source: Time Limit

One of those movies that lets the viewer try and figure out what really is going on without making things obvious throughout - so many angles to take, so many characters to believe as to which one is telling the truth or not. Many great lines - pulled out a piece of paper and pen to write some down. I thought Martin Balsam was perfect as the the staff NCO who seemed a little over the top (not for his acting) - but for what NCO's are (and are not) allowed to get away with in real life :-) A young June Lockhart (Later on TV's Lost in Space show) plays the wife of the main character. Rip Torn also gives a fine performance as one of the prisoners. Movie really opens up a lot of good discussions on what real truth and what it is not - when it's just information that suits ourselves. Good movie - one of those ones I did not plan watching.

I saw this film on TV yesterday while I was channel surfing and I got hooked. Excellent acting, especially by Richard Widmark. I didn't think he had it in him. But the entire cast was excellent, including June Lockhart in a small role It was also nice to see Khigh Dhiegh in a role other than Wo Fat, for which he is most famous. The film is very low budget. Probably 90% of the money went to the cast. But the plot is excellent and the film doesn't hit you over the head with excess or obvious clichés. Sadly, they don't make films like this anymore. No special effects or car chases and no "stupid is the new smart" attitude.

This gentleman has written my thoughts on "A Time Limit" exactly. I had a heck-of-a-time finding it in IMDb. I had to type-in "Richard Widmark movies" to find it. As the viewer stated, it is the only movie Carl Malden directed. It makes one wonder about the power-game in Hollywood and other places where movies are made. Yet, directing a movie must create a commsumate stress. The body of work Mr. Malden did as an actor speaks for itself, ditto for Widmark. His role in this film must have been a very important consideration for his role in "Judgment at Nuremberg". The war in Iraq has caused us to question "the code" for branches of the military. Who can speak for any member of them, or give reasons for their actions? Everything is different during wartime, especially if you are an officer who must take the responsibility for other men's lives. I always notice that highly commissioned officers who are interviewed on television are almost always "retired" - otherwise, they could not have taken the risk of breaking "the code". There are no personal, civil rights in the military - you are a part of a dictatorial branch of The Pentagon. I think "the code" creates inhumane situations. Another film on this subject includes "A Few Good Men", which graphically demonstrates the abuse by high-commissioned officers, whether it is blatant abuse of an officer's authority or to cover criminal offenses, as is demonstrated by the movie "......" does. "A Time Limit" - apparently not seen by too many people except on TCM, where I saw it - exposes "the code" must treat even military-personnel as humans. Otherwise, there is no excuse for "the code"........all of the cast of this movie were excellent.

Time Limit (1957) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Hard-hitting drama about Maj. Harry Cagill (Richard Basehart) who is brought up on charges of treason after being in a Korean War camp and giving information to the enemy. Once back in the states Col. Edwards (Richard Widmark) tries to understand what made him crack but he refuses to talk and all of his men give the same strange story, which doesn't make enough sense to Edwards. This film isn't very well known today, which is a shame but I'm going to guess that part of the reason is that it was released in the same year as both 12 ANGRY MEN and WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. All three films deal with twists and turns within a court setting, although this film here just deals with an investigation as we don't get to actually step inside the courtroom. With that said, all three films share a lot in common but this film manages to ask some pretty hard questions and it doesn't pull any punches with the answer. The film is brutally frank in its subject matter and even though we don't find the answers we're looking for until the final ten-minutes, the film still manages to pack one major punch after another. I think a lot of credit must go to Malden, in his only adventure as a director, and I do wonder how much influence Elia Kazan had on him. The film has a certain look and feel of ON THE WATERFRONT, which Malden of course made with Kazan. It appears that both films ask a lot of the same questions about bravery, talking and how much one person should take. Seeing as how this one takes place in the military it's clear that there is a political slant going on here as I'm sure many people would have to ask themselves how much torture, sickness and threats of death they could take without talking or trying to save their own skin. The "time limit" of bravery is an interesting question and we get many different answers as to how one person should be. The final ten-minutes is when things really start to break down as we finally get some answers and the twist here has been debated by quite a few reviewers. I personally didn't mind the twist and I think it worked well for what the film was going for. There were several directions that the film could have went for but the one they selected worked well enough for me. Another major benefit are the performances with Widmark leading the way in a rather laid back performance by the actor who was often shown as being a demanding, strong character. I thought Widmark was very believable playing it so laid back and I think that quiet nature here actually helped the film as it seems he was the only one who didn't want revenge for what had happened but instead just wanted the truth. Basehart is terrific as well in showing the hell that his character is going through. Dolores Michaels is good as Widmark's aide, June Lockhart is very strong in her one scene and Martin Balsam is on hand for some needed comedy relief. This is certainly an emotionally draining picture as the subject matter is rather ugly and the picture doesn't pull any punches. Malden handles the material extremely well and it's a shame we didn't get to see what else he could do behind the camera.

In the aftermath of the Korean War, the period in which this filmed play takes place, a lot of our soldiers "went over" to the communist enemy. Too many. It generated a great deal of interest in what was called brainwashing. Was it some mystical process that perverted our sense of what was good and bad? The academic psychologists were called in and they didn't find anything extraordinary. The prisoners were already in a one-down position and used to obeying authority figures. It wasn't the Inquisition. Reward and punishment were used but the punishment, while typically brutal, wasn't extravagant or particularly painful. One effective technique was simply tying the captive's hands behind his back so that someone else had to feed him or unfasten his trousers when he needed to use the bathroom. We ripped off at least one technique -- the good cop/ bad cop routine. I don't know why I got into that, because we see nothing of it in the movie. It's just that the perceived number of converts was dismayingly high and was a matter of some concern at the time, as reflected in the movies -- "The Rack," "The Manchurian Candidate," and some others I forget. An Army major, Richard Basehart, is undergoing interrogation by an investigator, Richard Widmark, whose duty is to see if a Court Martial for treason should be recommended. There is plenty of evidence against Basehart -- signed confessions, recorded propaganda broadcasts, and the testimony of more than a dozen of his fellow POWs. On top of that, Basehart admits his guilt freely. But there are enough minor discrepancies and contradictions in the record that Widmark is hesitant to proceed with a trial until all the facts are in. It was directed in a more or less pedestrian manner by Karl Malden. But he didn't have that much to work with. It's a weak play. Arguments and intrigue and command pressure add up without much in the way of increment until the final explosion of sobs and speeches wracked with guilt and self justification. Malden allows some over acting. Rip Torn in an important role isn't especially convincing as a guilt-ridden murderer. He could be splendid as a tobacco-chewing red-necked sheriff when he was a little older. Martin Balsam does his best -- which is pretty good -- in the stereotyped role of the impudent and outspoken Master Sergeant. The musical score is by Frank Steiner, who must have listened repeatedly to Bernard Herrmann's score for "Citizen Kane." Aside from the salaries for Widmark and some of the secondary leads, it must not have cost much to produce. There are few shots on location, but then that's the nature of plays.

Richard Widmark, Richard Basehart, Rip Torn and Carl Benton Reid star in "Time Limit," a 1957 drama directed by Karl Malden. It's a small drama, based on a play, and very well done. During the Korean War, a military investigator, Colonel Edwards (Widmark) is assigned the case of Major Cargill (Basehart), who was a POW and is accused of treason. Edwards believes Cargill to be innocent of the charges, even though Cargill admits that the charges are correct. This story is really about making a humane decision rather than following military rules. Since as I write this we are still at war in Iraq, this film remains relevant. The scenes at the prisoner of war camp are excellent and really give one the feel for what these soldiers suffered. Widmark, Torn and Basehart are especially good - Widmark is a man looking for the answer and striving to be both humane and fair, and Torn is a witness to what occurred - both give terrific performances. Basehart is effective as the accused, who just wants to plead guilty and not explain his actions. A very thought-provoking drama, certainly a topic that's been covered in bigger films, but still worth seeing.

To me, Richard Widmark's best film is Time Limit. It's about an army inquest into a soldier who admits that he helped the enemy when he was a POW during the Korean war. Widmark is the Colonel in charge of the investigation, and Richard "He Walked By Night" Basehart brings his A-game to the role of the soldier. Any other colonel might just connect the dots and recommend a court martial - Basehart's Maj. Harry Cargill admits he gave broadcasts for the North Koreans, signed a paper saying the Americans were doing germ warfare, and was attempting to indoctrinate the other POWs in formal "classes" that the North Koreans had to try to brainwash them. All of the POWs in the same camp he was in verify that Cargill did these things. But Cargill refuses to tell Widmark's Colonel William Edwards WHY. And he doesn't seem to care he could be, heck, probably will be executed for treason without some defense. With Cargill's past stellar military record, including in WWII, Edwards will not finish this investigation until he gets a "why". But Cargill has talked to nobody about why he did what he did - not even his wife. And Colonel Edwards is being pressured by his superior, a General whose son died in the same POW camp that Cargill was in, and even by Martin Balsam as a particularly irritating sergeant, to recommend prosecution and wash his hands of the matter. And then Edwards notices that the descriptions of the back-to-back deaths of two soldiers in the POW camp the day before Cargill seemed to turn traitor are identical - as in word for word each time by each soldier. Is there a Manchurian Candidate situation going on here, or something else entirely? The plot twist at the end is the farthest thing from a gimmick, and is infinitely better presented and far less Hollywoodish than the sanctimonious speech by Jose Ferrer at the end of The Caine Mutiny, although I like that film too, for different reasons. Check it out if you get the chance. WWII films always seem to get the spotlight, but this one is a forgotten jewel about a forgotten war.

In the 1950s, actor Khigh Dhiegh created a niche playing evil Chinese or North Koreans who were experts at psychological warfare and evil! While he was wonderful to watch and made a great recurring villain on "Hawaii Five-O" and made appearances in the original "Manchurian Candidate" (playing essentially the same sort of fun-loving guy), few would have realized that he had no Asian blood whatsoever! Despite his evil chubby Fu Manchu-like look, he was actually an American-born guy with North African roots! Despite this, I really, really loved watching him every chance I got--and I was excited to see him in a small part in "Time Limit". Quite simply, he was great at being bad! This film is set just after the Korean War. A Major (Richard Widmark) has been assigned to defend a Colonel (Richard Basehart) who is being tried for aiding the enemy. It seems that while in a prisoner of war camp, Basehart was forced to make anti-American statements which were used as propaganda. Why would he do this--especially since he was a good officer?! Perhaps the evil Khigh Dhiegh found some way to brainwash Basehart. Unfortunately, they don't know because Basehart won't talk--and Widmark is having a devil of a time trying to defend a man who won't help himself. So, despite his client's wishes, he wants to dig deeper and interview a variety of people to get to the heart of it. Overall, the film is very well-acted and the plot takes a very interesting turn near the end. Tune in to this one and see for yourself--it's worth seeing.

Across the frigid nightmare that is the Korean War, there are a thousand nameless graves over which a like amount of ghosts hover. Those haunting's are what drive American writers to pen as many stories onto the pages of that Forgotten War. One of those superb writers is Henry Denker who wrote this story called " Time Limit. " It takes place in one of the many American Army units captured and imprisoned in a P.O.W. camps by the North Koreans. This central story is about one, Major Harry Cargill (Richard Basehart) who having survived the war is now arrested and faces General Court martial and death by firing squad. To see Cargill is given every opportunity to defend himself, Gen. J. Connors (Carl Reid) assigns Col. William Edwards (Richard Widmark) who takes his job seriously. Two surprises hamper Edwards. One, Cargill wants to plead guilty and offers no defense at his trial. Most of the men who come forward to testify agree as to his guilt and find no reason to stop the execution. With the great actor, Karl Malden directing this film and casting such heavies such as Martin Balsam, Rip Torn, Yale Wexler and June Lockhart, this assembly make for a Classic. The movie is assured success with the fine performances and the stark Black and White reality of the Korean War. Excellent vehicle for both Basehart and Widmark. Easilly recommended. ****