Richard Collier (Reeve) is a playwright at Millfield College in 1972, when after a play he wrote is a success, an older woman approaches him. She hands him an elaborate pocketwatch and whispers, "Come back to me." She then turns and walks away. Eight years later, Collier has written quite a few plays, but he currently suffers from writer's block. He decides to take a vacation and relax at the Grand Hotel. While waiting for the dining hall to open, he tours the Hall of History, and sees an old photograph of a woman. He becomes obsessed with her and tracks down those that knew her in order to uncover all the information he can about her. In his research, he discovers that this is the same woman who visited him eight years ago and that her name is Elise Mckenna (Seymour). He is desperate to go back in time and meet her, which he does with a little help from an old college professor who had written a book about time travel. Now in 1912, Collier is determined to find Elise and discover true love.

Somewhere in Time was a movie that had eluded me till now. Reeve is one of my favorite actors, based largely on his performances in the Superman movies, and I was interested to see how he would do without the blue tights. Both he and Seymour put in great performances though, and make this often-strange movie work. I have to say that I enjoyed Somewhere in Time: it's a good romantic movie, and one that I will certainly revisit in the future, though it requires some disbelief on the part of the audience about the time-traveling aspects.

Picture:
Somewhere in Time is presented in 1.85:1 non-anamorphic widescreen that has its fair share of problems. For starters, there is quite a lot of grain present, and in some scenes, it is overwhelming. There are some marks as well, and on the whole, the print appears to be soft. The brightness level also appeared to be a bit off in a few scenes. The transfer really could have used some work, but it does remain watchable.

Sound:
Somewhere in Time is presented in English and French Dolby 2.0 Mono. The movie is dialogue driven and thankfully, the dialogue throughout remains crisp and clean with little to no distortion. The mono track really doesn't do the film's terrific score justice, but it is adequate.

Extras:
Somewhere in Time really earns its Special Edition title with a load of extras. Included are production notes, production photos, talent files, the trailer, a short featurette about the Somewhere in Time Fan Club, a terrific documentary which runs about an hour, and an audio commentary with the director, Jeannot Szwarc. The documentary features a comprehensive, in-depth look at the making of the film with quite a few interviews and glimpses behind the scenes. It's a must watch for fans of the film. The commentary I found to be a bit less interesting and it has a few spaces where Szwarc doesn't comment at all. Still, it is worth a listen for the fans. Also included are English and Spanish subtitles.

Summary:
I really enjoyed Somewhere in Time, but the DVD picture quality is so lacking that it makes it hard to recommend this to anyone but the hardcore fans of the film, who will want to check it out for all the terrific extras. Casual fans or newcomers may want to rent it first. Recommended.