beresfordjd I like Losey's films quite a bit - well The Servant in particular. This film is no Servant . It is a tour de force of overacting, particularly Leo McKern. I don't think I have ever seen such an over the top performance by anyone in anything. It really does him and the film no favours. Michael Redgrave acquits himself quite well but it must have been a thankless task holding on with McKern's histrionics. Ann Todd is the epitome of British middle-class angst and is very annoying for being so. I chose to watch this because it was a Losey film but it disappoints me in every way. It makes very little sense and could have done with much tighter editing and control over the actors' performances.

writers_reign Michael Redgrave seldom turns in a bad performance and occasionally - The Browning Version - he unleashes a great one so he was definitely the selling point for this slightly off-the-wall entry. Several people in talking about this give Emlyn Williams a credit for the original play Someone Waiting but the 'official' credits here list only Ben Barzman and the implication is that it's an Original screenplay. Beginning with the murder of a young girl with the murderer clearly seen we then jump forward to a time when another man, clearly innocent, has been arrested, charged, stood trial, been found guilty and is now hours from execution, all this off screen. Enter Redgrave, flown in from Canada at the last minute and determined to save his son. The film can't decide if it's a race-against-time thriller to find the real murderer or an attack on capital punishment but Redgrave is always a good bet.

dbdumonteil An unfairly overlooked movie by highly talented Losey.a noir,noir,film,often desperate ;the movie seems governed by the rhythm of the clocks,their infernal ticking (even Big Ben joins in).The ticking obsesses the unfortunate father David ,arriving in England after living in Canada.He has found his son sentenced to death ;and there's only one day left.A race against time begins .The young man seems indifferent at first sight;he resents his father being here ,accusing him of having left him on his own,and he does not feel like living anymore .Should he die tomorrow,he does not care .David knows he would never be able to get over it ;distraught,he begins a difficult investigation (sometimes a bit implausible).A smart but very cruel ending tends to indicate that love is the strongest after all.Time without pity indeed.Well acted by Redgrave and the others

Robert J. Maxwell Michael Redgrave, recently released from an alcoholic rehabilitation center, is the father of young Alec McCowen, who is to be hanged in a day or two. Alec has been convicted of the murder of a young girl. Redgrave is convinced he's innocent and spends the remaining hours attempting to prove it. It's a difficult job. Antecedent to the crime is a network of moves and counter-moves by a network of people with reasons to lie. It's all a tangled web.Redgrave gives a fine performance as a man on the edge of the abyss, trembling and stuttering. As the final moments approach, he's positively frazzled -- unshaven and half hysterical. The other performers are uniformly professional except that Alec McCowen, who was later to be great as the detective in Hitchcock's "Frenzy," overdoes everything when he's on screen, as if performing for an acting class.The direction is by Joseph Losey who also was later to become far more smooth. Here, it's jumpy. Sometimes the plot is hard for a viewer to follow. (No wonder Redgrave is so frustrated.) Too often the story resembles a made-for-television movie. It has Redgrave hurrying about from one possible source of information to another, begging for help. It picks up pace quickly towards the end and the climax comes as a complete surprise -- or at least it did to me.It's worth watching but it's nothing special.