36 Hours
Directed by George Seaton
Written by George Seaton; story by Carl K. Hittleman and Luis H. Vance from a story by Roald Dahl
1964/USA
Prelberg-Seaton Productions/Cherokee Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] Otto Schack: [to Gerber] Take my advice; don’t try to be a leader. I have discovered it’s much safer to be a follower.[/box]
This is an OK, if unbelievable, WWII thriller with some excellent performances.
It is late May 1944. Maj. Jefferson Pike (James Garner) is working for US military intelligence out of London. The U.S. preoccupation at this time is hiding all plans for the D-Day invasion from the Germans. Thus far the enemy believes this will take place at Calais. Pike regularly travels to Portugal where he feeds disinformation to a double agent at the German Embassy.
On this final trip Pike is waylaid and transported to a location in Germany near the Swiss border.
There, Maj. Walter Gerber (Rod Taylor) has set up an elaborate fake US military hospital, complete with English-speaking staff. In this alternative universe the year is 1950. The plan is to convince Pike that the war has been over for six years and he has been suffering amnesia the entire time. Pike is assigned private nurse Anna Hedler (Eva Marie-Saint), to whom he is supposedly married. Presumably Pike’s guard will be down and he unwittingly discuss is role in the planning. In the meantime, the SS is chomping at the bit to use more traditional methods. Will the Nazis find what they are looking for? Will Pike come out of this alive?
This is entertaining but I did not believe for one minute that the Germans could afford or pull off such a complicated plot. The movie dies not share my reservations. The first two acts are intriguing, the last act is an escape attempt that is nothing special. The acting is all solid.
