Beyond the Time... Barrier

Beyond the Time Barrier (1960); directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, starring Robert Clarke , Darlene Tompkins, Arianne Ulmer.

 Time paradoxes are a staple of science fiction and a "go to" for many writers of the genre. Beyond the Time Barrier is a great example.

Somehow this movie  just seems like a gem to me.

Maybe it's the fact that the production had accessibility to a Convair F-104 Delta Dagger. Maybe because of the cool model and matte painting designs. Maybe the style and architecture... Whatever it is it just works for me.

Red Five, standing by...

Major William Allison (Robert Clarke)

 When test pilot Major William Allison (Robert Clarke) flies into the atmosphere in a new experimental powered aircraft he manages to propel himself into the future and land at the same airbase which he finds deserted and destroyed. 

This is a nice place to hang this sign!!!

While exploring his surroundings he ends up in a city where the people suspect he is a spy and who want to keep him to procreate with the rulers daughter because the majority of the inhabitants are sterile. 

So begins "Beyond the Time barrier" Major Allison is introduced to the audience as the protagonist chosen to fly the experimental X-80 an experimental sub orbital jet. 

 

Whooooosh!!!!

With a bit of a mind flip...

 

During his flight he manages to exceed speeds that break the time barrier into the future year of 2024. Somehow that year doesn't seem so futuristic now...          

The Major is naturally confused, and as he searches he the area he sees the ruins of an abandoned city. 

Funny, I remember the Death Star trench being a LOT bigger!!!

Beside the ruins he sees futuristic towers emitting a series of glowing signals and makes his way towards the area.

Old Detroit has a Cancer...

Where's Logan 5?

In Triagulo-vision!!!

 Allison manages to get himself captured by guards wearing Hazmat suits. I mention this because for a B movie the props dept had access to some impressive resources not usually present to most film departments of the time. 

In fact it's the production values that elevate the film and I imagine must have made it feel bigger for audiences of the day. turns out the film makers got special permission to film at the Dallas fairgrounds in Texas. Alright on with the story.

Mee-cu-ro-maahn!!!

Vladimer Sokolov as the Supreme.

The major finds that he has been captured in what the inhabitants call The Citadel. Here the Major runs
into the The two main rulers of the city, the antagonistic Captain (Red Morgan, rocking an impressive beard!) and the more reasonable Supreme. The Supreme is also accompanied by his grand daughter Tirene  (Darlene Tompkins) whom the audience learns can read minds... but cannot speak... okay. 

The Captain and the Supreme explain to Allison that Everyone in the Citadel save for the Captain and himself are deaf mutes. Since Allison has the ability to speak they assume that he is from some other society outside the city.

The Major is convinced that the date is March 5th 1960 and that he had taken off in the morning only to return a half hour later. 

Now that's a beard!!!

Needless to say the Captain doesn't believe his story and accuses him of being a spy and wanting to steal the secrets of their solar energy installation. Naturally Allison denies all the allegations. 

During the conversation The Captain mentions the names Karl Kruse and 

Professor Bourman and refers to them as "Scapes", he accuses Allison of being in league with them but naturally the Major is bewildered. 

The Captain Decides that throwing Allison into a pit of captive mutants will act as  an incentive to make him tell the truth. The mutants try to take him but he manages to subdue their leader and manages to find out more information through them.

Abandoned Krell laboratories.

Tirene (Darlene Tompkins)

The Mutants explain that the world had suffered a massive plague and the people of the Citadel hold all the food and resources, The mutants also mention the names of Kruse and Bourman mentioning that they were the ones who had escaped the plague, hence the term "Scapes".

Luckily the Major gets released due to Tirene's influence and Allison is granted protection under the Supreme. The Major asks Tirene to take him to see Kruse and Bourman and she responds by leading him to a lift that transports him to the upper levels where the two scientist reside.

Capt. Markova (Arianne Ulmer)

When he arrives he finds three people Kruse (Stephen Bekassy), Bourman (John Van Dreelen) and Capt. Markova (Arianne Ulmer), all who had entered the time barrier and were catapulted into the future. The trio of escapees are being held for their technical knowledge, which is in short supply.

 Through conversation he learns that the inhabitants of the Citadel are all Stage One mutants, the result of a cosmic plague.

Turns out that nuclear fallout had weakened the Van Allen belt and the filtered rays began to bombard the Earth. The "Scapes" were unaffected evacuees of the colonial planets.

Karl Kruse

Dr. Bourman

Brother, can you spare a dime?

Faced with this news the group conspires of a plan to return the Major back to his own time to try and prevent the cosmic plague since he is from a time before it began.

Transport, better take off. I'll get the princess out on the Falcon.

Beyond the Time Barrier is a good example of: When B movies try! The production crew was given full run of an F-104 Delta Dagger, and they made good use of it. The fact that they actually have the actor exit the jet in the future without an access ladder during the abandoned airbase scenes prove that they had full run of the jet. The production values are above par for this sort of movie.

Hey you guuuuys!!!!

Lock S-foils in attack position!

In all this movie is not a grand epic, however it is ambitious.

There is care taken in the shooting model work to make sure the registration numbers match that of the actual jet. The interiors of the Citadel have scale and scope, the cast is serviceable, and the abandoned airbase seems genuine. 

All in all not a bad movie.