Time Limit (1957)

A former POW (Richard Basehart) in North Korea has not only been charged with collaboration with the enemy, he's signed a confession. However, his judge advocate (Richard Widmark, who also produced the film) is suspicious of the case and suspects the defendant is withholding vital information. Based on the play by Henry Denker and Ralph Berkey and directed by actor Karl Malden (his only film as a director). I was surprised how much I liked this intense legal drama. The performances are quite good, not surprising since the director is an Oscar winning actor but although the film is based on a play, it's not static. Its theatrical origins are obvious and almost all of the film is confined to Widmark's office but that only adds a suitably claustrophobic layer to the movie. The movie presages THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) and its "message" is a critical one. The film's original reviews were kind to Malden's direction but he found direction wasn't for him. With Rip Torn, Martin Balsam, Dolores Michaels, June Lockhart and Carl Benton Reid.