The clever premise of this fantasy thriller is that HG Wells builds the time machine of his stories and that Jack the Ripper, being one of Wells' associates, escapes in it to the future. As he hasn't the retainer key, the machine returns (without him) to its Victorian resting-place. Wells, anguished that he has set the Ripper loose on what he has always imagined to be a Utopian future, determines to pursue. Writer-director Nicholas Meyer has constructed an ingenious and highly-original thriller on this basic theme, whose every piece falls into its proper place before the end, leaving no loose ends. The raging music of Miklos Rosza is a fine asset to the atmosphere; and the performances, especially that of Mary Steenburgen - who gives off strong echoes of the early Shirley MacLaine - create the believable characters so vital to this kind of science-fiction. The author's own treatment of his work eschews frills and is all the better for it.

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