The Wizard of Speed and Time

1989 "His Life Is a Special Effect..."
7| 1h35m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 22 September 1989 Released
Producted By: Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A Hollywood filmmaker (Mike Jittlov) makes a short for an evil film studio. Unbeknownst to him, the producer has placed a bet of $25,000 that he won't come up with anything with a use. Luckily, our film creator gets the help of his friends.

Watch Online

The Wizard of Speed and Time (1989) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Mike Jittlov

Production Companies

Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime.
Watch Now
The Wizard of Speed and Time Videos and Images
View All

The Wizard of Speed and Time Audience Reviews

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
hmghosthost Mike Jitlov is a lovable genius of animation. The Wizard of Speed and Time, with its silly humor, fun special effects and really catchy theme song is worth seeing once if you have a short attention span and several times if you root for the "little guy".Wizard makes fun of the film industry's obnoxious red tape and the heartlessness of money-grubbing studio executives, while highlighting the generous spirit of friends and of directors who want what's good for a film but have their hands tied by the stuffy studio.The grand finale of this film is worth sitting through some very slow parts. For those who have this movie on video or DVD, I suggest using the slow-motion option to read some of the cute subliminal messages found throughout the finale.
Eugene Kim Some years ago, the USA cable network carried a late-night program called "Night Flight" which featured an assortment of entertainment, including rock videos and short films. Although I wasn't a regular viewer, I stumbled across "Night Flight" when it aired a live-action animated short called "The Wizard of Speed and Time." I was blown away by the film's ingenious use of stop-motion photography and other camera trickery as it told the story of a green-robed wizard who possesses the ability to run around the world in just a matter of minutes."The Wizard of Speed and Time," it turned out, began as a short subject made in 1979 by filmmaker Mike Jittlov. Some years after making the original film, Jittlov took his idea and expanded it into a low-budget feature, also called "The Wizard of Speed and Time," which tells the story of a young filmmaker named Mike Jittlov and his struggle to make a special-effects-laden short film for a TV special despite having few resources (i.e., money) while battling the Hollywood bureaucracy.The five minutes or so of "Wizard" material in the feature are a triumph of shoestring ingenuity. We see a one-minute "work in progress" featuring marching tripods, dancing light stands and flying film cans as well as an infectiously catchy title tune (this was part of Jittlov's original short, with new music added). The film's climax is the finished product mentioned above (a remake and elaboration of the first part of the 1979 short - I think the remake is what I saw on USA). I marvel at Jittlov's ability to visualize in advance the dazzling images he's reaching for and his skill in achieving those images through frame-by-frame animation and undercranking. And notice how the camera refuses to stand still for the animations - other stop-motion films may seem rooted to the floor one set-up at a time, but Jittlov refuses to let his camera be tied down.I just wish I could praise the rest of the movie as highly. It's friendly, it's likable, but when the Wizard isn't conjuring up his magic, the feature turns into what is, at best, only a mildly funny takeoff on Hollywood. I was hoping the ingenuity that Jittlov displayed in the Wizard sequences would also transform the surrounding story, which supposedly is based on his real-life experiences, but what we get is pretty thin stuff.Jittlov's love of movie-making is much in evidence; there's at least one visual homage to the Walt Disney Company, and one of Disney's original "nine old men," animator Ward Kimball, makes a brief appearance as an examiner for the "Infernal Revenue Service." That's right, "infernal," and I'm afraid that's an indicator of the general level of verbal wit in "Wizard." We also get a studio head with a supposedly comic Jewish accent.Still, Jittlov comes across as such an engagingly eccentric fellow - an animated character in his own right - that I wanted to believe in him and his house chock full of film-related gadgets and toys. Former Miss Virginia Paige Moore makes for a charming leading lady, both in the movie and the movie-within-the-movie. Philip Michael Thomas, the biggest name in the cast, plays a cop far removed from Miami. Fans of "Get Smart" may remember Angelique Pettyjohn, who was undercover agent Charlie Watkins in the 60s TV spy spoof; fans of the original "Star Trek" series will remember her from "The Gamesters of Triskelion."
kohl_caked This movie may be hard to find, but go out and look. It just plain has that good feel to it. It's original. It is worth seeing. The special effects are perfect for any of those 70s freaks, like me. Not to mention the fact that it will remind you have doing that awesome project with your friends.
ballystyk I first met Mr. Jittlov when this film was in script form, after Regis Philbin, hosting a more local talk show, implored on the air, after showing one of his amazing short films, for someone to give a man this talented more work. I also first saw "The Wizard of Speed and Time" in its original short film form. Both that and the feature film are unique works of entertainment that pre-date the imagery and style of Tim Burton's first feature, "Pee Wee's Big Adventure." Like Mr. Burton, Mike was an animator at Disney whose work went beyond their normal ranges of thinking. I am honored to have known such an amazing talent and grateful that this film exists and will live forever. Any work that acknowledges the only Oscar winning score by one of my favorite film composers, Bernard Herrmann, deserves additional praise beyond its own magnificent merits. It is a film that should be required viewing for all independent film makers who still possess that child-like wonder needed to truly appreciate the magic of motion pictures.