Customer Reviews

Philadelphia Experiment (Widescreen)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am a 29 year old man who remebered this movie fondly from my childhood. So i pointed, clicked and oredered it up. I was horrified the instant the menu came up on screen and the option to start the movie was spelled wrong, it read "STRAT MOVIE". This should give you some idea as to the level of care and attention that went into the production of this inferior product.
The picture quality was unforgivable. Usually a bad transfer doesnt bother me that much as long as I can see whats going on, but this movie transfer is pathetic. I am not kidding when I say that you are better off ordering a clean VHS copy than wasting your time and money on this DVD. It was absolutely unwatchable on my widescreen TV, I eventually had to put it in my computer to watch it as the "pixelization" was so bad ... consider youself warned.....

"The Philadelphia Experiment" is supposedly the about an experiment the U.S. Navy conducted in 1943 to make the U.S.S. "Eldridge" invisible to radar. However, the experiment goes (surprise) horribly wrong and the ship is contaminated with a deadly dose of radiation. Two of the sailors, David Herdeg (Michael Paré) and Jim Parker (Bobby Di Cicco), jump overboard as their crewmates are catching on fire and getting trapped in bulkheads and end up traveling through a rift in time to 1984 (i.e., the present in terms of that being the year this movie was made). One of them gets sent back but the other does not and not only are the authorities after him but it seems that pesky hole in time is wrecking havoc with the climate (not as bad as "The Day After Tomorrow," but serious enough).

This is a fun little B-movie that most science fiction fans can enjoy as long as they do not take it too seriously. The reason it is considered to be based on a "true" story is that it is based on a 1979 "non-fiction" book that claimed the Navy was fooling around with Einstein's Unified Field Theory and sent the "Eldridge" from Philadelphia to the harbor in Norfolk, Virginia, and then back again. The story is based on some dubious evidence and apparently since the U.S.S. "Eldridge" never ever docked at the Philadelphia Naval Yard the title appears to be suspect as well. The Navy has offered an official explanation that what happened was a routine degaussing of the ship, which meant it was surrounded with electrical cables to negate the magnetic field (the idea is that it would render the ship invisible to radar but not to human eyes). Of course to some people this explanation just screams cover up.

Ultimately this film is not concerned with the "science" of the so-called experiment because that is all just an excuse for a more traditional time travel story and within that genre there are few interesting things going on here. There are some fun moments as Herdeg encounters the brave new world (Orwell's "1984" did not come out until 1948, so he does not know that the future is brighter than people had thought in the 1940s). Herdeg hooks up with an airhead, Allison Hayes (Nancy Allen), who eventually comes to believe that he is not lying about when he is from and tries to help him get back home. It is just as well because there is really no chemistry between these two. After "Eddie & the Cruisers" and "Streets of Fire" we all thought Paré was going to have a career, but this film seems to have derailed it. Come to think of it the same can be said for Allen, outside of the "Robocop" movies.

The special effects are rather simplistic, but quite effective for the time. They were certainly good enough to lure more than a few people into seeing this film from director Stewart Raffill ("The Ice Pirates," "Mac and Me"). Plus you have the standard lesson than there are some things scientists should not be messing around with otherwise a wormhole will destroy the world as we know it, which was not really an omnipresent science fiction plot line at that point (CGI made destroying the planet much more fun). There is a 1993 sequel to this film, but try to forget about it because it belongs on everyone's short list of worst science fiction sequels ever. This one at least gives you some things to think about, not all of which are about how to poke holes in the story.

When it comes to time travel on the screen, there have been many, many attempts. My favorite is the STAR TREK episode in which Shatner travels back in time, falls in love with Joan Collins, and she gets killed, and he has to leave her behind. In THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT, things turn out a little better for the timecrossed lovers. Based on what was supposedly a real experiment in 1943, the movie chronicles the fate of Michael Pare and Bobby DiCicco, who during the experiment in Philadelphia find themselves in 1984 Nevada. Somehow the same scientist who did the 1943 experiment is still at it, trying to make a town invisible. In doing so, he opens a vortex that brings the two 40s soldiers to modern times. Pare falls in love with the wonderful Nancy Allen (CARRIE, BLOWOUT, DRESSED TO KILL), and their romance is a key element in the eventual climax.
The special effects are commendable for a 1984 movie; the direction is adequate, and most of the performances very good. Nancy combines her naivete with those lovely eyes to make a wonderful heroine, and Michael Pare shows a good range of emotion in trying to decide where he truly belongs.
This is one of the better time travel movies, and inspired a sequel with Brad Johnson.

I remember seeing this movie for the first time when I was about 9. It certainly piqued my interest in the paranormal, but at the time, I was unaware that the movie was based on alleged experiments by the US Navy. It's a B-sci fi movie complete with silly exaggerations, decent special effects, general cheesiness and the inevitable romance that ensues - in this case between a skeptical Nancy Allen and a confused Michael Pare. This movie is not to be taken very seriously.

If you are looking for mindless entertaiment, this is an excellent movie to satisfy your craving. It may even spark an interest in reading further about the allegedly real Philadelphia Experiment.

I found this film to be mediocre at best. It had its moments of being fairly entertaining, but by and large, it was a fairly boring movie that I would not recommend except for hard core science fiction fans that enjoy mindless action more than substance in their science fiction movies.

There were brief moments of humour when the Michael Pare character and his buddy begin noticing the social changes from their time in 1943 to their travel in time to 1984. Also, the love story between Michael Pare and Nancy Allen was tender and genuine, but this does not make up for the glaring weaknesses in how the film's story evolves.

The main problem I have with the film is the hostile behaviour of the main character, Michael Pare, and concurrently, the hostile behaviour of the authorities toward him even when they seem to know who he is. The potential violence displayed by the Michael Pare character seems out of character and out of place, and as a consequence we see government MP's losing their lives for reasons that are incomprehensible. Why is the Michael Pare so afraid of the authorities? Why are the authorities so afraid of him? These questions are not clearly answered, and as a consequence affect the viewer's connection with the hero.

Finally, the ending of this film, though giving the viewer the happy ending he likes, seems rather unlikely and too neat, giving the viewer an acute sense that his emotions are being manipulated.

Both Michael Pare and Nancy Allen give good performances in this film, particular Michael Pare, who is working his character around a weak script.

I bought this movie because I thought it was really good, my memory isn't as good as I thought it was. After watching it there was a lot that I didn't seem to think much about the first time around that seemed to stand out like sore thumbs. The movie starts out really interesting. It's based on a letter many years ago about an alleged US Military Experiment that happened where they were trying to make a ship invisible to enemy radar and apparently the ship literally vanished, when it re-appeared people were half embedded in the ships hull, dead or dying. Well, they incorporated this story into this movie and it starts out very well. Two of the ships crew are on-board when this happens and are thrown forward in time. They are then chased by military who don't know who they are, need answers from them, but can't seem to stop SHOOTING at them! My thoughts while watching this are that they threw in the shooting action sequences to try and spice up the movie because there really wasn't any reason for them to be shot at. They need information from these men, but they're trying to kill them most of the time, makes no sense. One of the men ends up going back to his own time and later on his buddy meets him when he is an old man who is now traumatized because of this and won't speak to him... again, I didn't think this made a lot of sense either but....

...if you can get over the plot problems, it really is a nice story. They could have polished it and made this a really good movie. I love these types, just not when they're badly done. The beginning and ending were well done, just parts in the middle needed work.

as time travel travel movies goes this one's pretty decent.i've seen a
few in my time,many of them stinkers,and this is certainly no
stinker.it isn't necessarily the best of the genre,but it works for
what it is.it's fairly low key and sedate.the special effects range
from not bad to pretty good,especially for the time period during which
the movie was made.the acting was pretty decent as well,though also low
key,like the rest of the movie.the story is decent enough.the movie
reminded me of another time travel movie from 1980 starring Kirk
Douglas called The Final Countdown,which to me is a superior movie.as
for The Philadelphia Experiment,i give it a 3/5

As implied in the name there is an experiment in Philadelphia (1943) to make a navel ship invisible to the enemy. The experiment goes beyond its parameters and sends the ship into the future. David Herdeg (Michael Paré) and Jim Parker (Bobby Di Cicco)
Jump ship in the process. What will become of them? Will this time travel effect others and can they get back? If not will they adapt?
It can not hurt to have a relationship with Nancy Allen you may not want to go back.

The story is based on a real conspiracy theory to cover-up the real thing. Even tough there are records to show that the destroyer was no where near the aria at the time, that just fuels the fire for the conspiracy.

I thought it was well done. Smoothly takes you to the impossible - finding yourself in another time. Believable.

This movie was ok. I don't know what else to say. It was entertaining, but not fantastic. It didn't leave me wanting to see it again, but it wasn't boring or poorly done. It was just ok.