Time Limit
Directed by Karl Malden
Written by Henry Denker from a play by Denker and Ralph Berkey
1957/USA
Heath Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Maj. Harry Cargill: You can’t ask a man to be a hero forever. There ought to be a time limit. [/box]
This solid legal drama raises some interesting moral issues.
A JAG lawyer, Col. William Edwards (Richard Widmark), is trying to decide whether Maj. Harry Cargill (Richard Basehart) should be court-martialed for treason for collaborating with the enemy in a North Korean POW camp. On the surface it seems obvious. Cargill made a broadcast and signed a statement falsely accusing the US of using germ warfare and became the indoctrination officer for the men at the camp. He also admits everything and refuses to defend himself. But Edwards will not rest or make a decision until he finds out why Cargill turned. Cargill isn’t talking and the other soldiers in the camp have no explanation. Something about the consistency of their stories makes Edwards even more suspicious.
Complicating Edwards’ job is the fact that his supervising General’s son died in the same camp. Neither the general nor Edwards’ staff sergeant (Martin Balsam) can understand why the case can’t go to trial immediately. The rest of the movie follows Edwards’ continuing search for the truth. With June Lockhart as Cargill’s wife. The commie foreign baddies are the same as the ones in The Manchurian Candidate!
This film is basically a filmed stage play with forays into the camp in flashback. The drama is compelling enough to carry it. The movie asks the question “Can there be an excuse for treason?” In the end, it doesn’t really answer it, which only makes the story more interesting. These actors are always good and Karl Malden did a workmanlike job.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18IJ5Cu8bCM
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