Somewhere in Time (1980)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1980
Running Times: 103 mins
Format: Technicolor
Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Rastar Pictures / Universal Pictures
Producers: Stephen Deutsch, Ray Stark
Associate Producer: Steve Bickel
Unit Production Managers: Grace Kuhn, Britt Lomond

SCRIPT
Script / Novel: Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson

DIRECTION
Director: Jeannot Szwarc
Assistant Director: Burt Bluestein
2nd Assistant Director: Lorraine Senna

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Isidore Mankofsky
Camera Operator: Donald Piel
1st Assistant Camera: William Masten
2nd Assistant Camera: Sal Camacho
Gaffer: Jake Jarrell
Electricians: Phillip Sloane, Alfred Budniak, Chris O'Neil, Donald Dahlquist, Fred White, Michael Orefice, Norman Ash
Key Grip: Joe Collins
Grips: James Haboush, Bertis Fancher, Brian Smith, Mike Mandel, Rod Helzer
Stills: Melinda Wickman
Colour Timer: Jim Henry
Lab: Technicolor

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Jeff Gourson
Assistant Editor: Rick Fields

MUSIC
Music: John Barry; Sergei Rachmaninov (from Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini)
Music Performed By: Roger Williams
Piano Solo: Chet Swiatkowsky (Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini)
Conductor: John Barry
Score Mixer: Dan Wallin
Music Re-Recording Mixer: Dan Wallin
Music Editor: Ken Hall

SOUND
Sound Supervisor: Charles L. King III
Sound Recordist: James Leckett
Boom Operator: John Unsinn
Re-Recording Mixers: Earl Madery, Rex Slinkard, Roger Heman Jr
Supervising Sound Editor: Roger A. Sword
Sound Editor: George Fredrick
ADR Editor: Vince Melandri
Sound System: Westrex Recording System

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Paul Sanchez, Jack Wilson
Head Hair: Gregg Mitchell
Hair: Sandra Henderson
Assistant Hair: Don Antonacchio
Costume Designer: Jean-Pierre Dorléac
Costumer: Christopher Burian-Mohr, Dan Chichester, Greg Hall, Opal Vils
Women's Costumer: Grace Kuhn

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Jack Faggard

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Seymour Klate
Set Designer: Chris Burian-Mohr
Set Decorator: Mary Ann Biddle
Set Dressers: Bob Stout, Ed Fitzgerald, Emidgio Sosa-Chavez, John Verna, Martin Emert, Richard Mazzotti
Property Master: Gerald Moss
Assistant Property Master: Douglas Keenan
Construction Managers: Robert Shaw, Donnie Puga, Doug Sofio, Dwight Solander, John Stewart, Woody Woodworth
Construction Coordinator: Bobby Nohles
Construction Foremen: Earl Betts, Andy Hawkes, Phil Read, Tom Bartholomew

MISCELLANEOUS
Script Supervisor: Ulla Bourne
Location Auditor: Willy Kupahu
Assistant Location Auditor: Susan Bender
Production Assistant: Dan Dewey
Assistant To Producer: Valerie J. Bresee
Secretary To Director: Susan Joy Harris
Transportation Coordinators: Lawren McDonald, Rick Hill, Rocky D'Amico, Russ Buckens
Transportation Captains: Steve Hellerstein, Tom Battaglia
Craft Service: John Hammond
First Aid: Virginia Siman
Unit Publicist: Susan Pile
Projectionist: Charles Ajar

LOCATIONS
Locations: Chicago, Illinois, USA; Mackinac Island, Michigan, USA
Location Coordinator: Dan Dewey

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks: Daniel Musser; John Hulett
Special Thanks: Lucie Salenger

CASTING
Casting: Jennifer Shull

CAST
Christopher Reeve (Richard Collier)
Jane Seymour (Elise McKenna)
Christopher Plummer (William Fawcett Robinson)
Teresa Wright (Laura Roberts)
Bill Erwin (Arthur Biehl)
George Voskovec (Dr Gerald Finney)
Susan French (older Elise)
John Alvin (Arthur's father)
Eddra Gale (Genevieve)
Audrey Bennett (Shelley)
W. H. Macy, Laurence Coven (critics)
Susan Bugg (Penelope)
Christy Michaels (Beverly)
Ali Matheson, George Wendt (students)
Steve Boomer (hippie)
Pat Billingsley (professor)
Ted Liss (agent)
Francis X. Keefe (desk clerk at the Grand Hotel (1972))
Taylor Williams (maitre d' at the Grand Hotel (1972))
Noreen Walker (librarian)
Evans Ghiselli (coin shop proprietor)
Barbara Giovannini, Don Franklin (tourists in Hall of History)
David Hull (hotel manager)
Paul M. Cook (Doctor Paul)
Victoria Michaels (Maude (1912))
William P. O'Hagan (Rollo)
Maud Strand (Marie)
Bo Clausen (man in elevator (1912))
James P. Dunnigan (2nd Man in elevator (1912))
Sean Hayden (young Arthur (1912))
Hal Frank (stage manager (1912))
Hayden Jones (man with stage manager (1912))
Val Bettin (director (1912))
Bruce Jarchow (Bones (1912))
Ed Meekin (Fisher (1912))
Erin Tomcheff (Miss Hammond (1912))
J.J. Butler (prompter (1912))
Chukuma (bearded stagehand (1912))
Michael Woods (dinner guest (1912))
Jerry Kaufherr (maitre d' (1912))
Don Melvoin (Diamond Jim (1912))
Ann K. Irish (teacher (1912))
JoBe Cerny (2nd day desk clerk (1912))
Richard Matheson (astonished man in wings (1912))
Audrie Neenan (maid in play (1912))
Tim Kazurinsky (photographer (1912))
Bob Swan (stagehand with note (1912))

PLOT SUMMARY

Writer Richard Collier is basking in the glow of the opening night of his first play when he's approached by an elderly woman who claims asks him to "Come back to me” and leaves him an old pocket watch. Years later, he finds himself at the Grand Hotel where he sees an old photograph of an actress from the early years of the 20th century, Elise McKenna, who he recognises as the younger version of the old woman. Collier becomes increasingly obsessed with her and, through self-hypnosis, he travels back in time where they fall in love. But can Collier stay in the past forever?

A rather wonderful adaptation of Matheson's haunting novel with great central performances and sensitive direction from Swarcz. Add to that a terrific score from John Barry and you've got a film that actually seems to get better as time passes. It skates perilously close to corn and schmaltz but always manages to rein in its romantic excesses when they threaten to overwhelm the story.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures
Video Distributor: MCA
Laserdisc Distributor: MCA Home Video (13005)
DVD Distributors: Universal (20294); Universal (Collector's Edition 20911)

Australia
Rating: G

UK
Rating: PG

USA
Rating: PG

1981
Academy Awards, USA
Best Costume Design (Jean-Pierre Dorléac) - nominated

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror Films, USA (Saturn Awards)
Best Costumes (Jean-Pierre Dorléac) - winner
Best Fantasy Film - winner
Best Music (John Barry) - winner

Fantafestival
Best Actor (Christopher Reeve) - winner
Best Film (Jeannot Szwarc) - winner

Golden Globes, USA
Best Original Score - Motion Picture (John Barry) - nominated

1998
August
18: USA - DVD release (Universal (20294))

2000
October
31: USA - DVD release (Universal (Collector's Edition 20911))

Beyond fantasy. Beyond obsession. Beyond time itself... he will find her.

He sacrificed life in the present... to find love in the past.

En algún lugar del tiempo - Spanish title
Gdzies w czasie - Polish title
Kerran jossakin - Finnish title
Ovunque nel tempo - Italian title
Quelque part dans le temps - French title
Ein Tödlicher Traum - West German title

MAGAZINES

Classic Images no.305 (November 2000) pp.13-14, 63-66
interview with John Alvin (John Alvin: Warners Contractee by Tom Weaver)

actors, book into film, dreams, obsession, romance, students, theatres, time travel, writers