5/10
Minor British thriller stirs up a modest amount of suspense...
24 January 2008
It's really hard to see what GLENN FORD saw in the role of a man who is an expert at detonating explosives because his role in TIME BOMB (or TERROR ON A TRAIN--U.S. title), is one that any halfway decent actor could do blindfolded. Why did he go to England to appear in this insignificant little post-war film that hangs its plot on one simple theme--a bomb planted on a train with all passengers out of danger.

A sub-plot has his worried wife (with whom he argues incessantly), seeking a reunion and returning home to find him gone--whereby she spends the rest of the film fretting over his safety.

Wisely, the film runs only an hour and twelve minutes. Unfortunately even at that brief length, it runs out of steam before it's halfway through and what should be the final excitement of the closing scenes amounts to little more than a thud.

Very tepid thriller directed by Ted Tetzlaff who shows none of the skill he had when he had a good script (THE WINDOW--1949). Should have been much more suspenseful and looks like the sort of film that was intended to play the lower half of double bills.

The humorous element of a demented old man repeating over and over again that "he loves trains" and can't stay away from them--even when they contain explosives--gets a bit tiresome.
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