You won't be disappointed!

Such a frustrating disappointment

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

36 Hours (1965)There is a huge trick to this sparkling, powerful movie. And some might say the trick is too much. But think of the 1962 "Manchurian Candidate" and you have an idea what level of inventive storytelling is at work, and which indeed works. "36 Hours" is not as sensational as that film earlier, and for that reason not as memorable. But in some ways it's equal to it. The acting, especially by the four main leads, is first rate. It's convincing in a plot that takes some work to be convincing. There are hints here of the landmark television series "The Prisoner" at first, too (that series launched in 1967 but McGoohan, the central planner of "The Prisoner," outlined it in a 1965 interview!).At first you think this will be another war film, with James Garner playing a half-convincing top military adviser and courier (he's too young, too good looking, and far too casual). But then he gets kidnapped and the twists that follow are what make the movie. Garner gets better and better in his role, playing the game several ways as it unfolds. At his side is Eva Marie Saint, who is excellent even down to a fair middle-European accent. A charming and disarming German doctor played by Rod Taylor is key to this whole charade, as he, too, plays two sides to a coin. The more severely obvious SS officer (Werner Peters) is brilliant, and not a caricature, and he represents the whole German evil machine circa 1944. Or is it 1950? Keep a grip on reality as you watch. There are some small subtle cues as you go. For one thing, it's expected that most of the audience in 1965 still knew that D-Day was Jun 6, 1944. They will play with the date of that as if you know. And there was (famously) a delay due to rainy weather that shows up, too.You might even watch a D-Day classic like "The Longest Day" just to set the stage and get some broad facts, if you feel gung-ho. Or dive into this for the filming (gorgeous widescreen black and white) and acting, as well as the smart story. A great discovery.

George Seaton was a Hollywood A-level writer and director who could tell a story efficiently and professionally. He also knew movies had to sell tickets to be successful. He kept that in mind while creating, often with William Perlberg as producer, movies that were satisfyingly A caliber and watchable, even when they were serious by Hollywood standards. He didn't mind threading in irony or even a message or two, but usually these were plot driven. Seaton, in other words, knew his way around. And so we have 36 Hours. It's not about the terrible conflicts of wartime exigencies as The Counterfeit Traitor is. It's not a sad, uncomfortable story of love and sacrifice that The Country Girl is. And it's certainly not a bit of romantic fluff as Teacher's Pet is. 36 Hours is a fine, efficient, wartime yarn, nothing more, nothing less...and that, for me, is good enough. Major Jefferson Pike (James Garner) is an Allied intelligence officer who has been flying between London and Lisbon to pick up information from a clerk in the German embassy. It's May 31, 1944. Pike is ordered to make one more flight...and the success of the Allied invasion only days away may hang in the balance. Hitler is convinced the invasion will take place in the Pas de Calais region. The Allies are doing everything possible to the keep the real location at Normandy from leaking out. The Germans, of course, are doing every thing they can to either confirm Pas de Calais or learn the real location. German agents, with Pike now in Lisbon, slip him a mickey. When he wakes up he's in a U. S. Army hospital in Germany. It's May 15, 1950. His American doctor (Rod Taylor) tells him he's been in a coma for six years. Germany lost and the Allies occupy the country. Wilkie is President. Former president Roosevelt is recuperating again at Warm Springs, Georgia. G.I. patients greet Pike by name. U. S. doctors aid his recovery. And now that the war is won, there's no secret about where in France the Allies actually invaded six years earlier. So tell us about it, they ask Pike. Pike's doctor, of course, is a German. Major Walter Gerber (Rod Taylor) is a skilled psychologist. The "U. S. military hospital" is a phony, a carefully prepared installation near the Swiss border where everyone -- patients, doctors, nurses -- are Germans carefully selected for their flawless English. And speaking of nurses, Pike's nurse, Anna Hedler (Eva Marie Saint), is introduced as his wife. Gerber has organized all this in a life-or-death gamble. He must convince Pike -- within 36 hours -- to volunteer the location of the invasion of France. Gerber, however, has someone watching over his shoulder. Otto Schack, a Gestapo interrogator, is equally convinced the experiment will fail. He is pressing to use the proved methods of Gestapo interrogation. All this makes for an intriguing and clever, if unlikely, con. But it works. We sure outfoxed the Germans with Normandy, Pike says, and gives the details with pride. But then Pike notices a small paper cut on his hand which is barely healed...a paper cut he now remembers getting two days ago in London. He realizes what must be happening. The con game now becomes a deadly cat and mouse game. Somehow he must convince Gerber and Schack that he knew what was going on all along and had conned them into thinking he had deliberately misled them away from the Pas de Calais. The last third of the movie -- now with the Germans conned thanks in part to lousy weather on June 5 -- becomes a race for Pike to save his skin. Can Pike escape and make it across the border to Switzerland? Will Gerber prove he's a good German and help? And will Pike take with him Anna, a woman who was forced into her role by threats to return her to Ravensbruck? Garner serves up a puzzled, troubled man who finally figures out the score. Taylor gives us a dedicated German who, however uneasily, realizes his "experiment" has personal costs he didn't bargain on. Saint does a fine job in a role that doesn't give much latitude. And John Banner, as an aging, fat German Home Guard sergeant who shows up during the movie's last 15 minutes, nearly steals the show. Weak spots? Otto Schack. He's just an old-style Hollywood Gestapo man, slimy and opportunistic. Seaton also gives both Saint and Taylor turgid opportunities to reflect on their past and, in Gerber's case, his good motives. And as professional and experienced a screenwriter as Seaton was, the movie at nearly two hours could use some trimming. Still, 36 hours is just what it is, a good war yarn built around a clever double con. We should count our blessings.

As a matter of record, there were hundreds of soldiers who returned to the States with little memory of what their role was in World War Two. Here in this story called " 36 Hours " an Intelligent's Officer (James Garner) Major Jefferson F. Pike is given the latest secret plans for the Invasion of Normandy and is thereafter sent to Lisbon Portugal to ascertain if the German High Command are chasing the false ruses put out by the Allies. What the U.S Intelligence office does not know is, the Major is unexpectedly kidnapped and sent to Germany to undergo a daring experimental scheme. The Germans' have a highly educated Phychiatrist, Major Walter Gerber (Rod Taylor) who is going to try and convince the Major, that not only is World War II is over, but it is now six years in the future. With the help of Anna Hedler (Eva Marie Saint) heading a highly trained staff of English speaking Germans and a secret, isolated military compound they hope to trick him into revealing the Allies invasion plans. All things go according to plan until the one thing they had hoped would not happen does. Although Garner proves to command the screen with his role, it is Taylor who elicits sympathy for his compassionate character and we discover ourselves rooting for Gerber to succeed. A dramatic film and one which allows the audience to wait impatiently for the hours to be extended. ****

This was a very well thought out movie. My father wrote the screen-play as a ghost writer and I wish he could have received the credit. Unfortunately, it was the way things operated at the time, he was blacklisted due to Senator McCarthy... I remember his toiling away on this plot and asking us for feedback. He was only able to sell the book rights. This was because he was at one time a temporary member of the communist party. As a result of this and being "blacklisted," he moved the family down to Mexico and continued writing under a pseudonym. I hope people enjoy this movie and will continue to comment. I am trying to get another copy since the one I loaned out was never returned to me.