Somewhere in Time (film)
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| Somewhere in Time | |
|---|---|
 original movie poster |
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| Directed by | Jeannot Szwarc |
| Written by | Richard Matheson |
| Starring | Christopher Reeve Jane Seymour Christopher Plummer |
| Music by | John Barry |
| Cinematography | Isidore Mankofsky |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers |
| Release date(s) | 1980 |
| Running time | 103 min |
| IMDb profile | |
Somewhere in Time is a 1980 time travel romance film directed by Jeannot Szwarc, written by Richard Matheson and starring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, Christopher Plummer, and Teresa Wright. Although this movie was well received during its previews, it was ruthlessly trashed by the critics upon release and was unsuccessful at the box office. It has earned a large and loyal following since its release to cable television and video, and the movie is now regarded by many to be a cult classic.
Reeve plays Richard Collier, a playwright who falls in love with a photograph of a young woman at the Grand Hotel. Through self-hypnosis he travels back in time to the year 1912 to find love with actress Elise McKenna (portrayed by Seymour).
The film is adapted from the 1975 novel Bid Time Return by science fiction writer Richard Matheson, which was subsequently re-released under the film's title. The film is known for its beautiful musical score, composed by John Barry. In addition to Barry's score, the eighteenth variation of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini runs throughout the film.
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[edit] Plot
The film begins in May 1972, when playwright Richard Collier (Reeve) meets an old woman who gives him a pocket watch asking him to come back to her. Eight years later, Richard stays at the Grand Hotel and falls in love with a photograph of a beautiful woman. Richard asks Arthur, an old man who's been at the hotel since 1910, who the woman is and learns that she is Elise McKenna, a famous actress. Richard then researches who Elise is and learns that she was the old woman who gave him the pocket watch eight years ago.
Richard learns about time travel from an old college professor of his and that it can be done if one can go under hypnosis. Richard then tries to travel back in time to the year 1912 under hypnosis with a tape recorder only to fail under stress. After a trip to the hotel's attic, Richard finds an old guest book from 1912 with his signature in it only to learn that he was there.
Richard again goes under hypnosis (this time without the tape recorder, since it was not around in 1912) and succeeds. Upon arriving in 1912, Richard looks all over the hotel for Elise, even meeting Arthur as a little boy, and has no luck finding her. Finally, Richard meets Elise standing by a tree by the lake and she asks him if he's the one. Before he can ask why, Elise's manager, William Fawcett Robinson, tells Richard to leave Ms. McKenna alone. Richard continues to seek Elise out again until finally she agrees to walk with him. Richard finally asks why Elise asked if he was the one and she replies that Robinson knows that she will meet a man that will change her life. Upon returning to the hotel, Elise invites Richard to her play. Richard attends the play and upon visiting Elise during intermission finds her getting her picture taken. Upon spotting Richard, Elise smiles and the picture is then taken. This picture is the same one in which Richard will see 68 years later at the Grand Hotel. Later, Richard receives a letter from Robinson who admits to Richard that he knows who he really is. He then has Richard tied up and thrown into the stables.
Richard wakes up the next morning and escapes the stables and runs to Elise's room only to discover that her party has left. Richard then goes out to the hotel's deck to find Elise running towards him. They return to his room together and make love. Later that evening, Elise asks Richard if he's going to marry her in which he responds yes. She then tells him that the first thing she will do for him is buy him a new suit (the suit Richard has been wearing the his entire time in 1912 is about ten to fifteen years out of style). Richard begins to show Elise what a wonderful suit it because of its many pockets. He is alarmed when he reaches into one and finds a penny that has the date of 1979 on it. Snapping him out of his hypnotic-induced time travel, Richard fades from 1912 with Elise screaming his name in horror as he drifts back to 1980.
Richard wakes up in his room having returned back to his own time. He tries to hypnotise himself again without success. After wandering around the hotel and staring for hours at Elise's picture, Richard returns to his room where he sits in a daze for days without eating. Arthur checks on Richard in his room and finds him very sick and calls for a doctor. Richard then sees himself drifting above his body and his room and is drawn to a light. In the light is Elise, waiting for him just as he remembered her where they will remain together in Heaven.
[edit] Timeline
- 1912
- Thursday, June 27: Richard wakes up at the Grand Hotel and meets Elise.
- Friday, June 28: Richard invites Elise to go on a walk with him. Later that night he attends her play.
- Saturday, June 29: Richard finds a 1979 penny in his pocket and wakes up. He also leaves behind his pocketwatch.
- 1972
- May: Elise returns the pocket watch to Richard. Elise returns home and dies.
- 1980
- Richard stays at the Grand Hotel and falls in love with Elise's picture.
- Richard hypnotizes himself to go back to 1912.
- Richard wakes up from 1912 and tries to go back, but can't.
- Richard dies from a broken heart.
[edit] Awards
Somewhere in Time has received several awards, including:
The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Costume Design.
[edit] Trivia
- The film was shot at the Grand Hotel, on Michigan's Mackinac Island. The hotel hosts an annual convention for fans of the film. However, in the novel the setting is the Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California.
- Richard Matheson, who wrote the original novel and screenplay, appears in a cameo role as an astonished 1912 hotel guest. The cause of his astonishment is apparently Richard's face after cutting himself shaving with a straight-razor.
- The character of Elise McKenna was based upon a real life early 20th century stage actress Maude Adams.
- In 1990, Somewhere in Time fan Bill Shepard founded International Network of Somewhere In Time Enthusiasts (INSITE) to "Honor the film, and those responsible for its creation, to Inform members about all aspects of it and enhance their appreciation of it, as well as to Influence public and media perception of the film, to assure its recognition as the classic we know it to be." INSITE has erected a plaque near the hotel to commemorate the first encounter of the film's lovers. In 1997, the fan club also paid for Reeve's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The club can be joined online [1]. INSITE publishes a 16 - 20 page magazine 4 times a year, and back-issues may also be purchased online.
- Director Jeannot Szwarc had a slight problem directing the scenes between Christopher Plummer and Christopher Reeve in that whenever he said "Chris" both men would respond with "Yes?" Szwarc resolved this by deciding to address Christopher Plummer as "Mr. Plummer" and addressing Christopher Reeve as "Bigfoot".
- The final scene between Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour before Reeve's character is thrown back into his own time was difficult for Reeve to shoot because he had just learned that his then girlfriend and companion, Gae Exton, was pregnant with his first son, Matthew, so for much of that day his attention was understandably elsewhere.
- In the film, Reeve's character refers to a Dr. Finney as an expert on time travel. This is very probably a reference to author Jack Finney, whose novel Time and Again features a very similar approach to traveling through time; Matheson has acknowledged that Finney's novel had great influence over his own.
- There is a "time paradox" in the film. The watch given to Richard when he was a young man by the older Elise has no origin in the timeline. Richard takes this watch with him back to 1912. Elise is admiring this watch when Richard finds the 1979 penny, and is thrust back to the future, leaving the watch behind. Where did the watch come from? In addition, it is likely that the age of the watch would continually deteriorate through iterations of the time loop.
- The cars used in the film required special permission from the town to be brought onto, and driven on, the island. The cast and crew of the film were only allowed to drive the vehicles during filming. Motorized vehicles, other than emergency vehicles and snowmobiles in the winter, are prohibited on Mackinac Island. Transportation is limited to horse and buggy or bicycle.
- A little bit of Superman related trivia: director Jeannot Szwarc helmed the 1984 feature film Supergirl, that in their development stage, would have Christopher Reeve reprising his role as Superman. Since 2003, Szwarc had directed several episodes of the hit TV Series Smallville, that featured the late Reeve as Virgil Swann, a scientist who became a friend of Clark Kent, (Tom Welling) during two episodes on seasons 2 and 3. Jane Seymour also was part of this series, playing a recurring character during the season 4, called Genevieve Teague.
