Lord Dunsany

writer
Play

If

  • by Lord Dunsany
  • at the Ambassadors’ Theatre (London, 30 May 1921)

John Beal, a London businessman, is given a magic crystal that allows him to go back in time and change one act; he is happy with his current life, so he decides to merely go back to catch a train that he was annoyed about missing ten years ago—but the resulting changes are more than he ever expected.

This is the earliest story that I’ve seen where the hero goes back into his earlier body and relives something differently. Some of the later stories of this kind have no actual time travel, but merely give knowledge of an alternate timeline (e.g., Asimov’s “What If?”); others live out the two timelines in parallel (e.g., the 1998 movie Sliding Doors, also set in motion by a missed/caught train); and some, like If, are couched in terms of time travel (e.g., the 1986 movie Peggy Sue Got Married). —Michael Main
He that taketh this crystal, so, in his hand, at night, and wishes, saying ‘At a certain hour let it be’; the hour comes and he will go back eight, ten, even twelve years if he will, into the past, and do a thing again, or act otherwise than he did. The day passes; the ten years are accomplished once again; he is here once more; but he is what he might have become had he done that one thing otherwise.
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  • Fantasy
  • Comedy
  • Definite Time Travel
Playlet

The Jest of Hahalaba


Against the advice of his alchemist, Sir Arthur calls up the Spirit of Laughter on New Year’s Eve and asks to see the coming year’s issues of the Times. —Michael Main
Sir Arthur Strangways: Only a trifle. I wish to see a file of the Times.
Hahalaba:For what year?
19th-century, hand-drawn map showing Dunsany Castle and its surrounds.
  • Fantasy
  • Weird Fiction
  • Comedy
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

It Happened Tomorrow


One day at the end of the 19th century, newspaperman Larry Stevens is given the gift of tomorrow’s newspaper by the ghost of the archive man, Pops Benson. That leads him to improve his position at the newspaper by scooping a story, but it also leads to trouble, more of tomorrow’s papers, and a romance with the alluring clairvoyant Sylvia.

So why do I count this as time travel when, for example, The Gap in the Curtain is not? The future newspapers in Gap never actually appeared, and it felt as if they were mere visions of a possible future, whereas we had no doubt that Larry holds an actual copy of tomorrow’s paper in his hands. And besides, It Happened Tomorrow had a great take on how events may be fated and yet, when accompanied by charming misunderstandings, lead to the unexpected.

Early Edition, one of my favorite TV shows, uses the same idea of tomorrow’s paper, but its creators said that the show was not based on this movie. —Michael Main
But I’m afraid I’m going to end up at the St. George Hotel at 6:25 no matter where I go.
Dressed in fancy suits, Dick Powell (as Larry Stevens) and Linda Darnell (as
                Sylvia) hold up a banner announcing the cast of It Happened Tomorrow.
  • Eloi Silver Medal
  • Fantasy
  • Definite Time Travel
Short Story

Lost

  • by Lord Dunsany
  • in The Fourth Book of Jorkens (Arkham, 1948)

No image currently available.
  • Undetermined
  • Undetermined Time Travel
TV Episode

Lux Video Theatre (s02e19)

The Jest of Hahalaba


No image currently available.
  • Undetermined
  • Definite Time Travel