Time Limit

This 1957 drama, the only film ever directed by actor Karl Malden, was based on a Broadway play and remains rather talky and static, the action limited to a single office except for a late flashback to a POW camp. Nonetheless, the quality of writing and acting makes for a tense, engrossing tale. Richard Widmark plays William Edwards, an army colonel charged with deciding whether Major Harry Cargill (Richard Basehart) should be court-martialed for collaborating with his North Korean captors while a prisoner—a case complicated by the fact that the son of Edwards’ superior died heroically in the same camp. Cargill admits his guilt and refuses to mount a defense, but Edwards is dissatisfied despite warnings from his aide (Martin Balsam) that delaying a decision will harm his career. Instead, he insists on pressuring another of the former POWs (Rip Torn) to tell the truth about what happened, what motivated Cargill to so blatantly betray his country and fellow soldiers. The film’s female characters—Edwards’ secretary (and romantic interest) Jean (Dolores Michaels) and Cargill’s wife (June Lockhart)—are weak, but Widmark, Basehart, and Torn give intense performances, and Balsam is engaging as the sergeant trying to protect his boss. Most important, Time Limit succeeds as a dramatic debate pitting military discipline against human ethics in the most extreme context, when soldiers are captured and threatened with torture, or worse. As such it raises issues that remain relevant even after the passage of more than six decades. Though the only bonus item is a series of trailers, this is recommended. (F. Swietek)