Nope, not the Guy Pearce version from 2002, lovely as he and his cheekbones may be. This is the classic adaptation directed by George Pal, who'd adapted H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" a few years earlier. Wells' "The Time Machine" seems at first like it'd be a lower-budget idea — you don't need to design Martian war machines this time, just a fancy little chair — but Pal's use of time-lapse photography is pretty impressive even today. Plus his storytelling is excellent, riffing nicely on Wells' unbeatable premise. I was exhausted and cranky when I put this movie in my DVD player, and I still had a blast.

Wells doesn't name his protagonist, so the movie thoughtfully gives Rod Taylor's time traveler the name "H. George Wells." Aww! (Three years later, Taylor would go on to captivate Tippi Hedren in "The Birds." Here, he comes across like a proto-Bill Pullman, round-chinned and lovably earnest.) On New Year's Eve 1899, George gathers several close friends  and tries to convince them he's invented a time machine. When nobody believes him, he bids them good night, climbs in alone and sets off to explore the future!

I haven't read Wells' novella but my understanding is that the action heads immediately into the distant, sci-fi-style future. Since we're watching a 1960 version of an 1895 story, Pal has George make a couple stops of historical interest: 1917, where George is appalled by World War I; and 1940, where he's appalled by World War II. Most chillingly, the action stops again in the 1960s, where George is perplexed by an air-raid siren — and then watches in horror as a mushroom cloud brings civilization to an end.

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