Beyond The Time Barrier

Beyond the Time Barrier is an old-fashioned science fiction film made in 1960 that has the look and feel of a science fiction serial. It has some obvious flaws, most of which spring from its low budget. The special effects are woefully un-special. The sets are cheap-looking as are the costumes and any make-up used. Acting is mediocre at best with a few actors doing reasonable work. Darlene Tompkins is a lovely actress and does a pretty good job in her role as a deaf princess. Robert Clarke should be nicknamed Robert “Stonewall” Clarke for his stone-like performance. His performance isn’t wooden, it’s petrified. Nonetheless he is fun to watch. Boyd “Red” Morgan is, on the other hand, painfully bad a a captain(earlier referred to as a major?). The film tells a very complex story about Clarke leaving the year 1960 and crossing a time barrier and reaching the year 2024 where plague and pestilence are common. The human race has divided into factions of mutants and non-mutants(really people in the very first stages of being mutants). I found the story quite interesting despite not really believing the scientific aspects behind it. Sure the film is talky, but that was okay with me as I liked the story. The film was directed by Edgar Ulmer and it has some wonderful Ulmer moments. I particularly liked the way the mutants were locked up…a well-shot scene. Also, the climatic fight scenes were very good too. Ulmer uses a triangle of another scene interspersing into the already existing shot quite often as well for a neat little effect. An interesting science fiction film with a message.