Somewhere in Time (with Melinda Mock)

[00:00:04] Welcome to Movie Oubliette, the film review podcast for movies that most people have mercifully forgotten. I'm Dan. And I'm Conrad. And in each episode, we drag a forsaken film out of the Oubliette. Discuss it and judge it to decide whether it should be set free. Or whether it should be thrown back and consigned to oblivion forever.

[00:00:38] Movie Oubliette Happy Valentine's Day, listeners. And welcome to another episode of Movie Oubliette, the Continent Connecting podcast with me, Dan, making Plum Jam in Melbourne, Australia. And me, Conrad, playing with AI video generation tools in Cambridge, UK.

[00:00:56] And in this podcast, we discuss forgotten genre films, sci-fi, horror and fantasy because Valentine's Day is not complete without a fateful romance across time, fancy dress and devastating heartbreak causing death. Hello, everyone. Wow. Hello, Dan. How are you doing? Not too bad. Not too bad. Yeah? So you're making jam.

[00:01:26] Yes. So one of the pluses of moving into a house with fruit trees is you have a lot of fruit. And what do you do with fruit? You make jam. So making plum jam. It's quite a sour variety of plum for some reason. So the jam is quite tart. But that's okay. It still tastes good. Does that mean you just double up on the sugar or something? I put a lot of sugar. It's still very tart. It always tastes like a lemon curd more than a jam. I don't know.

[00:01:56] Right. It'll be good. It'll be good on toast. Wow. Okay. Well, that'll see you through the winter, I guess. Yeah. Oh, no, I eat a lot of jam. I don't think it's going to last a long. Okay. Meanwhile, AI, having fun. Yes. I'm using AI video generation tools to create cutaways for a podcast I'm working on at the moment, a video podcast. Oh.

[00:02:20] And it's quite fun, especially trying to train it to do something that's action packed or violent in any way. Okay. It tries desperately not to do it. Okay. And does everything but. It's not morphing everyone together into one sort of society body horror or anything. It's pretty nasty. So I was just trying to get a snowball to roll down a hill and bowl somebody over. Right.

[00:02:48] Every time I do it, the person just flails on the floor and then the ball sort of goes vaguely past them and then they wobble around for a while. It's very, very strange, but it's quite enjoyable. Okay. Yeah. Many different results, I guess. Yeah. It's, yeah, it's a fun time. All right. Let's move on to the mailbag. What have Alice's been saying? Well, we have a new patron, Dan.

[00:03:17] The Crazy Hedgehog Lady has joined us. Okay. Great name. That's a great name. Welcome, Crazy Hedgehog Lady. Yes. And she wrote to say, just discovered your channel and all my rescue hedgehogs and I love it. You guys feature all the gloriously cheesy 80s horror and fantasy that I adore. So happy to have found you right now, finishing up chemo and being in and out of hospital.

[00:03:43] But listening to the podcast is definitely helping me keep on smiling and feels like hanging out with friends. Isn't that great? That's so, that's great. Yeah. And hedgehogs. Oh, rescuing hedgehogs. Yeah. I can't think of anything better, to be honest. I miss hedgehogs. We don't get them in Australia. No? We've got them in New Zealand. Of course. But not in Australia for some reason. Oh. Maybe it's one of those things where if you introduce them, they just run wild. Yeah.

[00:04:12] I just remember growing up in New Zealand, always seeing hedgehogs. It's quite common, even though they're introduced. But I guess we have the Australian version of a hedgehog, an echidna. But they're different. Very different. What are they like? Well, they're... Okay. This is going to go on a slight tangent. They're monotremes. There are only two monotremes in the world, a platypus and an echidna. And they're the only mammals to lay eggs. Wow. And... I didn't know there were two. Yeah. Only two. And they only live in Australia.

[00:04:41] And echidnas also have... Their back feet are backwards. So it looks really weird when they walk. Honestly, the things you have down there, it's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Well, and speaking of strange creatures, Serge got in touch with us to say, Chud is a fun watch. Oh, okay. Reminds me of Q, the winged serpent. Not just because it's about cryptids in New York, but because the characters are surprisingly layered

[00:05:11] and government bureaucracy is the not-so-secret antagonist. Sort of loses steam as it goes along, but at least it ends with a big explosion. Of course. Of course. I've always wanted to watch Q, the winged serpent. Like, it's been on my watch list for a while. Wow. We should do that at some point. Yeah. And Serge concludes with, Thank you, Movie Oubliette, for reviewing this one and finally giving me the incentive to get it off my watch list

[00:05:40] after first reading the plot summary when I was six. Oh, wow. I would literally run around family barbecue shouting, You only think you know what Chud stands for. That's adorable. It is, isn't it, Jess? Wow. So, thank you, Serge, of Cold Crash Pictures. Yes. Thanks, Serge. Yes.

[00:06:07] Well, Dan, we've got a special guest to help us fetch the movie today. Oh, do we? We do indeed, yes. It's my co-host on Dreamland and one of the stars of Retro Blasting, Melinda Mock. Hello. Hi, guys. Welcome back. Thanks. Long time no see. I know. I know. It's so great to be back and talking about such a fun movie. Wow. It's positive.

[00:06:36] It's full of joy. Yep. For sure. Happily Ever Afters. Yeah. Absolutely. Indeed. Do you want to fetch it for us? Absolutely. I'm going to, I just, I really need to convince myself that I'm in the oubliette. So, I'm just going to lie down on this bed here. Okay. Okay. Oh, this is a new technique. I am in the oubliette. I am in the oubliette. Wow. She's fading. Wow. That was easy. Okay.

[00:07:06] It seems like it's a really sunny day down here, but geez, I can barely see anything. There's this gauzy white film over everything. Wow. I think there's even a costume party going on as well. I definitely didn't wear the right outfit. Oh. Okay. I think I see the film. It is, it's in a big gazebo. I just need to slip past this menacing gray haired guy with a goatee. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. I got it. Wait, what's the shiny thing? Is that a penny? Whoa. Melinda.

[00:07:36] Melinda. Oh, is it you? Oh, you're back. So what do you have for us? So we have Somewhere in Time, which is a time travel romance from 1980 starring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, and Christopher Plummer. It's a film adaptation of a 1975 novel called Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson, who wrote I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come.

[00:08:05] Oh, good credentials. So what's it about? So in this, the young and strapping playwright Richard Collier, startled by an elderly woman who gate crashes the disco scored after party of the 1972 debut of his first play, hands him an antique pocket watch and begs him to come back to her. Eight years later, suffering from writer's block, he takes a pleasure drive and ends up

[00:08:31] at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, which is a real feat considering that cars have been banned on that island since 1901. There he becomes obsessed with a 1912 photograph of the legendary and mysterious actress Elise McKenna, who he soon discovers was the old woman who visited him. Determined to meet her, he learns how to time travel by means of self-hypnosis and is transported back to 1912.

[00:08:59] They instantly fall truly, madly, deeply in love with each other, much to the alarm of McKenna's Svengali-style manager, who becomes determined to keep them apart. Can they forge a future together in the past? Will the spell be broken by an anachronistic penny? And will we be able to see anything through the white gauzy haze? Find out after the break. Can't wait. Yeah.

[00:09:36] And we're back to talk about the time travel romance fantasy, Somewhere in Time. Dan, had you seen this classic love story before? No, no, not at all. Although you have mentioned it so many times on the podcast that I feel like I had seen it. Does that sound a bit world-weary then? Did it live up to your expectations based on that, Dan?

[00:10:06] I mean, it's very romantic. It's very sort of old cinema almost. But yeah, this was a first watch for me. It wasn't what I expected, especially the ending. How about you, Melinda? I saw it when I was about 14. So that puts it at 1990 or so. So maybe 10 years after it came out. It was on TV. I don't know. I weirdly remember a lot about this movie. And I'd only seen it the one time. So this rewatch was interesting.

[00:10:35] But it all came back to me. So it clearly left an impression. What about you, Conrad? Sounds like you're very familiar with it. I am. So I saw this first when it was on television when I was probably in single digits. Wow. In terms of age. And I fell in love with it. It was sort of the only romance story that somebody, you know, a boy of that age can put up with, which is one that has time travel in it. Right.

[00:11:02] And since then, it's been a movie that I've returned to quite often. And I've purchased every single iteration of it on DVD, Blu-ray. Oh, wow. And I recently read that Kino is preparing a 4K edition of this movie this year for its 45th anniversary. Wow. And I'm not sure how much this film will benefit from 4K remastering because it's gauzy.

[00:11:32] Yes. It's quite the dreamy film, quite old-fashioned. So it's the result of Gianno Swark, who we recently lost. He passed away, sadly, in January of this year, which is another reason we wanted to cover the movie. Hmm. That's right.

[00:11:50] And he had just directed Jaws 2 for Universal, which, although it's generally regarded not as a great movie in comparison with the original, it did make a shed ton of money. Oh, right. Or a boatload, maybe. And so Universal owed him a favor. And although he was getting offers of lots of action and adventure movies, he would go on to do Supergirl and Santa Claus the movie, which we've covered.

[00:12:20] He really wanted to do something a little bit more serious, something romantic. And a producer that had bought the rights to Richard Matheson's novel and really dearly loved it and wanted to make an adaptation of it, came to Jeanneau and said, how about this? And he got Universal to give it the green light, returning the favor for him saving Jaws 2, which had had a bit of a troubled production and another director that was fired. Right. Yeah, they owed him one.

[00:12:49] And so this is how he cashed that in. And so it was kind of a project that everybody who gravitated towards it, because it was very low budget, four and a half million dollars, everybody who came to be involved in it, Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, even John Barry, they were all working for much less money than they would normally do just because they loved the material.

[00:13:13] Because it was very much unlike anything else that was hitting the cinema screens in the late 70s and the early 80s. I read that they were able to use the Grand Hotel for free. Wow. Basically so that it would promote the hotel, which it did. And the hotel has cashed in on it and they still continue to to this day. So, I mean, I feel like that's a pretty good investment. It's like 40 years of free promotion, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

[00:13:41] I looked up the hotel on Google and it looks very much the same. I mean, they've updated the rooms, but the lobby looks almost identical to how it looked in this movie. And it's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. And they're still retaining the ban on motor cars on the island, aren't they? Yes. So it's horse-drawn carriages except for emergency vehicles. Wow.

[00:14:03] So it is this little bubble of late 19th century and turn of the century sort of style living. So quite a fun place to go for a somewhere in time themed weekend getaway, apparently. Lots of honeymoons happening. And weddings. Yeah. Oh, really? Right, right, right. Yeah. Yeah. I heard the coin shop is still there, although it's been renamed Baxter's Somewhere in Time shop.

[00:14:33] They should put like a big fountain, right? So you could just toss your coin in and... Yeah, you should definitely get rid of your pennies. That's for sure. Oh, yes, yes. So it's fascinating in terms of the material. Richard Matheson, very well-known science fiction writer, as Melinda mentioned, for things like I Am Legend. What Dreams May Come. I had no idea. Which is a similar property. Yeah, because that's one of my favourite movies of all time. And I had no idea.

[00:15:01] Yeah, he's very influential, worked on things like The Twilight Zone. And Jeanneau also started his career working in TV on things like Night Gallery for Rod Serling. So there's a crossover there. And he probably adapted Richard Matheson a few times in amongst those episodes. So they had an affinity for the material.

[00:15:20] And this one, slightly different again, because it is much less concerned with high concept science fiction and much more concerned with character and with, above all, romance. Because there's no hardware involved in the time travel, no special effects to speak of. Yeah. It's just, it's all about love. I mean, their love is so strong that they can literally will themselves across decades to be with each other. Yes.

[00:15:49] I mean, we should talk about the time travel, right? So there's no machine, there's no item or magical whatever. There's no, he literally hypnotises himself by recording a audio recording of him saying, I am in 1912. It's this time and I'm there, I'm there. Yeah.

[00:16:10] I wrote that this movie's premise operates on the secret method of time travel, which is the self-help book that basically focuses on the law of attraction, which claims that thought alone can influence objective circumstances within your life. Wow. I love how long it takes him to figure out that that's anachronistic for him to have a tape recorder in the room. A tape recorder, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, because he does, he sets up the room as if it was 1912.

[00:16:37] Like he gets rid of any modern art or any technology. He gets a suit made or... I think he buys it in like a... Is it tailor-made? Did he? I feel, I mean, it fits very well. I think, you know, in the film, he's just supposed to have found it in a store and it fits him, which is amazing because Christopher Reeve's dimensions were quite particular. And he even says that in the movie. He like says how great it fits him. But I mean, people from that time period were definitely not generally that large. Yeah.

[00:17:07] He's a big guy, isn't he? He's six foot four. He was, yeah. And very broad. There's a reason he was Superman. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I have to say, I haven't seen Christopher Reeve in many movies. I have seen him in this movie, Superman, and the rear window remake of all movies. Oh, gosh. He's in an episode of Fairytale Theatre. Is he? Oh, right, right, right. Yeah. I did want to ask, at the time, was he really, really popular?

[00:17:36] Was he like top of the game, sort of front cover in all the girl magazines type of thing? I'm not sure. Sure. I mean, he was chosen for Superman on the basis that nobody knew who he was. Right. Okay. So he really was supposed to be not bringing the baggage of a star persona with him. So you could accept him as this creature from another planet. And he also does have a unique set of qualities as a human being and as a screen presence that made him the ideal man of steel.

[00:18:05] And I think untoppable, frankly. And he just made, so Superman was 78. Superman 2 came out in 80, although they were shot back to back. So he was riding high and everyone is like really excited to see what he's doing next. And all he was being offered were action movies. I think there was a big Viking movie that they were trying to get him. Right. So like his version of Conan the Barbarian. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

[00:18:31] And Giannis Walk was very clever because he thought nobody's going to be offering him things like this. Let's slide this onto his desk and see if he bites. And he did. Because he wanted to prove his mettle as a serious dramatic actor rather than a guy in a leotard. And I have to say, I think he nails it.

[00:18:49] I mean, in terms of a depiction of a guy who becomes obsessed based purely on seeing a photograph in a hotel room at a point in his life where he's just got writer's block and he's kind of, he's just split up with his girlfriend. And he hasn't got much going on. He's a bit disaffected. And then he goes to a hotel on a whim, sees this photograph of Jane Seymour, loses his mind and then becomes obsessed with trying to get to her across time.

[00:19:18] And I buy it. I buy it. I buy it as well. But I also feel like this movie balances serious with comedy, surprisingly well as well. I didn't expect it to be quite as funny and whimsical at times. Like there's a lot of stumbling going on with him just making breakfast plans with her. It's great dialogue. I don't know. I struggle a little bit with this movie. I got to be honest. And it's funny because I love romance.

[00:19:46] I mean, I'm sort of obsessed with, I've been watching all kinds of different romance lately. But when I'm watching this movie, they only are together for a day. And it just, I mean, it's a lot. It's a lot to happen in a day. I remember as I was watching it, as I always do, I'm texting Conrad and I'm like, somewhere in time, the movie that briefly answers the question, what happens if you combine The Shining and Titanic? Yeah.

[00:20:16] Yeah. Basically. I mean, and I know that this movie came out first, but it's a time travel movie. So I feel like I get a pass. But I think, you know, there's a ton of similarities to Titanic. Yes. Not just the fact that it's 1912, which, you know, I'm going to also point out that that's where Downton Abbey starts. So there's a lot of things that romantically start in 1912. I don't know what it is about that year, but it's like also got this weird, creepy thing.

[00:20:44] Like as I'm watching it, I'm just sitting there going, is this all just like in his head? Yeah. And so I like that and I kind of want them to leave it more ambiguous, which I don't know if you want to get into that here, but like I sort of read up on the book that this is based on a little bit. And I think that the book's plot makes a whole lot more sense to me and is more compelling for several reasons.

[00:21:09] Because Richard in the book has a brain tumor and he goes to a hotel to die and he's keeping a journal. And that's like where the story comes from, right? Because he doesn't have a lot to do. That's why he gets obsessed with the photo. And he does all this research on her and on time travel. And then when he gets into like where he finally sees her and she says, is it you?

[00:21:33] It's because two psychics have told her that she would meet a mysterious man at that exact time and place. So that's what that means. Whereas the movie doesn't ever really explain exactly why she says that. Yeah. And then Robinson, who is her manager, like assumes that Richard is after her money. And that's why he is so against him. And then Richard, when he dies at the end of the book, they just kind of make it like, was it the brain tumor? Was he just imagining all of this because of the brain tumor?

[00:22:03] Or did it really happen? And they leave it open-ended, which I think makes it more of like the Twilight Zone type stuff that this author was known for. Right. I mean, that twist is a very, it's kind of an overused twist. Sure. It's like total recall or like, was it all a dream? What's it all in his head? I mean, I do agree that does explain it much better than the movie.

[00:22:30] And with all romance movies, like when you really break it down, it's like, how could anyone fall in love that quickly? Well, is it love or is it lust? Let's be honest. Yeah. They didn't know each other. So they were just like physically like, yeah, I'm all about this. Yeah. And that's true. And when they finally get together, it's like, it's over. Go back to 1980. But I mean, I have to ask a question.

[00:23:00] Like with a lot of romance movies, there is a fine line between, is this like incredibly romantic? Or is this like super creepy? Well, that's where I was going. It's like, I feel like it would creep me out. Like, I gotta be honest. If some guy was just like, I have to have breakfast with you or I have to be near you, I would be like red flag, red flag, red flag, red flag. Like, I mean, I don't know. I mean, he's really cute and everything. But yeah, I mean, I agree. I think it's a little much.

[00:23:28] But like, if you look at something like Titanic, which I just brought up. Titanic, they have like around four days, which is still a very short period of time to have a lifelong longing for someone. Yeah. Because that's what happens here, right? Is like, she meets this guy, has a one night stand with him, and then quits her career, I guess. And then just lives in seclusion because of like one night. Like, that's a lot to me. Yeah. I do have to clarify that.

[00:23:57] I think it is more than a day. Because he does sleep on the porch. So that's one day. And then the next day, he has breakfast with her. Okay. So it's two nights. Or lunch or whatever. And then he gets bashed by the henchmen and spends the night in a horse stable. And then he sees another the next following day. And then they sleep together. And I'm guessing it's another day? They have a weekend. Yeah. So that's why they always do the weekend in the Grand Hotel.

[00:24:28] Right. Yeah. Because they're there from the 27th to the 29th of June or something like that. So, yeah. They have a long weekend together. Two, three days. Yeah. Three days, maybe. They do. But they've really only spent one day together properly. Really. Exactly. Like that day where they have the breakfast. That's the longest time, probably, that they've spent together. We don't know how long they were in the bed. Yeah. Exactly.

[00:24:52] They could have just been humping in there and ordering room service for like a month. Now that I would buy. Like that I would understand why she can't get over it. Yeah. Let's just say that that's the case. Let's just say that room just smells of stale food and sex. And that's it. I mean, I will have to, I have to point out, like he wears the same suit for the whole three days. Oh my God.

[00:25:22] And does he shower? I mean, he's probably pretty stinky. I mean, especially after the stable situation. Like, which, by the way, he goes directly into bed with her from the stable. I'm like, I'm sorry, but no. Maybe she's into that. Clearly.

[00:25:52] There are a number of things about this that when you look at it logically and coldly, and also from the viewpoint of like a sane adult, it is not the basis for a solid relationship or a believable premise for a love that is so strong it could rip a hole in space and time. I think it's perfectly poised as a fantasy. And I think the reason why it still held sway with me, because I saw it at such a young age,

[00:26:22] this, I think, is definitely a child's view of what love is. Yeah. It's basically sexless because it draws quite literally a veil over that. But it's a little steamy. Like, I liked it. It was nice. Yeah. I mean, you get to see Christopher Reeve's super buff arms and all that. Like, that's nice. Oh, of course. And it blew out a candle. But it's just this longing that they have this desperation to be together.

[00:26:47] And I think the main thing that holds the movie together, because it's a very flimsy premise, is Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve both being just stunningly gorgeous people and having incredible chemistry together. Yes. So, you really do want to see them together. So, every time the movie conspires to separate them and they end up screaming and running towards each other at speed, it works for me every single time the movie does it.

[00:27:17] Yeah. That works for sure. Yes. Because they were secretly dating, right? Mm-hmm. According to her, yeah. Yeah. So, this was interesting. This is something that she's only recently shared, is that they fell head over heels in love with each other during the course of this movie. And the morning when he is taken from her, the scene with the penny that we'll probably get to, he'd just taken a phone call from his ex-girlfriend to tell him that she's pregnant. Mm-hmm.

[00:27:45] And so, she is playing that scene quietly devastated. Yeah. The sex scene is also after that. And so, when she talks about how, like, when she's, you only see her face for a short period of time because they do the whole veil going over. But she has this look on her face and she talks about it in an interview and she's like, she's, this Elise is supposed to be the happiest she's ever been in her life in this moment. So, I can't cry, but I want to cry. Mm-hmm.

[00:28:12] Because, like, they're about to, in real life, break up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, sure. Yeah, you can see it on her face. It's like, if you know that and you watch it, you're like, oh. Yeah. There is a very good reason why they have such great on-screen chemistry. Yes. I think also why the romance does kind of hold together, apart from the fact that it's only a couple of days, is the fact that Richard sees, or meets Elise, old Elise, at the start of the film. Mm-hmm.

[00:28:40] So, he knows this is a, it's going to happen anyway. So, that's why he's so obsessed with it coming into fruition. Because he knows that there must have been something, because old Elise was obviously infatuated with him. Yeah. For some reason. He kind of justifies his obsession. If he didn't have that thing at the start, you would think, what is wrong with you?

[00:29:10] I still kind of think that, but, I mean. Yeah. Every once in a while, you'll see a photo of someone from another generation, like, a really old photo, and they're, like, really hot. But, like, you're still very much aware that that person is, like, your grandfather's age or whatever. Yeah. So, there's a distance there of time and age and all this stuff. Hmm. Yeah. I do feel like a lot of, I don't know, I'm brought back to the episode Portrait of Jetty. This is very similar.

[00:29:39] I mean, there's a portrait, there's a photograph that's kind of timeless. And, yeah, a sort of fated love across time and dimension, which is very similar as well. But I was thinking of how, I guess, at the time Amanda was saying how hot these guys were back then. Like, I think there is quite a sort of, not, I guess, not a fetish, I guess, but, like, there are a lot of people out there obsessed with people from the past.

[00:30:09] And I guess it's also the time and place as well. Like, it's a different time. It is, yeah. Yeah. And it's, as Melinda mentioned, there's something about 1912 or just the turn of the century before the World Wars, before the innocence of the world is lost, so to speak, that is, at the same time, nostalgic and beautiful, but also doomed. You know, it's not going to last. So, it's melancholy as well. Yes.

[00:30:35] And it's, interestingly, Kim Newman on one of the special features I watched, he makes a very good point that you couldn't really remake Somewhere in Time now, because in order for the old Elise to be able to still be alive, you'd be making a film where you're sort of waxing nostalgic about the 1950s. Yeah. Which is Back to the Future, and that's just weird. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the movie itself feels like old Hollywood.

[00:31:04] Like, it feels like Dr. Zhivago or, like, Gone with the Wind. It has that very, very romantic, love-drenched sort of quality to it. Like, you don't really see something so heavily romanticized, I guess, nowadays. Like, it does feel like it's from another time, the movie itself. And also, just the filters that they put on it. Everything looks so warm and fuzzy. Yeah. It definitely does. Yeah.

[00:31:34] The cinematographer took a very interesting approach to the film. He used two different film stocks. So, he used the Kodak Eastman color film that was used for every late 70s and 80s film that has those really saturated reds. And for the past, he used Fuji film, which is more pastel shaded. Ah. Less saturated. Interesting. Yeah. So, there's deliberately a very different look to those two, which I think works quite a good way.

[00:32:04] Yeah. It did have very dreamy quality. Almost like a painting. Like, it did feel like a painting sort of realized. I felt the kiss as well. When they finally do kiss Richard and Elise, it feels like an old Hollywood kiss. It's that embrace where she's, like, a lot lower than him and really close. Like, I don't know. The whole thing just felt older than it should have been. A movie made in 1980. I personally, like, I've been watching a ton of K-drama lately.

[00:32:32] And they do romance so much better than, like, anything over here. I just am super addicted to it. But they do a lot of that. Like, they keep it a little bit more innocent than a lot of Hollywood stuff. Uh-huh. And there is, like, they do have an infatuation with very tall male leads. And so, you have that visual, like, Vivian Lee in Gone with the Wind, where her head is way back and he's kissing her from above.

[00:32:58] And it does have that visual reference to, like, old Hollywood and that, you know, sweeping romance kind of feel. Which this movie does have. And, I mean, Christopher Reeve being super tall and super strong and all that. It's very swoon-worthy. Like, that kiss is great. Like, I mean, they're nailing all of that stuff in this film for sure. Yeah. Because a lot of the portrayal of romance is very literary. Like, I feel like a lot of novels are like this.

[00:33:28] This is, like, a book realized. This is not cinema romance. This is, like, literary romance, I guess. And I feel like there is a huge audience for that. Like, people, like, girls do want to see a guy just sweep them off their feet. I mean, it's complete fantasy. But, yes, we do love to see that. Exactly, exactly. I mean, even that kiss, it felt, it did feel creepy to me. That first kiss.

[00:33:56] When he pins her against the door frame. Where she does say no. And holds her face. Yeah. It just feels like, is this conceptual? I'm not sure. Like, the kiss itself. It absolutely isn't. She says no. Yeah. Well, once again, I'm going to say that happens. It's like a K-drama move where the guy puts at least one hand against the wall. Yeah. Trapping the woman in an area and then just, like, kind of forcefully, but not completely gross forcefully. But, yes, it's a thing.

[00:34:25] It's like a masculine, feminine, whatever. I'm not saying it's okay or not okay. I'm just saying it is definitely a trope that is still utilized in romance stuff. Yeah, sure. It does go into that great time-worn tradition of, if you keep persisting with a woman, eventually she will just give in. Yeah. That's more upsetting to me than the kiss after she says no. To me, it's the constant, like, she's like, no. And then he's like, come on.

[00:34:54] Let's have breakfast. You have to say yes. I'm going to just keep bothering you until you, like, that's... Yeah. It's like you say, Dan, you kind of excuse it with him because he has this sense that this is destiny. Yes. That she's got to say yes because it's just, you know, she's already come to his party with a pocket watch and said, come back to me. So he knows that she wants it. And he's just going back to give her what she wants. Exactly.

[00:35:23] So he's just going back to fulfill this old lady's dream. Wow. Yeah. I hope he's thinking of it from that perspective while he's making out with her. I'm fulfilling this old lady's dream right now. It's just one big pity screw across time. I mean, they were going to call the movie that, but then they decided. Yeah.

[00:35:50] So, yeah, he's kind of expecting it to be the case. And also, although she hasn't had the two psychics in the book tell her to expect this guy to come along, her Svengali-like manager, Christopher Plummer, playing Robinson, he has told her that there will be a man that will come along and change her life. And from his perspective, I think he's always colored it as disaster, something that she should be frightened of.

[00:36:18] And that's why, for the first few meetings, she is terrified of him, I think. She is very wary. Yeah. So, yeah, I have a list of questions I have about this movie. And that is one of them, which is, does he actually know that there's a magic man that's coming? Or is he just worried that eventually she's going to fall in love with someone and he doesn't want her to fall in love and quit her career? Yeah. I feel like it's the latter. Yeah. That's how it comes across in the film, for sure. Yeah.

[00:36:47] Because there's that conversation he has with Richard where Richard thinks he's grooming her to be his wife. Right, right. But then he's like, how dare you? I'm grooming a star. Like, he just wants to make her. Yeah, I'm grooming her to be a moneymaker. Yeah. I love that scene, actually. But I mean, Christopher Plummer is, well, he was such an astonishing actor. Yeah, I didn't realise he was the father in The Sound of Music. The Bills were alive. Yeah. Yeah, I had no idea.

[00:37:15] Well, it's interesting, though, because his character also doesn't care about getting her consent. He's just sort of, like, decides what's best for her in, like, almost like a fatherly but more so kind of way. Like, he's just making decisions about her life, big decisions about an adult person's life. It's very weird. Yeah. No, that whole scene is two men squabbling over her future. Yes. Saying what it will be. Yes. Sorry. Hang on, guys. Should we ask her? At any point.

[00:37:46] Jane Seymour was, like, 29 when the movie came out. I don't know how old the character is supposed to be, but I assume somewhere in her 20s. I think 25. Yeah. I mean, she's definitely an adult, right? Yeah, she is, definitely. It's interesting, though, that Jane Seymour was most famous at this point in her career, and probably still now, for the two roles, Solitaire and Elise McKenna, both of whom are slightly magical, ethereal figures whose talent will be destroyed by a penis. Right.

[00:38:15] I only know Jane Seymour from Dr. Quinn. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. That is literally the only thing I know her from. Although I saw a recent terrible rom-com called Little Italy, where she plays a minor character in that. It's awful. But yeah, that's all I know Jane Seymour from. She was the oldest woman to pose in Playboy. Really? Yeah. She still looks amazing now. She's gorgeous. Again, similarities to Portrait of Jenny.

[00:38:44] Like, she has a very timeless, ethereal, like, angelic, almost, like, goddess-like quality about her. Like, when she's first introduced, she just looks like she's just straight from a Greek play or something. Yeah. Even with the ugly hairstyle, she's gorgeous. I hate the hair. What is the hairstyle? It's the Gibson girl thing that was very trendy at that time. And it was trendy because women wore these amazing hats at that time.

[00:39:11] And so you would put your hair up, because if you have hair hanging just straight down and you have a big hat on, it looks very weird. So you'd have curls hanging right along the edge of the bottom of the hat. But women at that time wore these huge, like you see in the movie Titanic, they had these huge crazy hats and then big hat pins that they would stick through. And yeah. Ah, right. Yeah. Very, very cool. Because her hair is tied back, but it's kind of puffy. Like, there's almost a halo around her head. Right. Yeah.

[00:39:41] And I remember when I was a kid, my mother telling me that that moment when they have sex, her unpinning her hair and letting it fall down is the signal. It's like, I'm ready to go. Oh. That's right. Get in there. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Now it's time for Random Trivia. So Dan, what amazing piece of trivia did you become transfixed by when you saw it in a museum today? Yes.

[00:40:10] Well, while I was looking at the cast of this movie, I found out that during the opening scene at Richard's after party to his play, one of the critics standing in the crowd is played by none other than William H. Macy, credited as W. H. Macy. And he's barely seen. He's in like one tiny shot. He can be seen when the old Elise is walking through the crowd and he's wearing a white

[00:40:37] shirt with a sweater sort of wrapped around his shoulders. And he has no speaking lines. Wow. And it's a very young William H. Macy. I think one of his first roles as well, which is incredible. Wow. Yeah. You have to really look for him. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. Okay. And that's our trivia. That's our trivia.

[00:41:05] No discussion of Somewhere in Time would be complete without talking about the music. Not only Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini by Rachmaninoff, but also John Barry. I will hoist my flag immediately and say, this is the most romantic, devastating love theme that has been committed to film, I think. Yeah. And I think it's John Barry's best work. Yeah. It is lovely.

[00:41:32] I read that he said that he normally doesn't do music like this. And didn't Jane Seymour ask him to do the music for the film? She did. Yeah. They couldn't afford him at all. The budget for this movie was, as I say, 4.5 million. They did not have the money to afford John Barry, but she knew him personally. Right. And just asked him to do it. And again, he read the script and loved it. Yeah. And the crucial thing for him was this came at a really difficult time for him personally because his parents had just passed away.

[00:42:01] First his father and then his mother fairly shortly afterwards. And so although it is full of yearning and romance, it is also just underlined with this desperate melancholy, this awful sadness that permeates the whole movie. Yeah. This theme is just astonishing. It gets me every time I hear it. Oh, it's amazing. Yeah. I think John Barry did the music to High Road to China. Yes.

[00:42:29] Which is the music that we used for our wedding. Ah. Yeah. It's got that same feeling, a wistful, like you were saying, old Hollywood romance kind of vibe to it. Yeah. It's really unique. I think also because it's based on a piece of classical music. And so it has even a more sense of timelessness. I feel like a lot of movies that use classical music have a sense of nostalgia, have a sense of logging to it.

[00:42:56] And yeah, all the instrumentation is all strings mainly. There's a bit of flute in there, I think. And piano. So it's very simple, but like strings are just, you know, very romantic. Isn't Rachmaninoff like from that time turn of the century? Yeah. Yeah. So she mentions that she'd seen him in concert. Uh-huh. Right. Right. But that piece of music hadn't been composed yet. Right. It was composed like 10 years after or something. And so that's why she'd never heard it before. That's right.

[00:43:26] Yeah. But she had heard something of his and I looked it up and Rachmaninoff had just done his first US tour. Yes. In 1910. I thought it was around that time period. Ah, yeah. But originally the music that Janos wanted to put in the movie was Mahler, not Rachmaninoff. Okay. And you can see it actually when Christopher Reeve's character is meant to be listening to Rachmaninoff in his apartment at the beginning. If you look at the record player, there's a Mahler record sleeve, Symphony No. 10. Yeah.

[00:43:55] I wrote down Mahler and then I thought it was Mahler, but then he later says it's not. It's Rachmaninoff. It's Rachmaninoff. They changed it because when they were editing, they just found that Mahler was just too heavy for the film. Mahler's pretty heavy stuff. It's very sort of bombastic and huge sounding. Yeah. Whereas Rachmaninoff is romantic, but fairly swift and lighter. Yeah. I think. Yeah. It's a little syrupy, but yes, it's lighter. That music is fine.

[00:44:24] That's kind of their song that they play. It crops up four times in the film once as a music box. But it's John Barry's themes, I think, that really hit the hardest. Particularly the theme for the two of them, which tellingly is introduced when Richard Collier is told that Elise McKenna's photograph hails from 1912 and he realizes, I'm not going to meet this lady. And that's when the score kicks in for the first time.

[00:44:51] So it is a theme for this love is impossible. This is doomed. Now, isn't this soundtrack the thing that sort of sets the tone for film studios making soundtracks? Like, because it was super popular when it came out and they were like, oh, wow, this is actually selling. And so they started doing more soundtracks just based on the success of this one. Or am I remembering that wrong? So it wasn't when the film came out because the film was a huge bust when it was released. Which is why it's in the Oubliette, right?

[00:45:21] Which is why it's in the Oubliette. Yeah. So released 3rd of October, 1980 in over 360 theatres. And it yielded about 10 million in the box office. For comparison, in 1980, Empire Strikes Back took 203 million. So, yeah. It didn't do terribly well, but it became incredibly popular when it first appeared on cable TV. Apparently it was Channel Z in Los Angeles was the first one. I've not heard of that before.

[00:45:50] Never heard of it. So the album sold 35,000 copies when the film was released. But after it was shown on cable, MCA reported that they were getting consistent reorders from record stores across the country at a rate of 10,000 copies per week. Wow. And Barry was presented with a gold album, which signifies half a million copies sold in 1987 and a platinum for 1 million in 1998.

[00:46:18] And it remains his most successful album outstripping Bond and everything else he's ever done. Really? People use it for weddings like all the time. So I think a lot of times people buy it for that as well. Yeah. Wow. It's huge. And I absolutely love it. Definitely noteworthy. Yeah. No pun intended. Yeah. It's soaring. I have to say. Soaring strings. A lot of strings. Yeah. Lovely strings. We should really talk about the ending.

[00:46:47] You think it was? Yeah. When Conrad broached this movie with me, I said, that is a bummer of a movie to talk about on a comedy podcast. Like, it is. Like, that's the thing I remember the most about the movie was just like, they can only be together in death. Like, it's super depressing. I love it. Happy Valentine's Day. Like, I don't know. Yeah. It's the same sort of ending in Titanic, right?

[00:47:16] Where, like, she dies and then they get reunited in this kind of afterlife on the Titanic. On one of the fan websites that they have about this movie, they do a whole giant comparison between Titanic and this movie. And there are a ton of similarities, even down to, like, where the male and female leads are from. Right. Yes. Just all kinds of really weird similarities. And you almost wonder, did James Cameron just watch this movie a bunch of times and it

[00:47:45] was subconsciously in there? No, I absolutely love it. I mean, as I said, this really informed for me as a young, impressionable child, this informed for me what romance is. Instantaneous, absolutely world-destroying and doomed to misery and death. Same. That's always been my favourite form of romance. Me too. Wuthering Heights.

[00:48:10] Anything where it's all-consuming to the point of insanity and death. Correct. Is my idea of love. Right. It's great. Right. Yeah. Okay, we should describe the ending. So, Mr. Richard Collier, he goes back in time, falls in love with a woman from 1912, Elise McKenna, and they spend a couple of days together, and then he, while showing off

[00:48:36] his suit, he picks up a penny from 1979, and he, because it's not from 1912, gets pulled back to 1980. And then he spends the next week being completely devastatingly heartbroken, doesn't eat, and then he dies. Yes. It's great. Yeah, he's like trying to go back, because like the way he went back in time, is him just like laying in a bed in this hotel that looks like it's from that time period,

[00:49:05] and he's like telling himself he's in 1912, he's in 1912, and he keeps trying to go back, but it doesn't work. So, he's not eating, and he's just trying to trance himself back. And then they find him, and he's like, I will say, one of the coolest things I noticed, Christopher Reeve has these very piercingly blue eyes. And so, when you cut back to him, and he's sitting there devastated in 1980, when he's

[00:49:30] been pulled back, and he's sitting in a chair staring out the window, and you can tell that the actor himself had actually either been crying or trying to cry or something, because his eyes do the same thing that mine do, which is when they get really red, the blue, like, it looks like it's glowing, like it was so intense. It really sold that scene to me, where he just truly looks like he has been sobbing for like hours. Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:50:01] Because I thought he was going to get like this huge inspiration to write his next play, and it was going to be about Elise, and it was going to be his masterpiece, and his legacy, or he was going to find out that Elise had been pregnant, and then he was going to meet his child, who's now an old man or old woman, and it would be like some sort of strange reunion, or something like that. But no, he just dies. Yeah. And that's the movie.

[00:50:29] And also, when you unpack what happens to Elise, like, does she continue acting after Richard disappears? No. So, she never acts again. That's my point. She spends for his loss, the rest of her life. It's like two days. Yeah. And then she just dies of old age. That's it. My career is over. My life is over. I'm going to spend the next 60 years just sitting in a house. Yeah. Listening to Rhapsody on a Theme of Faganini. That's...

[00:50:57] But eating, crucially, because I know that I need to give him the watch at his premiere of his first play. The watch. The Paradox watch. How does she know he's from the future? Moreover, how does she know specifically when he's from in the future? Because she knows that she will still be alive. Like, what if he was from 2025? Like, she couldn't live that long to tell him about... Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean?

[00:51:27] I think she knows that he's from some time, but maybe she doesn't know he's from the future until he resurfaces because of his play. That becomes some success, I guess. And that's when she approaches him. Does that make sense? It could do. Because he mentions that he's aware of the Grand Hotel because the college that he went to where his play is performed is near there. Mm-hmm. So, it could be that she just spots his name... Stumbles across. ...on a flyer somewhere.

[00:51:56] What the hell does Elise think happened to Richard when he disappears? That's, first of all, what I want to figure out. I don't think she knows. So, she's just sitting there. They've just had a wonderful night or month or whatever it is together. And they ate some grapes. And then he's standing there being goofy, and then he just reaches for her and he disappears. Yeah. He just vanishes.

[00:52:20] And if that happened to you, you would spend the next 60 years in a mental asylum. Yeah. And you wouldn't be like, he's from the future. You would be like, he was a figment of my imagination. Or I'm going crazy or something like that. I just don't know how you get to he's from the future. I don't understand that. I can't get there in my head. Yeah. I think you have a very good point.

[00:52:46] If he dropped the penny and it had the year on it, then I would be like, okay, now I get it. But that is not stated. No, he takes it back with him because it drops out of his hand on the bed. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the watch, right? Where did the watch come from? Yeah. Because if she gave it to him and he leaves it behind in 1912, where did it get made? The watch is a Terminator time circle.

[00:53:11] Like, it doesn't, once you get into the time loop, it has a circular logic and a circular origin. Yeah, it's one of those sort of loopholes in time travel movies. It always irks me. Like, it's like, well, if your future self gave it to your past self, then where did your future self get it from? It's one of those things where it just doesn't, it works for the movie, I guess, but it doesn't work logically. Right.

[00:53:38] In the scene after they have sex and they finally start getting to know each other, do you get the impression that she's just like really self-centered and that he may not like her at all? Because she asked him like 400 questions in a row and then she doesn't let him answer. And she's just like, are you a playwright? Can you write me something and put me in your play? I'd love to be in your play. And he's just like, uh, can I talk? It's kind of crazy. Yeah. I mean, I like that scene. I like the sort of banter and to and fro. It's cute.

[00:54:08] It is cute. Yeah. I feel like he's sitting there going, what have I gotten myself into? I can see that. Yeah. You can see that energy where it's like, you know, I just want to get out of here. I've done what I came here for. I personally love the idea that the three of us, like you guys are both like, it's so romantic. And me, like the romance lady person is like, eh, I don't know. No, I do. I do see your point.

[00:54:37] Like I do. Like, I think for the most part, it is a bit creepy from a sort of modern standpoint. I think it is. I think at the time it would have been very cute and romantic. But like now when you really take it apart, it's like, I don't know whether this is possible. But I also have to think about like all the 90s, like teen romance, like rom-coms. They're terrible as well. Yeah. Most of the time they've never even spoken to the girl that they've fallen in love with.

[00:55:06] How can you fall in love with someone you've never spoken to before? Well, you can fall in lust with someone you've never spoken to. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. Which is my point. But, and I'm fine with that. Like I, like I said, I love romance stuff. So I'm not trying to be too nitpicky, but there is like overall when I'm watching it, I'm just kind of like, something's not completely, like I don't buy it. And I think it's just because they could have, even without showing it, they could have made it that he was there a little bit longer.

[00:55:34] And then I probably would have felt like they had more of a connection and it would be a lot sadder if they were taken apart because they've gotten used to being together. That's what happens when you spend a lot of time with someone, even if it's over just like two weeks or a month, you change fundamentally. Yeah. They try to give that sense with lots of long montages with very slow dissolves. Yeah. Is that one, yeah, the one day where they go out into the boat. Yeah. You know. Right.

[00:56:04] But the way that it's done as a montage, it makes you feel as though it could be months, but it's not. It's just one afternoon. What is it? She says meet at one and she's late and she has to get back for the play at five. So they're together for four hours. Four hours. Maybe three. Maybe. Yeah. Really. Like when you count travel time out and her being late, it's like three hours. But in the course of that. Yeah. Something is created that rips a hole in the time space continuum.

[00:56:34] They are incredibly good looking people. I think it's just, they're super hot and that whatever they did in that bed just broke time. I did that as well as the bed. That's right. Oof. That's right. Oh. If only we could have seen it. Wow. I know. Dan's like, oh my God. Coming to you live from the Movie Oobly at Theatre, it's the prestigious Moobly Awards.

[00:57:07] It's Movie Awards time. It's where we nominate our favourite love-stricken parts of the film in a number of out-of-time pocket watch categories. Last quote. My favourite quote is when Richard says, is time travel possible? And the professor goes, that is a question. And I'm thinking, well, yes. And the answer is no.

[00:57:34] My favourite quote in the film comes from Elise. And I mean, obviously the thing to pick would be, is it you? Which is a line for the ages, which is what she says to him when she first sees Richard Collier. But I actually prefer when she's having an argument with Robinson. He's just discovered them when they've obviously just been up to no good in her room. And he gets all sort of possessive and angry and is ordering Richard to leave and so on.

[00:58:00] And she says, I'm involved with you as an actress, Mr. Robinson, not a doormat. Do not attempt to wipe your boots on me. I love that line. That is so great. Go, Jane. Best hair or costume? I will say Elise's dress and hat after she gets off stage. And Conrad, I just sent you three photos of it. I couldn't find any photos online, so I just took photos with my phone of the TV as I was watching it.

[00:58:29] But her hat in that scene is very tall and odd, but it looks so stylish. And that dress is like, I think it's the prettiest dress in the whole film. So yeah, I absolutely adore that outfit. Yeah. All of Elise's outfits were incredible. Lots of lace and lots of gold thread or trimming. I'm not entirely sure, but lots of shiny bits. Yeah, this one was beaded. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:58:58] That's another one that I really like. I mean, it has to be one of her dresses. So all of the costumes were designed by Jean-Pierre D'Orliac and he was nominated for an Oscar, the only Oscar nomination the film got. Oh, wow. And I really love the outfit that Susan French is wearing as the elderly Elise because she's still in turn of the century clothes.

[00:59:21] It's an incredibly elaborate dress, beautiful lacework, beads, so much detail. But it's almost all in black as though she's like this Miss Havisham for whom time has stopped ever since he disappeared with the penny. Well, she hasn't left the house, Conrad. No. She hasn't. In 60 years. She's just been waiting for this play to turn up. Yeah.

[00:59:47] But I love that it's entirely black except for touches of white lace around the neck to give a hint of the youthful purity that she has when we meet her. Yeah. Love it. Well, I'm very surprised no one has pointed out Richard Collier's suit. His brown, tan. Everybody hates that suit. Everyone hates that suit. And the bowler hat. Oh, the hat. Oh, the worst.

[01:00:16] And the chocolate brown bow tie as well. Oh, God. I love it. I love it. I agree with Richard. It's a stunning suit. Most ericies moment. I said most 70s moment myself because the beginning of the film starts in, what, 1972? So, I said the disco music at the beginning followed by a gratuitous mention of Vietnam. You don't get more 70s than that. Yeah, sure.

[01:00:48] You've got to mention the war. Yeah, for sure. How about you, Conrad? Well, I had something that we've already talked about, which is badgering women until they submit. It's so romantic. That's timeless, Conrad. Yeah. Yeah. It's just this idea that if the leading man will just keep constantly persisting with a woman,

[01:01:16] then eventually she will swoon at his dedication and give in, rather than just phone the police and get a restraining order, which is what she should do. Yeah. Favorite scene. I got to go with the sex scene. Really? It's my favorite scene. Oh, yeah. Wow. Well, because unlike the ending, which I remembered, I didn't remember that that was in there.

[01:01:40] And I was just impressed that it had set in that time period that they would even show as much as they did. Because I figured that one kiss that we already talked about earlier was the only thing we were really going to get in terms of their big love. And so I was like, oh, well, I mean, this is nice. Unexpected. Like, okay. Yeah. Cool. I mean, it helps sell the whole, like, I'm still wrapped up in this guy 60 years later. Like. Mm. Mm. Conrad, your favorite scene?

[01:02:08] Yeah, I will go for my ultimate favorite is him dying. Oh, my God. Yay! What? I am sick. Thank you, Conrad, for, like, outclassing me. I'm a sick puppy. Oh, my God. I'm sorry. Oh, Melinda goes for sex and Conrad goes for death. Wow. I mean. Sex and death. Wow. Yeah. Gotta do it. Yeah. So just the whole out-of-body experience, the camera floating up above the bed, looking up at the ceiling,

[01:02:38] and then going towards the window that's glowing, and then through into whatever this other place is that's just all white and her waiting. I think for him. And John Barry is really going for it at that point. And I watched it this afternoon, and I was still in bits, and I've seen this movie so many times. But it gets me every single time. Hmm. Most cliche moment.

[01:03:03] I gotta go with rowing in a rowboat and riding in a carriage in a romance movie. I mean. At least I didn't go on a carousel. I mean, that would have been the trifecta, right? Like, nothing is more romantic than carnivals and stuff like that. But yeah, we're stuck with rowing in the rowboat. So I don't know why that's a thing, but it's in so many romance movies and shows. It's very, very true.

[01:03:33] Mine is a public declaration of love. Yeah. Which Elise McKenna manages to squeeze into her play. She completely goes off book, much to the panic of the director, her manager, the poor little guy that's in the little prompting well in front of the stage. She's freaking out. The other person on stage. Yeah, exactly. She's like, oh my goodness, where are we headed?

[01:03:58] And she does this beautiful speech out into the audience just for him that ends with I love you. And yeah, it's a cliche for a romantic film for a public, usually humiliating declaration of love. Usually there's some humiliation involved if it's a rom-com. Yeah. But here it's just sweet and light. Best special effect. There aren't that many special effects in there. No, not really.

[01:04:27] Not a lot of emphasis on the time travel itself. But I mean, I did like that scene where he does travel back. It's just really good use of lighting, which was nice to kind of... You mean when he goes back to 1912? Yeah. Yeah. So he's lying on the bed and I guess it's nighttime and it's this kind of lamp light. And then there's shots of things around the room kind of fading in and out from 1912 into 1980.

[01:04:56] And then the lighting changes. I think it's all in one shot. Is it, Conrad? I'm not sure whether there's a cut there. But the lighting completely changes to signify it's morning and you hear the birds tweeting. And it's, I don't know, it's great. It's simple. It's effective. It shows he's traveled in time. And the view is the same cushion pattern. So he wakes up on the couch in the same room, but it's not a bed. It's a couch. Yeah.

[01:05:26] It's a much smoother transition than him going back to 1980, which is him falling back through a tunnel or something. Which is funny, which is what I put, or the gauzy white film that's over everything when they go outside that makes it look like you have cataracts. Yeah. Right. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I mean, I kind of like the being pulled back to 1980 as well. How did they do that, Conrad? It almost looks like a projection of Elise.

[01:05:56] The reason it looks like that is because there is an optical element to it. So the image has degraded somewhat. But basically all they did was they had her on stage in the set and they put black all the way around the set. And they just pulled the camera out as quickly as they could. So she's there screaming and reaching her hands out as the crew just tries to bolt as fast as they can down the soundstage. Really? Wow. Holding the dolly track. Wow. Wow. Yeah.

[01:06:25] And they had to do an optical because eventually they pulled so far away from her that you could see the lights and somebody picking his nose. Yeah, yeah, sure. Favourite sound effect. Retard! Yeah, I was going to say Jane Seymour's voice. Yeah. When she screams his name because my goodness, she goes for it. It sounds like she blows out her vocal. Right?

[01:06:55] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it's not like desperate and yearning. It's like... She's going to be on a black metal album next. Yeah. Yeah. She's... Yeah. Most funniest moment. It's probably not that funny to you guys, but there is a moment when Christopher Reeve, his character has gone to...

[01:07:16] He's at the hotel, but he's still in 1980, and he's talking to the bellhop guy, and the bellhop guy's telling him something, and he's not really listening. He's just eyeballing this hot lady that's walking by. Oh, yeah, I saw that. Yeah. And I don't even think it was acting. I just think Christopher Reeve was like... It's hilarious. I went back and watched it three times. I was like, oh my God. He's really giving her the up and down. Yeah.

[01:07:45] I don't think it was planned, or I don't think anyone noticed it, because even though he hasn't met Elise yet or, you know, anything, it's still like in a romance movie. You don't want to sell your male lead as like a lech. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And so it's just weird that it's in there. I mean, he literally is like... That's weird. Yeah, it is really weird.

[01:08:10] My funniest moment is when Richard wakes up in 1912, and he's in the same room, but it's occupied by other guests. And he's trying to get out. So there's a lot of physical comedy. He hides in the wardrobe, I think, at one point, and then he's behind the chair, and he finally escapes. And he's kind of running down the hallway, but then he realizes that the guest has come out to investigate.

[01:08:36] So he turns around, and he's walking towards the room, and it's really funny. And he's like, oh... Quick thinking. Yeah, quick thinking. Yeah. Yes. And because it's less obvious that he's running away from their room. It feels very, like, something you would see on the stage. Yeah, sure. Like, that whole sequence is like him hiding behind the chair while there's like a couple in the room, and they're arguing, and they keep walking in and out.

[01:09:04] And as they walk out of the room, he's like, okay, now I can escape. But then he has to hide again. It's very choreographed. Yeah, yeah, it is. It is. Yeah. And that's our movies. Mm, yeah. Hi, this is Catherine Mary Stewart, and you are listening to Movie Oubliette. Yes, it's Final Verdict. Time.

[01:09:29] Should the time-travelling romance film Somewhere in Time be liberated from its forgotten prison to be swooned over and fallen in love with once more? Or should it be pulled back to its eternal prison of 1980 and live its afterlife in the void of the Oubliette? Never spoken of again. Melinda, yes, Somewhere in Time, would you recommend this to people? You know, I really struggled with this, honestly.

[01:09:59] I almost feel like I'm still trying to make my decision. I feel like if you really like romance and you are pretty well-versed in watching older films, you might enjoy at least on some level parts of it. I mean, the music is beautiful. There are definitely things. It's great to see Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer. Like, all of those things are good in and of themselves.

[01:10:25] But as a cohesive story, if you're coming to it from a modern perspective, I feel like it's got to be challenging. Like, I was really wondering how you were going to perceive it, Dan. Because coming at it from a 2025 perspective, it's different than Conrad growing up with it. Or even me seeing it in 1990. Like, you know, it's different. So, I don't know. If you like Titanic, if you like time travel stuff and romance, yes.

[01:10:55] If you don't, then you're probably not going to like it very much. But I'll give it a pass. It's going to barely squeak by, but I'll set it free. Yeah, I would agree on all points. Like, I do think when you really unpack it, I don't know whether it works. Like, it does come across as incredibly creepy at times. Yes.

[01:11:19] But I do like time travel romance movies that have the time travel element, but it's not a big part of the movie. Like, movies like About Time, Sliding Doors, not The Time Traveler's Wife. Or Portrait of Jenny is another one. So, like, I did enjoy, I think I probably would have enjoyed it more younger because I was dumb and would have sort of accepted this as like, this is, sorry. Oh, wow.

[01:11:49] Sorry, Conrad. Not as sort of matured in terms of like what love is. Like, this represents love in a very sort of idealized way. I'm trying to backpedal here. Anyway. You're doing a great job. Yeah. I really enjoyed the performances by Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. I think they're fantastic. The chemistry is definitely there. Devastating ending, though.

[01:12:18] I'm still enjoying that ending. But. It's brave. I'll say that. Yeah. It's a brave choice. Anyway, Conrad. Well, I don't think you're going to have any surprises from my unsophisticated. Sorry. It's not what I mean. It's not what I mean. I'm so glad it wasn't me that said that. Oh, my God.

[01:12:48] Bad use of words. I'm really, really sorry. No. No, no. It's fine. No, you're absolutely right. This landed at exactly the right time when I, my, you know, my view of what romance was, was this. It was something where it was instantaneous, all consuming and had to end in disaster and death. Yes. And that was the only thing that made it perfect, unattainable and timeless.

[01:13:12] And, you know, achieving that on screen is just phenomenally hard without it just tipping over into schmaltz or being laugh out loud funny. The fact that it isn't and it still isn't is a testament to the late Jeanne Swarke's ability as a director. It's a testament to Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour's onscreen chemistry, which, as we now know, was more than just onscreen chemistry.

[01:13:41] And John Barry's score, which I think just laces the whole thing with this sense of melancholy, lost romantic love that's timeless. It's a little gem of a movie. I think it works for everyone because you'd think as well that maybe there'd be a gender divide on this one that, you know, it might work for the ladies, but actually the men are watching it and thinking, this is a bit silly.

[01:14:05] But apparently the international network of somewhere in time enthusiasts, which is a fan club that is still going today, they report that it's a 50-50 split in terms of gender in their membership. I believe that. That it's equally popular. So I just I do think it's a cheesy thing to say. I think it's timeless.

[01:14:27] I think it is just a very, very cleverly achieved piece of romantic old time whimsy that's very hard to do. I think it achieves that as well because of the location. Like it's a stunning location. And in terms of getting within budget, I think the location does a lot of the heavy lifting. And the fact that it basically looks still the same now. Like it's a timeless hotel. Yeah. I'm tempted to visit.

[01:14:58] Me too. Me too. So it's a clean sweep from us, but we better find out from our patrons what they thought. Hello, Gary. Good afternoon. Can we have the patrons vote, please? This is what I found on the web for patrons goat. No, patrons vote. They set it free. Ah, okay. Agrees with us. It's good. I mean, it's great. Yeah. 8020.

[01:15:28] Iconographer says, this is a childhood favorite. My sister learned to play piano from practicing the score from this movie. So the soundtrack really makes me nostalgic. For me, this movie is home safe and is like greeting an old friend. Oh. Thank you for this one, guys. It hits me hard every time. Ah, wow. Wow. And Jasmine Zantara says, only the most cynical of people would want to toss this ultimate

[01:15:57] chick flick into the abyss of the oubliette. When it comes to romance dramas, you would be hard pressed to find someone more cynical than I am. As I catcall the unrealistic and idealistic schmaltzy nonsense that hack screenwriters splash on the screen. Despite that attitude, even I cannot say bad things about this charming and imaginative love story. Release it to its rightful place in heaven. Oh, that's nice.

[01:16:27] Beautifully written. I'm really glad that, I mean, I'm telling you, it barely squeaked by with me. I really, and I knew Conrad was going to give it a thumbs up. So I really kind of wanted to give it a thumbs down, but I figured it would make me look like a Grinch. So I guess I'm glad I didn't do that because then Zantara would be like, what is wrong with you? Yeah. Yeah. So Chazilla said, what do you get when Superman, Solitaire, General Chang and the diaper curmudgeon

[01:16:56] from Seinfeld all get together for an 80s chick flick? Probably the best sci-fi love story I've ever seen. I'm still a little traumatized from the ending though. Yes. Collier seized the 1979 penny and was whisked away to 1980. I stood up spilling snacks and the cattle over the floor and shouted, no, dear gods, don't do this to me. Yeah.

[01:17:22] See, I just feel like this movie is really, really similar to The Shining because it's about a playwright who goes crazy and dies in an old hotel. Yeah. And that movie also came out in 1980. So I just have to wonder what was going on with playwrights in 1980. But nonetheless, I just think that it's like, people keep comparing it to all these other things, but I'm like, it's sinister.

[01:17:48] Like it doesn't really come across in the movie, but if you think about it, it's really sinister and he dies at the end. So like you could easily turn this into like a Twilight Zone horror movie and like redo it like in that genre, which I would personally really enjoy more, but I'm probably just a jerk. Now you could probably do one of those like sinister trailers from somewhere in time footage. Oh yeah.

[01:18:17] With the music cues, like being like, yeah. Yeah. I bet you could. Or a Shining somewhere in time mashup. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Well, I guess that means that we are setting it free to be reunited in heaven. Goodbye somewhere in time.

[01:18:43] So Melinda, it's been absolutely wonderful having you joining us on the show yet again so soon after your last visit. I know. I feel like I just need to like set up camp here just so that whenever I come back, I can just like recharge and we're ready to go. I'm glad that you invited me back for this one. It was really fun to revisit this movie, which I have not seen in many, many years. Yeah. We appreciated your perspective.

[01:19:10] Where can people follow you and find out more about what you think about movies and any other topic? Well, I mean, I guess I sort of lurk around Retroblasting Headquarters, which is Retroblasting on all social media. And then in the next few months, Conrad and I will be having another show that's coming out, which is also in the romance genre. So if you are interested in the romance genre and you like comedy and you like me and Conrad,

[01:19:38] then you're really going to be in for a treat, let me tell you. So talking about this romance movie did take me back to us talking about the other thing that we talk about in our show. So I just enjoy talking about romance with you, Conrad. It's always, it always goes somewhere unexpected. And that's what I love the most about it. So stay tuned for that. It invariably involves poop for some reason. Some sort of scatological humor that's extremely inappropriate.

[01:20:08] But yeah, yeah, that will be coming out in a few months. So stay tuned. More to come on that. Oh, can't wait. And if you can't wait for our episodes, you can just follow us on all platforms as Movie Oobliette. Or you can email us at movie.oubliette at gmail.com. And if you'd like to support the show, like the crazy hedgehog lady, then head on over to Patreon. For different tiers, you can get access to different bonuses.

[01:20:37] But we always love seeing you there. Yes, yes. We recently released a Minnesota about Chud 2. Yes. Bud the Chud. Bud the Chud. That forgotten masterpiece. Yeah. But we also have a YouTube channel and mission us on Redbubble. And if you haven't already, rate and review us on whatever platform you are listening to us. And it does help us out a lot. It does. So, Dan, what will we be doing next time?

[01:21:07] Yes. So we are going to be staying in science fiction, but a different type of science fiction. We're going to be doing the 2012 movie set on Mars. John Carter. Oh. Ooh. Yes. Directed by Andrew Stanton. And starring Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton and Mark Strong. Yeah.

[01:21:35] I remember a lot of discussion about this when it came out and then it disappeared without a trace and nobody's talked about it. Yes. Yes. It's one of those doomed Mars movies. Yeah. It'd be fun to revisit, actually, because it probably didn't get a fair shake. Yeah. Yeah. I would definitely bomb when it came out. But we'll see. We'll see. Yeah. Can't wait. Yes. Yes. And that's it for another episode, listeners. And thanks again, Melinda, for joining us.

[01:22:06] Thanks for having me. Okay. Until next time. See you somewhere in time. Yes. Hopefully not in death. Goodbye. Bye. Happy Valentine's Day. We'll make you review the films others tend to forget. Come with us and don't know another movie you'll be yet. Hello, Miss McKenna.

[01:22:36] You don't know me, but you will.