Beyond the Time Barrier, Babes and Mutants in 2024

From 1960 comes today's movie, "Beyond the Time Barrier."  1960! What a time in our history.  The U.S. and Soviets battle for space...Terrific B sci-fi movies still grace the movie houses...the hopefulness that graced our country following WW2 begins to give way to fear and hostility.  Perhaps the creators of this movie saw it all coming.  Be warned, this is not a cheery propaganda film, but a sci-fi work which turns dark and horrific.  Robert Clarke portrays test pilot Major Allison, and Darlene Tompkins plays Princess Trirene from the future, and together they engage in a steamy relationship that is the backdrop for a tale of apocalypse.

1960: Major Allison takes his plane 100 miles above the Earth's surface for a test flight.  Egads!  He gets up to 500,000 mph, and as you can imagine, returns to Earth 65 years into the future.  The airfield is in ruins and so is the neighboring city.  He is captured by survivors and brought to their subterranean city.  The leader, knows as The Supreme (Vladimir Sokoloff)  and his right hand man, The Captain (Boyd "Red" Morgan) believe him a spy.  Lucky for Allison, The Supreme's granddaughter, who has ESP and can read thoughts, takes an instant liking to him.  This appears to be Allison's lucky day.  Every man 65 years into the future is sterile and mute, and Princess Trirene needs a mate to help the human race propel into the future, The two get along famously, but danger lurks.  Outside the gates, mutants desire to penetrate the subterranean city in order to eat the men and rape and eat the women.  By the way, all the women are babes adorned in outfits right out of the "Star Trek" TV series.

Allison is inquisitive, and meets some prisoners.  These prisoners are scientists and they include the shapely Cpt. Markova (Arianne Ulmer).  They warn Allison not to trust his hosts.  They explain to Allison a great plague occurred in the 1970s and made everyone mute and sterile.  Uh oh...The Supreme implores Allison not to trust those prisoners.  The scientists believe they can send Allison back to 1960, which will allow him to warn everyone, thus averting the plague.  Allison wants to go home, but can the scientists be trusted.  Keep in mind, Markova is from the U.S.S.R., not an ally of the U.S.  No spoilers here, but be warned, double crosses abound putting Allison and Trirene in mortal danger.  Will Allison be able to return to 1960?  Will he decide to remain and procreate with Trirene (...and she is very tempting, see picture below).

However cheesy and sappy this film appears to be....don't be fooled.  Eventually, the wondrous elements of the science fiction genre will give way to horror and a very dark conclusion.  As mentioned above, when the mutants do get in, cannibalism and rape will be introduced into the plot. Trirene is stunning in her futuristic outfits, and also in a skinny dipping scene.  Available on Netflix, take a look at "Beyond the Time Barrier."