Timeslip

When a near-lifeless body is recovered from the Thames, the badly wounded man is identified as Stephen Rayner, a prominent nuclear physicist. But when science reporter Mike Delaney goes to the research institute to investigate as to why the physicist may have been shot, he is introduced to Rayner!

Thus a can of worms gets opened, leaving Delaney (Gene Nelson) bewildered about the likeness of the two men… Delaney’s sassy girlfriend – photographer Jill (Faith Domergue) assists him in cracking the case when he gets laid off. But this proves a lot more difficult then the pair had initially assumed. When they visit the wounded Dr. Rayner (Peter Arne) in hospital, he can’t recall much due to memory loss, however, once on a mender he mumbles the words ‘VASQUO’ and the initials ‘U.T.C.’

It doesn’t make a lot of sense to Delaney and Jill and to make matters worse, the lookalike doctor/scientist back in the research lab seems to be the real deal, since he liaises with colleagues (and vice versa) as if he’d been working there for a long time.

Delaney, never one to give up on a case probes further and after a few more visits to the hospital comes to realize that the injured man is indeed the real Dr. Rayner, but is baffled by the fact that he seems to be able to answer Delaney’s questions shortly before he actually asks them… furthermore he seems to be radioactive. As if it weren’t uncanny enough, a very different question emerges: if the wounded man in the hospital bed is the real Dr. Rayner, than who is the man in the lab who pretends to be him and how is such likeness possible? And why? As Delaney and Jill try to put together jigsaw puzzle of truly complex proportions they suddenly stumble across some deeply disturbing facts, and they have to do with international Cold War espionage. And who is the mysterious Isotope Man?

This fast-paced British low-budget thriller from 1955 doesn’t feel like a low-budget B-movie at all thanks to a cast that play their parts with relish and a clever little script that touched the Zeitgeist of its day. Especially Peter Arne in the double-role as the unlucky scientist/his evil imposter is utterly convincing – a seasoned actor whom fans will recognise from The Return of the Pink Panther in which he played ‘Colonel Sharki’.
Most surprisingly is perhaps that director Ken Hughes went on to direct the children fantasy Chitty Chitty Bang Bang over a decade later – the two films couldn’t be more different!

Timeslip is released on DVD as part of The British Film Collection and offers the following SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
• Promo material (PDF)
• Instant play facility