History Film / SomewhereInTime

* SomethingWeForgot: Richard apparently didn't check his pockets.

%%* TimeTravel

* AdaptationalLocationChange: The novel is set at the Hotel del Coronado near San Diego. The film was originally going to be filmed there, but it was discovered that it had too many modern touches (like TV antennas). Eventually a friend of director Creator/JeannotSzwarc suggested the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

* AuthorAvatar: A story by a [[Creator/RichardMatheson writer named Richard]] centers on a...writer named Richard. Matheson prepped for the original novel by staying for several weeks at the Hotel del Coronado and essentially acting out Richard's character arc. He says the book was inspired by ''his'' becoming infatuated by the hotel's portrait of actress Maude Adams (see NoCelebritiesWereHarmed entry below).

** Robinson's enmity toward Richard has both a simple explanation (he's deeply protective of Elise and a bit of a CrazyJealousGuy) and some more fantastic ones (he can see the future, or somehow knows that Richard is a time traveler).

* AdaptationalLocationChange: The novel is set at the Hotel del Coronado near San Diego. The film was originally going to be filmed there, but it was discovered that it had too many modern tocuuches (like TV antennas). Eventually a friend of director Creator/JeannotSzwarc suggested the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: A definite implication in the original book, averted somewhat in the film, which eliminates the book's subplot that Richard has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Nevertheless, Creator/RogerEbert writes in his review of the film, "The movie never makes it clear whether the playwright actually does travel through time, or only hypnotizes himself into thinking he does." [[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/somewhere-in-time-1980]] Arguably, the film provides independent evidence that Richard's journey through time did take place, by showing Elise as an old woman begging him to "come back to [her]" and Richard's interaction with the young Arthur--neither of which happens in the book. Moreover, since the book is written entirely in first person (representing Richard's personal memoir), and since Richard has a medical condition that can cause hallucinations, it has an UnreliableNarrator--so that even the apparent proofs of his time-travel journey, such as his finding his signature in the hotel's archive, are suspect.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Elise [=McKenna=] is a fairly thin fictionalization of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maude_Adams Maude Adams]], the most popular American stage actress of the early 20th Century. Like Elise, Adams was born in [[UsefulNotes/{{Utah}} Salt Lake City]], had a [[TheSvengali somewhat Svengali-ish]] manager (Charles Frohman), and [[ReclusiveArtist retired early from acting]] (Adams did so for health reasons after contracting a bad case of UsefulNotes/TheSpanishFlu in 1918).

* AuthorAvatar: A story by a [[Creator/RichardMatheson writer named Richard]] centers on a...writer named Richard. Matheson prepped for the original novel by staying for several weeks at the Hotel del Coronado and essentially acting out Richard's character arc. He says the book was inspired by ''his'' becoming infatuated by the hotel's portrait of actress Maud Adams (see NoCelebritiesWereHarmed entry below).

* AuthorAvatar: A story by a [[Creator/RichardMatheson writer named Richard]] centers on a...writer named Richard. Matheson prepped for the original novel by staying for several weeks at the Hotel del Coronado and essentially acting out Richard's character arc.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: A definite implication in the original book, averted somewhat in the film, which eliminates the book's subplot that Richard has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Nevertheless, Creator/RogerEbert writes in his review of the film, "The movie never makes it clear whether the playwright actually does travel through time, or only hypnotizes himself into thinking he does." [[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/somewhere-in-time-1980]] Arguably, the film provides independent evidence that Richard's journey through time did take place, by showing Elise as an old woman begging him to "come back to [her]" and Richard's interaction with the young Arthur. Since the book is written entirely in first person (representing Richard's personal memoir), and since Richard has a medical condition that can cause hallucinations, it has an UnreliableNarrator--so that even the apparent proofs of his time-travel journey, such as his finding his signature in the hotel's archive, are suspect.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: A definite implication in the original book, averted somewhat in the film, which eliminates the book's subplot that Richard has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Nevertheless, Creator/RogerEbert writes in his review of the film, "The movie never makes it clear whether the playwright actually does travel through time, or only hypnotizes himself into thinking he does." [[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/somewhere-in-time-1980]] Arguably, the film provides independent evidence that Richard's journey through time did take place, by showing Elise as an old woman begging him to "come back to [her]" and Richard's interaction with the young Arthur. Since the book is written entirely in first person (representing Richard's personal memoir), and since Richard has a medical condition that can cause hallucinations, it has an UnreliableNarrator--so that even the apparent proofs of his time-travel journey, such as his finding his signature in the hotel's archive, are suspect.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: A definite implication in the original book, averted somewhat in the film, which eliminates the book's subplot that Richard has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Nevertheless, Creator/RogerEbert writes in his review of the film, "The movie never makes it clear whether the playwright actually does travel through time, or only hypnotizes himself into thinking he does." [[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/somewhere-in-time-1980]] Arguably, the film provides independent evidence that Richard's journey through time did take place, by showing Elise as an old woman begging him to "come back to [her]" and Richard's interaction with the young Arthur. Since the book is written entirely in first person (representing Richard's personal memoir), and since Richard has a medical condition that can cause hallucinations, it has an UnreliableNarrator--so that even the apparent proofs of his time-travel journey, such as his finding his signature in the hotel's archive, can't be taken as independent confirmation.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: A definite implication in the original book, averted somewhat in the film (which eliminates the book's subplot that Richard has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor). Nevertheless, Creator/RogerEbert writes in his review of the film, "The movie never makes it clear whether the playwright actually does travel through time, or only hypnotizes himself into thinking he does." [[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/somewhere-in-time-1980]] Arguably, the film provides independent evidence that Richard's journey through time did take place, by showing Elise as an old woman begging him to "come back to [her]" and Richard's interaction with the young Arthur.

%%* FilmOfTheBook

%%* TimeTravelRomance

* FadeToWhite
* FantasticRomance

* FilmOfTheBook

* HaveWeMetYet

* LoveBeforeFirstSight

* TimeTravel
* TimeTravelRomance

* YourUniverseOrMine

A 1980 film adaptation of Creator/RichardMatheson's ''Bid Time Return'', directed by Jeannot Szwarc and scored by Music/JohnBarry. The script was written by Matheson himself.

A 1980 film adaptation of Creator/RichardMatheson's ''Bid Time Return'', directed by Jeannot Szwarc and scored by Creator/JohnBarry. The script was written by Matheson himself.

A 1980 film adaptation of Creator/RichardMatheson's ''Bid Time Return'', directed by Jeannot Szwarc. The script was written by Matheson himself.

A 1980 film adaptation of Creator/RichardMatheson's ''Bid Time Return'', directed by Jeannot Szwarc.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Richard dies of grief after being separated from Elise and returned to his own time, but is reunited with Elise in heaven.]]

* CreatorCameo: Richard Matheson appears as the 1912 man who stares at Arthur following the latter's [[ThereWillBeToiletPaper less-than-successful attempt]] to shave with a straight razor. ("Astonishing!")
* TheEdwardianEra: 1912 scenes.
* TheEighties: 1980 scenes. Okay, the ''very early'' Eighties.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: A definite implication in the original book, averted somewhat in the film (which eliminates the book's subplot that Richard has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor). Nevertheless, Creator/RogerEbert writes in his review of the film, "The movie never makes it clear whether the playwright actually does travel through time, or only hypnotizes himself into thinking he does." [[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/somewhere-in-time-1980]] Arguably, the film provides independent evidence that Richard's journey through time did take place, by showing Elise as an old woman and her early interaction with young Richard.
* MentalTimeTravel: The hero is able to cross time through the means of self hypnosis.

* TheSeventies: 1972 scenes.

* OldFashionedRowboatDate: During the FallingInLoveMontage, we see Richard and Elise rowing a boat.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: A definite implication in the original book, averted somewhat in the film (which eliminates the book's subplot that Richard has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor). Nevertheless, Roger Ebert writes in his review of the film, "The movie never makes it clear whether the playwright actually does travel through time, or only hypnotizes himself into thinking he does." [[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/somewhere-in-time-1980]] Arguably, the film provides independent evidence that Richard's journey through time did take place, by showing Elise as an old woman and her early interaction with young Richard.

Even if you have SingleTargetSexuality, you just might give up after finding out that your One True Love lives in a different time period, but that doesn't stop the playwright and writer Richard Collier (Creator/ChristopherReeve), who, for lack of a better description, manages to [[MentalTimeTravel psych himself back in time]] to find a beautiful woman in an old photograph. The space-time continuum is just no match for ThePowerOfLove.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/somewhere-in-time-1_4314.jpeg]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: A definite implication in the original book, averted somewhat in the film (which eliminates the book's subplot that Richard has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor). Nevertheless, Roger Ebert writes in his review of the film, "The movie never makes it clear whether the playwright actually does travel through time, or only hypnotizes himself into thinking he does." [[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/somewhere-in-time-1980]] Arguably, the film provides independent evidence that Richard did really travel through time, by showing Elise as an old woman and her early interaction with young Richard.

* YouAlreadyChangedThePast adapted, as this is discovered before going back, not after; resulting in VujaDe.

* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler: Anti-climax: Richard's abrupt separation from Elise upon unfortunate reminder from his own timeline. ''Penny for your thoughts?'' [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/DarthWiki/Narm REEEEEEE-chard!!!]]]]