Time Without Pity (1957) Michael Redgrave, Ann Todd / British Thriller Film Noir

Описание: Time Without Pity is a 1957 British film noir thriller film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Michael Redgrave, Ann Todd, Leo McKern, Paul Daneman, Peter Cushing, Alec McCowen and Renee Houston. It is about a father trying to save his son from execution for murder.
The film was directed by Losey after he was blacklisted in the U.S. during the McCarthy era. It was his second film in Britain and his first under his own name.
The screenplay was written by fellow blacklisted writer Ben Barzman and adapted from the 1953 play Someone Waiting by Emlyn Williams.

Plot:
David Graham, a recovering alcoholic, returns to England having only one day in which to save his son Alec from hanging for the murder of Alec's girlfriend, Jenny Cole. Graham has been a neglectful, absentee father who missed the entire trial while he was in a sanatorium in Canada. At first, Alec refuses to see Graham, and when they do meet, Alec is without any hope for reprieve and cannot show any affection for his father.
His sobriety in constant jeopardy, Graham believes that his son is innocent and begins a frantic last-minute effort to find evidence that will save his son's life, if not redeem himself as a father. With the help of his son's steadfast solicitor, Graham desperately, and often ineffectively, investigates the circumstances surrounding the girl's murder, visiting first her furious sister and then the home of wealthy car magnate Robert Stanford, where the girlfriend was killed. Stanford and his family have provided the only real support that Alec has ever known.
Graham ricochets between potential allies, foes and new leads in order to learn who the real murderer could be, with suspects including Stanford's beautiful wife Honor, his even younger secretary Vickie Harker, and his adopted son and Alec's best friend, Brian, who allows Graham to see what his own misspent life looked like through his son's eyes.
With the Home Office on standby to receive any evidence proving Alec's innocence, Graham is forced to extreme measures to try to establish the real killer's guilt.
In a private room, Graham is permitted a final meeting with his son, with Honor there. Alec passionately kisses Honor, adding a new dimension. The conversation also alludes to Alec's relationship with Jenny. Honor leaves to allow father and son a final embrace, and more confessions are made.
Graham visits a pub with Stanford and gathers some more clues before getting very drunk.

At Vickie Harker's home, he learns that Stanford's alibi of spending the night with her was not true. He confronts Stanford at his race track where he is test-driving a Mercedes 300SL. Stanford explains that anyone can be bought and offers Graham shares in his company in exchange for silence. Still lacking evidence, in desperation Graham sacrifices his own life to create the appearance of a second act of murder by Stanford, thereby incriminating him for the first killing and saving Alec's life.

Cast:
Michael Redgrave as David Graham
Ann Todd as Honor Stanford
Leo McKern as Robert Stanford
Paul Daneman as Brian Stanford
Peter Cushing as Jeremy Clayton
Alec McCowen as Alec Graham
Renée Houston as Mrs. Harker
Lois Maxwell as Vickie Harker
Richard Wordsworth as Maxwell
George Devine as Barnes
Joan Plowright as Agnes Cole
Ernest Clark as Undersecretary, Home Office
Peter Copley as prison chaplain
Hugh Moxey as prison governor
Dickie Henderson as comedian
John Chandos as first journalist
Vernon Greeves as second journalist
Arnold Diamond as third journalist
Julian Somers as first warder
Aubrey Richards as prison gatekeeper

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