Time Without Pity

A bizarre psychogram of a series of characters, all of whom are disturbed in their own manner. Losey delineates the characters through a series of images which are so effective because they're so simple.

A cheap B-movie. The choppy dramaturgy and editing, viewed from today's perspective, conveys a nervousness and an intensity to the film that was probably lost on a 50's audience. No happy end, but a just and noble one.

Exiled from the USA because of the blacklist Joseph Losey did some of his best work in the United Kingdom and he has a really good thriller here. Not much of a mystery other than the question is why couldn't the police see who it was in the first place.

Young Alec McCowen is now on death row after his girlfriend was found strangled to death in her family's home where he had been spending the weekend. Like father like son, Michael Redgrave an alcoholic writer who has been living in Canada comes back to the UK to visit with his son now on death row. He's been convicted of her death and was too drunk at the time to offer any meaningful evidence in his defense.

It was at Leo McKern's home where the deed was done. He's a foulmouthed ill tempered automobile manufacturer who terrorizes his family like wife Ann Todd and son Paul Daneman who is McCowen's best friend. He's also a bit unbalanced and everyone around him is afraid.

The real suspense is in Redgrave battling his own demons and not returning to the bottle. The pressure to do so is great, but Redgrave summons up enough strength to resist. It's a masterful very subtly cerebral type performance. He and McKern take the acting honors.

For fans of Redgrave and McKern this is a must.

Michael Redgrave plays David Graham, the alcoholic father of a young man (Alec McCowen) on death row in "Time Without Pity" from 1957. The film also stars Ann Todd, Leo McKern, Peter Cushing, Paul Daneman, Lois Harker, Joan Plowright, and Renee Houston.

Graham's son Alec is accused of killing a young woman. David was not around for the trial, due to a stint in rehab (which doesn't seem to have taken). Alec is very hostile to him now.

Meanwhile, Alec's surrogate family, the Stanfords (McKern, Todd, and Daneman) are at odds - Mr. Stanford wants nothing to do with the case or Alec, where his wife and son want to help. It seems to David that everyone is keeping secrets, and he has to find out what they are before his son is hanged.

Okay film but by today's more subtle acting standards, way over the top in some cases. Michael Redgrave is wonderful, desperate, fighting for his son's life as he battles his habit. Leo McKern, a magnificent character actor best known as Rumpole of the Bailey, yells his way through his role. He's in good company with the loud, overdramatic music. Ann Todd gives a lovely performance.

There are a couple of jarring editing mistakes you won't miss.

Michael Redgrave, the head of a great acting dynasty of children and grandchildren, is always worth seeing. See it for him.

This Emlyn Williams play about the relentless search for truth intertwines craftily in and out of the lives of some very imperfect human beings and builds to a surprising but inevitable ending.

Redgrave, McKern, Todd, Plowright, Maxwell, Daneman and the rest of the cast all do well to bring this gritty black and white puzzle into focus. The son played by Alec McGowen was a bit over-the-top at times but then his character's madness required that.

It's not a masterpiece...but I don't expect there are too many of those around. But what it does provide in dramatic tension elicits interest and compassion from the viewer until the very end.

The Tristram Cary music must be cited here for its unflinching power to shake us up and take notice of the action on the screen. If there is any masterful work here it is the music.

The only qualm was the less-than-satisfying editing which tended to bring the down the tension-building instead of heightening it.

Yes, it was a low-budget movie...it's a cop-out to say that in view of the fine acting of the magnificent cast which redeemed it many times over.

I'd recommend this to fans of film-noir, classic thrillers, mysteries and the British cinema.

Jenny Cole is killed and her drunken boyfriend Alec Graham is set to hang for it. His attorney Jeremy Clayton (Peter Cushing) picks up his recovering alcoholic father David Graham (Michael Redgrave) from the airport. He had been away in rehab in Canada. He has less than 24 hours to clear his son's name and stop the execution.

I like the mystery premise but I would give the man more time. It's a little too convenient to give him less than a day to solve a case which probably lasted months if not years. It's too little time to solve the case in a believable way. It would also help to not show Robert Stanford's face in the opening. That takes away from a possible compelling mystery. I do like the progression of the plot and its final conclusion. The acting is great although Leo McKern goes overboard sometimes. This is terrific.