The Yesterday Machine (1965)

Why so much hype?

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Wow. 1963 was an amazing year in the annals of movie history. Not only did it bring us "They Saved Hitler's Brain" but also "The Yesterday Machine", so apparently this year was a banner one for insane neo-Nazi scientists and their kooky schemes. In many ways, both these films are very similar--lousy acting, lousy sets and lousy dialog. The only notable way they are different is that "The Yesterday Machine" lacks a cameo appearance of Hitler's head in a pickle jar! The film begins with a young man being shot (apparently by disgruntled Confederate soldiers who were brought forward in time) and his girlfriend disappearing. This can only mean one thing...a crazed Nazi scientist is running amok experimenting with the fabric of time. So, it's up to a crack team made up of a dull guy and his amazingly untalented and annoying blonde girlfriend to save humanity. While this sounds ridiculous, this neo-Nazi movement only appears to have three members, so the odds aren't that stacked against them! Jack Herman stars as the brilliant but wacky Nazi scientist. Not only can he make time do goofy things, but he can make the drawings on his chalkboard instantly change due to bad editing. And, he also is less subtle than Dr. Strangelove--and a horrible actor to boot. James Britton is the film's "action hero" and based on this performance, I can see why this is his only film credit--he has the charisma of cheese curds. As for the only "name" in the film, once important actor Jack Holt, he's barely in the film at all--just a walk on in the beginning and end of the film. But, since he'd been in "The Magnificent Ambersons" and some other REAL movies, they decided to list him first in the credits. You gotta feel sorry for the guy being stuck in ultra-low budget crap like this and "This Stuff'll Kill Ya" at the end of his once promising career.My favorite bad scene in the film? The one where the Egyptian slave attacks the guard to save the dumb blonde's life. The blonde just stands there as this happens and even does nothing when the stabbed guard then strangles the slave! Talk about ingratitude!! Other great bad scenes are the "magic chalkboard" and the ranting and raving of the scientist--rarely have I ever seen any actor chew that much scenery.Overall, it's a terrible movie in most every way. Understandably, most people who made this film never went on to do much of anything else. The film is bad, but perhaps silly enough to excite a few bad movie buffs.

This movie, its poor production values and picture qualities, and absolutely ABYSMAL Sound qualities aside, is actually a pretty effective sci-fi Horror story, told to the viewer in a pretty much intelligent manner.I have always liked the actor TIM HOLT, going back to his playing the clean-cut young Prospector in "The Treasure of The Sierra Madre" with Bogart and Walter Huston. In this flick, his Police Lieutenant Partane character adds some semblance of credibility to his role and the overall storyline.And Jack Herman, the apparently LIFELONG Yiddish Theatre Actor, who plays the "ESCAPED, VIRULENT NAZI SCIENTIST, Ernest VON HAUSER," absolutely steals the show, with his Mad Scientist's "Time-Travel Slave and Death Camp" of a deserted farmhouse, in Texas, no less!(* Actually, the Lonestar State has always been one of THE "All-American" Locales, for great MONSTER, HORROR and SCI-FI, Cinematic "Carnage"!)All the usual mad Nazi "thoughts" and CRUELTY is there of course, in "The Yesterday Machine," yet there is indeed thoughtful DIALOGUE, as Mr. HERMAN'S Von Hauser character explains the "real science" behind time travel, to the heroic news gatherer-guy, "Jimmy Crandell," whom I believe is played by James Britton.There are a couple of VERY WEAK, climactic plot points as the film closes out, but this one is still an A-OK to Good piece of SCHLOCKO Movie "AUTEUR-SHIP," let us, RIGHTLY, call it such!

This film has to be seen to be believed. A post-war Nazi physicist who is exploring the concept of time travel to bring back Adolph Hitler, sets up his laboratory in a farmhouse in Texas!!! What happened to hiding out in South America with the rest of the gang? To add insult to injury, he manages to kidnap a majorette(!) the day before the big game. This really ticks off the local police, led by an aging Tim Holt whose star was sinking fast. Also involved in the investigation is a reporter and a nightclub singer (??!!!). They must take on the band of evil henchmen, which consists of 2 or 3 heel clicking guys and a slave girl from somewhere in the past. And if you can believe it, it goes downhill from there.The reason to even consider watching this horror, is for the joy of seeing Jack Herman as the unapologetic Nazi. This is a man who at one time worked in the Yiddish Theater, a proving ground for such stars as Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson. His performance can be summed up in one word......ludicrous. Flailing arms, rolling eyes, clenching fists....unbelievable!! I am not familiar with Mr. Herman but I have to believe that he did not use this type of emoting in the Yiddish Theater. This was near the end of his life and possibly he was failing in health. Whatever the reason, it is the type of performance that hasn't been witnessed since. It is for this alone that I recommend this film for the bad movie buff. You will love it!!!!

This film is incredible! It has everything you could hope for in an enjoyable bad film. An amazing plot, Hitler's director of "scientific warfare" Dr. Ernst Van Hauser (played by Jack Herman, an ex-Yiddish theater player who was a drama coach at a local black college) is living underneath a farmhouse in Dallas, Texas (where the movie was made). He is doing time travel experiments and giving lectures to captured subjects about his theories of "Superspectronic Relativity and the Minus Ray" (while his drawings on the blackboard are redrawn twice during his lecture). He states that his theories are far more advanced than Einstein's. He captures a baton twiller and her sister a bad night club singer ("the girl with the orchid voice" the film lets us know) who sings a funny bad song written by the director Russ Marker (I think). The director was an associate of Texas film maker Larry Buchanan and uses some of his stable of actors like Bill Thurman. Also stars a somewhat over the hill Tim Holt as a police detective who immediately knows when a baton twiller disappears in Texas it must by Nazis and Dr. Ernst Van Hauser. Jack Herman's over the top performance as Dr. Ernst Van Hauser is beyond words (William Shatner looks tame and controlled by comparison). Some amazing bad films, with wonderful low budget charm, came out of Texas in the 1960's and this takes its place as a classic along side such bad films as Manos Hands of Fate or any of the Larry Buchanan epics of the period. Highly recommended for bad film scholars. Needs to come out on DVD!