“MALDEN’S ONE-SHOT GEM”

By Raymond Benson

It was a pleasant surprise to find the one motion picture directed by actor Karl Malden to be a riveting, well-acted military legal drama along the lines of The Caine Mutiny, but made at half the cost. Released in 1957, Time Limit was based on a Broadway play by Henry Denker and Ralph Berkey and is a story set mostly in one room. Like the same year’s 12 Angry Men, the movie features some fine known and up-and-coming actors in a talky, but engaging, conflict.

Richard Widmark (who also co-produced the film) stars as Army Colonel Bill Edwards, who must oversee an investigation into the actions of Major Henry Cargill (Richard Basehart) when he was a POW during the Korean War. Cargill and eighteen other American soldiers were held captive in harsh conditions. Two men died, allegedly from dysentery, and Cargill ended up committing treason by cooperating with the enemy and participating in North Korean propaganda. One of the men who died was the son of General Connors (Carl Benton Reid), who is Edwards’ boss. It is up to Edwards to find out if a court-martial is in order, but there’s something fishy about the surviving soldiers’ stories—and Cargill refuses to talk.

As the secrets come out, the tension builds. Director Malden does a fine job with the material, but the picture is genuinely carried by the excellent performances by not only Widmark and Basehart (who was nominated for a BAFTA Award for his role), but also a very young Rip Torn as one of the prisoners, Martin Balsam as Edwards’ smart aleck right-hand man, and Dolores Michaels as the super-smart Corporal Evans, who acts as Edwards’ secretary and court reporter. In fact, it is Evans who ultimately guides Edwards through the puzzle. June Lockhart, as Cargill’s wife, additionally has a striking dramatic scene worthy of an award.

The picture never feels like it needs to be “opened up.” The dialogue is crisp and pointed (the script was adapted by co-playwright Denker) and doesn’t feel stagy. Notably, Time Limit was released by United Artists, which at the time was rapidly becoming one of the major players in Hollywood by allowing filmmakers to follow their visions.

The quality of Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray restoration is quite good, on par with other releases from the same period by the company. There are English subtitles for the hearing impaired, but sadly no supplemental features other than theatrical trailers for this and other Kino releases.

Even though it is not particularly well-known today, Time Limit is a late-fifties Hollywood gem.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON