I'm sure this comes as no surprise to anyone, especially if you've looked at my profile on Blogger, that I list Somewhere in Time as one of my favorite movies. The truth is, it's THE movie for me. Enough years ago to be the possible seed of my time-travel preoccupation, connected enough to be the strongest memory I have with my best friend in high school, and powerful enough that I strive to capture anything close to the impression it left on me in the hearts of any reader who picks up my stories.
I'd heard it was the most rented movie of all time--a cult-classic more popular than The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The soundtrack is one of the most successful in film history. At some time I'd heard a fan club existed, one of only three dedicated to a film. Heady company with the Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind. This week, I stumbled upon the website for the International Network of Somewhere in Time Enthusiasts and was completely amazed at the treasures I found.
An online store with not only CDs, DVDs and printed photos from the movie, but vintage 1912 jewelry, articles by the fan club's founder and extra in the movie, little known trivia (My favorite: The man in the hallway who stares after Christopher Reeve's character, Richard, as he exits the washroom and remarks, "Astonishing" is Richard Matheson, the science fiction/horror author of Bid Time Return, the novel the movie is based upon). Shirts, music boxes, even a replica antique pocket watch fill the online store.
More stirring that that is the devotion of this international society to the memory of the actors who brought the story to life and the dedication to the causes they believe important. They played a large part in sponsoring Christopher Reeve's and Jane Seymour's stars on the Walk of Fame and continue to champion spinal cord research.
If anyone you know loves this movie, be sure to send them to the fan site. For many of us who have experienced the movie to the point of saturation, the treasures at this site are like experiencing it for the first time all over again.
And if you haven't seen it, find it. Watch it. I'll wait. Go.
Was it as good for you?
Oh, yeah, me, too!! I've seen the film a half-dozen times and loved it...AND read the Matheson novel...AND made a pilgrimage to visit the hotel on Mackinac Island hotel when we were in northern Michigan one summer :-). But I didn't know there was a fan site, so thanks for linking to it.
I like this movie. Not quite to the fan-devotion stage, but the sound track is staggeringly wonderful.
I have been a fan of "Somewhere" since I first saw it, just out of High School. Romance and Time Travel. No better combination in a story. Thank you for the information and insight into a timeless classsic.
I read the novel, too, M. Great story, but I didn't see THAT much in common with the movie. I'm so glad I'm not the only sentimental one that loves this movie.