Review of Somewhere in Time (1980) by Sowmya A — 01 Aug 2012

It's a very sweet movie with all good intentions, however, I didn't see a lot of point in this one here. The ending was more fairytale like. There exists a simple portal to travel time that has absolutely nothing to do with the string theory or actual physical portal, which you can use only once 'cause after that you meet your ancient partner only in heaven. All I felt was, there could have been so much in the script.

It's a very fine movie otherwise. You have great sets, actors and music in the right place. The direction is perfect with a particular script in hand. The story just makes you ecstatic in the beginning when a 92 year old stage-veteran comes up fearlessly to a well renowned and good looking actor,Richard Collier (Christopher Reeve), who is in the prime of his youth in 1979 and says, "Come back to me." It seemed creepy at once but it was graceful enough to get you hooked. The movie makers were able to trace the grace of the dying lady back to a beautiful and charming actress of her time Elise McKenna (Jane Seymour) of 1912. I loved the dreamy setup but there was so much that lacked in the movie's substance. Especially the lady's point of view was completely killed. There is only so much one can gain from the well etched face of Christopher Reeve. Basing a movie solely on his point of view didn't do any justice to the romantic story. It failed to tell the audience anything. Other than the unraveling of McKenna's history, there was no major reason of giving the reins of the movie to this fine gentleman here when the lady had so much substance and grace, which surprisingly remained unexploited, in her that could have turned the fate if the movie around. Her emotions were completely blocked to show a dirty demise of the actor in the end instead. The audience was forced to see the good in the actor and vie for the lady to take the lead for good. Well, I say, a little tweaking here and there and a complete modification of the last 30 minutes of the movie could have made a huge difference in the story.