Time After Time (1979)

Time After Time (1979) is an American sci-fi movie written and directed by Nicholas Meyer. Set in 1893 London, it follows H.G. Wells as he showcases his time machine to skeptical guests at a dinner party. He explains its inner workings, including a ‘non-return key’ that locks the traveler’s destination and a ‘vaporizing equalizer’ that maintains equilibrium between the traveler and the machine. Suddenly, police constables interrupt the event, searching for notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper. Upon finding blood-stained gloves belonging to Wells’s friend John Leslie Stevenson, a surgeon, they suspect him to be the culprit. In a panic, Wells rushes to his laboratory only to discover that the time machine has vanished. With Stevenson on the loose and lacking the ‘non-return’ key, the machine automatically reappears in 1893.

Following his encounter with Stevenson at a museum in San Francisco on November 5, 1979, author Wells is taken aback by the unexpected reality of the future. Instead of the utopian society he had envisioned, he is faced with a world full of chaos and turmoil, characterized by technologies like airplanes and automobiles, as well as a history stained with war, crime, and violence. In need of some currency for sustenance, Wells exchanges British bank notes for American money at a local bank before stopping at a McDonald’s to satisfy his hunger. As he continues his search for Stevenson who may also require an exchange of funds, Wells visits several banks in the hopes of locating him. It is at the Chartered Bank of London where he encounters Amy Robbins – an employee who had directed Stevenson to the Hyatt Regency hotel.