrewd, brutish Ripper and take him back to the past--and a love story, as Wells befri! ends and falls in love with a bank administrator (Mary Steenburgen) who acts as his guide through the future. Through its brilliant combination of creepy suspense and tender romance,
Time After Time manages to become a classic in two genres at once--a rare cinematic achievement.
--Bryan Reesman
