Loads of people have thought "What if you had a time machine? Would you go back and kill Hitler?"
The Yesterday Machine addresses the question "What if you had a time machine and were a mad Nazi scientist? Would you go back and save Hitler? And bring him to present-day America?" (Hmmm....)
Apparently a cheapo "regional movie" made in Dallas and never distributed beyond the Texas drive-in circuit, its release is so shrouded in uncertainty that no one can quite agree on the year it first came out. (Suggestions include 1963, 1965 and 1966. Still filling out the bill in Texas drive-ins in the mid 70s.)
It opens with a completely gratuitous bit of majorette go-go dancing, and pans to also view... a knockoff Charles Napier. At which point I went "And this movie is gonna have Nazis... is this a RUSS MEYER MOVIE???"
But as the titles roll, it becomes clear this is by a completely different director. Russ Marker. See, 3 whole letters different from Russ Meyer!
We also know it's not the œuvre of the world's favourite Nazi-obsessed director by the fact that the majorette and other actresses lack Meyer's trademark... topheaviness. And the film is not nearly gonzo enough. It's a fairly action-free hour before the Nazis even show up, at which point the mad scientist spends like 15-20 minutes just explaining his time travel "science" in front of a blackboard. I genuinely dozed off at this point. (But presumably at the drive-in, this would be when the teens would be rounding third base, so... who cares?)
A literal snooze fest. Don't bother watching... once the go-go dancing is over.
Not Charles Napier, in a movie by not Russ Meyer
Info:
Teaser:
Movie (apparently it's in the public domain now, so it's everywhere):
- The Internet Archive
- Cinetimes (where I found it)
- YouTube: a gazillion uploads. Take your pick.
