The Yesterday Machine

The Yesterday Machine begins when a young couple are seemingly attacked by Confederate soldiers, and the girl is missing. Leading to police, a reporter, and her sister investigating & finding …

The Yesterday Machine (1963) starring Tim Holt

In short, The Yesterday Machine is a low-budget, slow-paced sci-fi movie about a Nazi scientist trying to rewrite history. The scientist talks — a lot — about the glory of the Third Reich, and the physics of how his fictional machine would work.

It’s slow and plodding. Most of the actors appear to be amateurs — not to be mean, but it shows. The special effects are bad — what you’d expect from a high school or college production. In short, there’s very little to recommend about The Yesterday Machine. My wife and I watched it for free on TubiTV, and if I’d paid for it, I would’ve felt cheated. I rate it only 2 out of 5 stars.

Product Description

The Yesterday Machine (BW, 1963): A Nazi scientist, obsessed with getting revenge for Germany’s defeat in World War II, invents a time machine. The madman kidnaps a high school cheerleader to test his invention. If the experiment is successful, he will go back in time himself to accomplish his real goal: Preventing the death of Adolf Hitler! This homegrown science fiction potboiler from Texas features legendary Western actor Tim Holt in the twilight of his career. Holt is best known for co-starring with Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948). Director Russ Marker also wrote the screenplay for the John Agar creature feature Night Fright (1967).

Cast of characters

• Tim Holt (My Darling Clementine) … Police Lt. Partane. Investigating Sandy’s disappearance. At the very end, after Jim’s rescued himself and the girls, Partake kills Hauser and destroys the Time Machine.
• James Britton (The Demon from Devil’s Lake) … Jim Crandall. The intrepid reporter who gets pulled into the story — and becomes the mad scientist’s guinea pig.
• Ann Pellegrino … Sandy De Mar. Margie’s older sister, who gets Jim to help look for her sister.
• Linda Jenkins … Margie De Mar. The kidnap victim. She becomes Hauser’s guinea pig to travel into th future.
• Jack Herman … Prof. Ernest Von Hauser. The Nazi mad scientist who’s created a time machine, to change the past & give Hitler victory in World War II.
• Olga Powell … Didiyama. The Egyptian slave from the past, forced to serve Hauser. But the Nazi guard pushes her too far …
• Jay Ramsey … Howie Ellison
• Robert Bob Kelly … Detective Lasky (as Robert Kelly)
• Bob Brown … Dr. Wilson D. Blake
• Charles Young … Dr. Wilson D. Blake
• Carol Gilley (Night Fright) … Blonde Nurse
• Bill Thurman (Zontar the Thing from Venus) … Police Detective
• Charles McLine (Curse of the Swamp Creature) … Reed
• Carolyn Adams … Brunette Nurse
• Patrick Cranshaw (The Private Eyes) … Confederate Soldier (as Joseph ‘Pat’ Cranshaw)
• Ramon Lence Legar … Ramon