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Time Limit

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Through his company Heath Productions, this was Richard Widmarks first venture into film production. Directed by his 'real life' friend Karl Malden, Widmark's performance as Colonel Bill Edwards is everything one would expect from this talented actor.

The story is about a group of Korean POWs who were subjected to psychological torture and physical hardship in an effort to make them sign false statements that the USA was using biological warfare. After months of holding out, the senior officer suddenly capitulates and begins to try to indocrinate his men with Korean propaganda. One of the men dies mysteriously. On their repatriation to the USA, it is the job of Colonel Edwards to find out exactly what happened.

The film is set on a military base, Governor's Island,New York, though the introduction and later 'flash backs' take place at Camp Gee Gee in North Korea.

Edward's investigation includes two main characters, the senior officer Major Cargill (Richard Basehart) accused of treason, and Lieutenant Miller (Rip Torn) a main witness. There are many facets to this investigation and Widmark plays each with equal mastery. He uses gentle coaxing with witnesses at first, then when this fails and he is put under pressure from his C.O. to speed things up, he builds up the pressure to angrily try and get at the truth. There is a moving and tender scene when Edwards visits Cargill's wife (June Lockhart) to try and find out why her husband refuses to defend himself against the charge of treason.

The films serious tone during the investigations is relieved for filmgoers by scenes revealing the amicable and loyal relationships Edwards has with his team - right hand man Sgt Baker (Martin Balsam)and secretary Sgt Evans (Dolores Michaels).

The finale comes when Edwards brings Miller and Cargill together once again. Cargill breaks down and tells the harrowing trail of events that lead to his breakdown.

"You can't expect a man to be hero for ever - there ought to be a time limit."

This is a thought provoking film with a difficult and at times unpalatable subject matter, setting personal safety against patriotism. It is a film well worth watching for this alone, one worthy of a repeat viewing, and for Richard Widmark fans it is a must.

A 1957 film based on whether a Korean POW should be tried for treason based on the evidence known to the US army investigator (Richard Widmark) the movie structure reveals strongly its theatre play origins but is fascinating for a number of reasons:

1. The take on what constitutes treason based on how POWs were treated by North Korea was given its time of release at the height of the Cold War a very bold story line.

2. While Richard Widmark's role proves acting the heavy and not the good guy would always be his forte the performances of Richard Basehart as the accused major and Martin Balsam as the closed minded adjutant to Widmark's Colonel prove that each were well capable of greater things though fate was ultimately kinder to Balsam in this regard in their respective careers.

3. The film is one of the two movies directed by the ever popular actor Karl Malden (Widmark as co-producer may have had a say in his choice) and one is left feeling sorry he did not take up the directors chair more often based on this first outing.

An army lawyer (Richard Widmark) is assigned the case of a major (Richard Baseheart) who refuses to defend himself against charges of collaborating with the enemy during his imprisonment in a North Korean POW camp despite a number of suspicious circumstances. The resolution will cast new light on what it means to be a hero or a traitor.

Although this film is a bit stagy due to its origin as a theater play, it succeeds by getting the fundamentals right: a fine cast, taut direction (by actor Karl Malden), and compelling drama. It's mature and nuanced view of patriotism is particularly interesting since this film was produced during the depths of the Cold War.

Time Limit, 1957 film

The movie starts in North Korea where American prisoners are kept in a hut. One tries to escape and is shot. Next we see Governors Island in New York harbor. The Army has a map of Korea on a wall. There is an investigation into the Cargill case. Back in Korea prisoners receive a lecture from another prisoner on the class struggle. [Is his lecture well-received? Brain washing?] The other prisoners walk away. Why did he go over? Some prisoners died of untreated dysentery. "Guys who think too much can be fooled." [Should people be allowed to think for themselves?] Major Henry Cargill arrived. He is read his rights. He admits to the charges to get things over as quickly as possible; he is guilty as charged. But he reacts to hearing his recorded voices. [On the street you see automobiles from the early 1950s.] Colonel Edwards visits Mrs. Cargill to talk about Henry. Her husband doesn't talk about his life as a prisoner. Can people have decent thoughts about the human race? Did Henry have any special fear about one thing?

What was the "causative factor"? Why did those witnesses all use the same wording ("an acute case of dysentery")? The general wants action now! The Sergeant talks about Army life. Can pressure change someone's mind? [Yes.] Did his words affect the opinions of 200 million people? Lt. George Miller starts talking about what they wouldn't talk about. One man was chosen by lot. The prisoners are looking for someone to blame for Harvey's death, and pick Connors. There is a very dramatic confrontation in the Colonel's office. General Connors demands the truth. His son was killed by his own men! "Conclusive proof." "Every man has his limits." Major Cargill explains what happened, he cooperated to save the lives of his men. Was this a mistake? [Yes.] The General asks for the recommendation right now. Every leader has to accept casualties. The Colonel will defend Major Cargill, since the wheels of justice must operate. [The rest of the story is left to your imagination.]

The static situations in this movie suggest it came from a stage play. This drama asks a very interesting philosophical question about prisoners trying to survive. The fact is that among any group of people some will chose to collaborate, or even join the enemy. During the early days of the Civil War many of the captured agreed to change sides; then deserted at the first chance they got. The phrase was "galvanized Yankees". Some deserted during the War with Mexico. You could read some histories about Europe in the 20th century, or earlier. Sometimes the whole country would switch sides at an opportune moment.

Technical details-This DVD is in English and had no options for other languages. Audio is mono only and there were no detectable audio problems. Picture is B&W and fit perfect on my 4:3 format TV. Case states 1.66:1 widescreen. IMO, picture detail was good considering the age of this movie. However, there were subtle motion artifacts on this DVD(blurring of image on motion) but you had to look closely to see them. Also, there was no scene access for this DVD or any other extras available. Navigation had to be performed using the remote for the DVD player. Never saw that before. The case shows a scene with Richard Basehart and June Lockhart that is not in the DVD and, since there were no extras available with this DVD(like deleted scenes), you will not see it. I tried to play this on my Windows 7 Ultimate PC using Windows Media Player 12 but I rec'd an error message, Unknown DVD. By playing around with the software controls, I was able to get the audio working but no video. Tinkering some more, I had a pixelated image display and by using the scene access buttons I was able to get the video to display until I used the scene access buttons again. It went back to a blank screen. VideoLAN's VLC Player v.1.1.10 did play this DVD. Picture quality is better using a window rather than full screen, even though I'm using a Dell HD monitor.