Turning Back Time

Do you love a good movie with time travel, romance, villains, scenic views, and soul stirring music? I know I do, but I don’t like it to be predictable.

So, I appreciate it when script writers use different approaches rather than the old “bonk” on the head where the character wakes up somewhere else, or when they have the character step through an all too convenient portal into another time and place.

You understand where I’m coming from on this, right—of course you do, which is why I have some fantastic news! There are other great choices out there waiting to be discovered. So, let’s take our own trip back in time, to 1980 and explore the classic romance, Somewhere in Time.

This love story, based on the book, “Bid Time Return” begins with the main character Richard Collier celebrating the success of a play he has written. During the festivities he is approached by a dignified older woman who seems completely out of place in the modern setting. She places an antique pocket watch into his hand and pleads with him, to come back to her.

He is perplexed as he has no memory of who she is, but her actions stay with him, later kindling the desire to find her in another time and place.

In his quest to find her, Richard enlists the aid of a former professor; a man who he had once heard lecture on the idea of time travel. “Is time travel possible,” Richard asks him? His professor relates an experience he had a number of years before. It was an imperfect episode of time travel, he stated, but he knew he had been there, if only for the briefest of moments.

This is all Richard needed to embark on his own attempt, and he begins preparations to travel back in time.

It isn’t easy, and he encounters many setbacks, but ultimately he does arrive, only to find she doesn’t know him because he has arrived before the moment when they met before; and she has been warned to be wary of him, so now he must win her trust as well as her heart.

He is persistent, however, as well as engaging. In the end she gives him a chance; slowly falling in love with him while the audience roots for his success. But, as with all great lovers in time, they must deal with those who would stand in their way, and with the ultimate betrayal of time itself.

Filmed on location at the charming vintage Grand Hotel, on Michigan’s iconic Mackinaw Island, and set off by a background score of hauntingly beautiful music—will their love prevail? The only way to know is to grab a bowl of popcorn and watch the show.

Now let’s go back to 1954 and take a look at another pair of lovers parted by time.

If you enjoyed the film Somewhere in Time, if romance set in another era, with lush scenery, music, and mystery fulfil your check list of movie must haves, then you might also enjoy Brigadoon, a musical in true Broadway tradition: with singing, dancing, and a lively tale of romance, and intrigue.

Deep in the highlands, the highlands of Scotland, two hunters from New York (Tommy Albright and Jeff Douglas) have lost their way in the night. In the morning they stumble upon a small village, tucked away in the mist covered hills. While making their way into the village to get some food, and ask for directions, it soon becomes evident these people aren’t exactly what they were expecting to find.

Initially they accept the eccentric dress and behavior of the people, but as the day progresses they begin to wonder what is really going on. They've encountered a group of villagers in the town square where they learn that there will be a wedding that day. They’re invited by the bridegroom to partake in some refreshment, and they are soon being regaled by tales of his bride to be in the song, Go Home to Bonnie Jean, complete with some classic dancing, Gene Kelly style.

Tommy who is easier going, and more open to the idea of an adventure, gets to know some of the villagers, especially a young woman named Fiona who he feels an attraction to. Jeff, the more sarcastic of the two, spends his time wandering about with his whiskey flask at the ready, and a cynical attitude about all that he has seen and heard.

Catching a word here and a phrase there Tommy begins to understand that there is more going on in Brigadoon than meets the eye, and he asks Fiona to tell him what it is. She says she cannot, but takes him to one who can. This is where he hears the legend of Brigadoon. A miracle to most of the residents, which brings them and their village into the world only one day every 100 years.

Brigadoon is a festival of color, sound, and emotion as two men from the future encounter a place from the past. They join in the events of the day as Fiona’s sister Jean is about to be married. The clamor of bagpipes stirs the blood as each clan comes forward to be represented at the wedding, while a love triangle threatens to destroy Brigadoon and everyone in it.

While doing his best to save Brigadoon Tommy realizes he has developed feelings for Fiona and wants to stay, but can he? Can someone who is not from Brigadoon stay and become one of them? If the answer is yes, then he and Fiona can be together forever, if not, he will lose her at the end of their day. He doesn’t have much time to find out, and his friend Jeff complicates it by bringing into the forefront all of Tommy’s nagging doubts.

Ultimately Tommy’s indecision decides for him as night falls and Fiona and Brigadoon fade into the highland mist. Only after he has lost it all does he realizes what he had. He knows what he needs is a miracle, like the miracle of Brigadoon.

But do miracles happen in today’s world? Time to turn down the lights and cozy up with someone you love because when you love someone deeply enough, anything can happen, right—even, miracles?