Time Bomb

An enjoyable British thriller from the 1950s with an excellent supporting cast makes this well worth watching. But was it necessary to get an actor all the way from Hollywood? Glenn Ford always played himself, perhaps there could have been idea to have a more anonymous actor in the lead? The love story between Ford and Anne Vernon is unnecessary and does not add anything to the story.

Post-war thriller set in the English cities of Birhimgham & Portsmouth with a rail a shipment of hundreds of one ton deep sea mines about to explode.

After British Constable Charles Barron, John Horsley, got into a scuffle outside the Birhingham train station with what was at first thought to be a local hobo, Victor Maddern, it was later found at the rail yard a suitcase of full detonators and and bomb making components. Realizing that the person at the train yard was up to no good the police keep the train from going to it destination the Navel Yard at Porthmoth to prevent a major disaster when it gets there.

The film "Terror on a Train" goes into high gear with the local Birhingham authorities getting in contact with foamer US Army bomb specialist Peter Lyncort, Gleen Ford, who's in town vacationing with his wife Janie, Anne Vernon. Peter seemed to be Happy when he got the news from the city's security chief Jim Warrilow, Maurice Denham,since Janie had just walked out on him after their tenth fight in just one month. This would in some way get his mind off his personal problems and give him a chance to save the world, or at least the city of Birmingham.

The police set a trap for the saboteur, who planned and set up the entire nightmare, by stationing police at the Porthsmouth railway station knowing that he, the saboteur, will be there to see the fruits of his labors like an arsonist who stays at the scene of his crime, and to most cases helps in trying to put out the fire.

Spotted by Constable Barron the suspect is quickly apprehended and flown, by helicopter, back to Birmingham to help Peter and his now assistant Warrilow find and disarm the explosive charge hidden in one of the hundreds of underwater mines.

Tense and effective the movie has a somewhat surprise ending when you already thought that the danger was over. Glenn Ford is cool as a cucumber throughout the entire film even putting up with old and nutty Charlie, Herbert C. Walton,who obsessed with trains to the point where he almost gets himself killed.In his trying to get on the dangerous bomb ladened train and distracting both Lyncort & Warrilow from doing their job in preventing the bomb from exploding and taking them, together with Charlie, and the entire city of Bermingham out with it.

During this whole time, while her husband Peter was out risking his life, Janine is completely unaware of what's going on. Coming home to make up with Peter, this would be the 11th time in the last thirty days, after their latest spat Janie finds the hotel room deserted at 3AM in the morning and goes on the phone calling all the hospitals in town fearing that Peter met up with some accident.

It was fitting that at the end of the movie Janie finding out what was really going on with her husband. Thank God he wasn't out painting the town red with another women and that he was at the railway yards disarming a booby trapped one ton undersea mine; Janie by pure chance made it there just in time for the movies grand and explosive finally.

When the story begins, a Constable finds a man up to no good a the rail yard. At first, he just assumes it's some hobo riding the rails, but after a scuffle they find detorators where he guy dropped them. Obviously, he was saboaging the munitions train. The problem is that it's a big train and there just isn't a lot of time to find the bomb before it explodes....if there is a bomb.

If happens that Peter (Glenn Ford) is a bomb disposal expert and he's nearby. So the police rush to get him to the train and evacuate the area why he does his work. What's next? See the film.

If you want a film with a lot of tension, this movie is a very good choice. While the plot is pretty simple and you have no idea why the bomber did what he did, the payoff at the end is there...and the film very well made.

I first saw this movie on July 2, 2019, and I was riveted to my seat from the opening sequence. Director Ted Tetzlaff, working in the UK with Glenn Ford (whose presence was the raison d'etre for the movie as an MGM British production), never lets up the tension from the opening confrontation between a uniformed police constable (John Horsley) and a seeming vagrant (Victor Maddern) in a railway yard. The script and story, by Kem Bennett, interweave several stories that end up interlocking, and watching it the other morning, I had to wonder if Arthur Hailey didn't see this movie on original release, because the interaction of human elements and suspense seem to point the way very much to books such as Airport (and yes, I know that Hailey had lots of inspirations along the way). Glenn Ford's marital difficulties with unhappy wife Anne Vernon are given just the right amount of play, when one takes into account her role in the subsequent plot, and his low-key acting is perfectly balanced by the presence of Maurice Denham as the coolly efficient (but quietly scared-to-death) police official in charge on the ground. And then there are the wonderful little uniquely British touches, such as Herbert C. Walton's performance as Charlie, a man who likes trains. There is only one plot flaw and a slight structural flaw in the run-up to the double-barreled finale, but I won't go into those here, as they're not that serious and talking about them would spoil the movie. This is one that I heartily wish were available as a mechanically manufactured DVD, rather than a Warner Archives DVD-R, because it rates the better treatment.

It's very interesting that the average of (at this writing) 241 votes is 6 out of ten. But there are almost no 6 ratings. People seem to either like it very much or hate it.

I first saw this in a theater in 1953 and I thought it well done, suspenseful and entertaining. Tetzlaff and Ford made me believe in the life or death aspect of the script, and in retrospect the film in black and white added to the atmosphere. I have since seen it once or twice on television and it's now a period piece about things that no longer exist, but the suspense and terrorism themes are as topical as ever; we read about defusing bombs almost every day and we wait for news of the next IED's death toll.

If one looks beyond the period trappings, the fundamental qualities of life, survival and ultimately death are examined and exemplified with some care. Given a suspension of disbelief, this movie can be both entertaining and illuminating. I suspect viewers will continue to either like it very much or dislike it very much. That diversity should make those who've not seen it curious.