If there is any reason to see this little suspense film, it is the appearance of Old Charlie (Herbert C. Walton), an old codger who is entering senility but has an endearing habit of loving trains. And there is this nice big one parked behind the church near his home that only one fellow seems to be on. Unfortunately Old Charlie doesn't realize the train is going to explode about seven o'clock - a time-bomb is on the train, and as the cargo of the train is a set of old navy mines, it can level the town or city it is in.
The nearest city is Birmingham, England (where some of my ancestors came from), but the authorities, acting on the telephoned threat of the saboteur (Victor Maddern) have acted fast enough to get the train side tracked to a relatively less populated area. Even so, the scenes of the townspeople being transported away by bus makes one realize how really complex evacuations can be. Just change this film's weapon from a booby trapped train to a dirty bomb threat and one can see it's still very valid.
As I watch TIME BOMB I realize that it bears comparison to a contemporary British film, SEVEN DAYS TO NOON, made about 1950. That film was about a pacifist nuclear scientist who plants an atomic bomb in London to force Britain to disarm it's nuclear arsenal. Again it too had massive urban evacuations (in Britain's capital). And like this the threat is eventually overcome.
The difference here is that sheer chance causes the threat in SEVEN DAYS TO NOON to collapse. Here it is due to the really dangerous work of bomb deactivation expert Major Peter Lyncourt (Glenn Ford, playing a Canadian here). Lyncourt is suffering from marital problems with his French wife Janine (Anne Vernon), who walks out on him in despair at the rut their marriage seems to be in (she hates Birmingham). He is approached by Scotland Yard (Maurice Denham as Inspector Wanlow) to assist in disarming the train before the bomb explodes the cars at about seven in the following morning. Lyncourt agrees to this, and most of the film follows the slow attempt of the Major in going through one car after another after another and through each of the mines to find the triggering mechanism that will cause the explosion.
At the same time, we watch Janine fending off a masher at a coffee shop while waiting for the train, and finally heading home to find her husband missing. Only gradually does she figure out where Peter has gone off to.
One final thread is the search for the saboteur. Constable Charles Baron (John Horsley) had a brief struggle with the saboteur but was knocked out. However he knows what he looks like, and he figures the saboteur will probably go to a spot to see the explosion. So he is waiting from one train to another for the saboteur to show up...and keeps being disappointed.
The finale pulls all the threads together, including good old Charlie. At the end he is allowed to enjoy his train. God bless him. A nice little thriller, it is not a major work in Glenn Ford's career, but it certainly keeps one interested to the end.
The nearest city is Birmingham, England (where some of my ancestors came from), but the authorities, acting on the telephoned threat of the saboteur (Victor Maddern) have acted fast enough to get the train side tracked to a relatively less populated area. Even so, the scenes of the townspeople being transported away by bus makes one realize how really complex evacuations can be. Just change this film's weapon from a booby trapped train to a dirty bomb threat and one can see it's still very valid.
As I watch TIME BOMB I realize that it bears comparison to a contemporary British film, SEVEN DAYS TO NOON, made about 1950. That film was about a pacifist nuclear scientist who plants an atomic bomb in London to force Britain to disarm it's nuclear arsenal. Again it too had massive urban evacuations (in Britain's capital). And like this the threat is eventually overcome.
The difference here is that sheer chance causes the threat in SEVEN DAYS TO NOON to collapse. Here it is due to the really dangerous work of bomb deactivation expert Major Peter Lyncourt (Glenn Ford, playing a Canadian here). Lyncourt is suffering from marital problems with his French wife Janine (Anne Vernon), who walks out on him in despair at the rut their marriage seems to be in (she hates Birmingham). He is approached by Scotland Yard (Maurice Denham as Inspector Wanlow) to assist in disarming the train before the bomb explodes the cars at about seven in the following morning. Lyncourt agrees to this, and most of the film follows the slow attempt of the Major in going through one car after another after another and through each of the mines to find the triggering mechanism that will cause the explosion.
At the same time, we watch Janine fending off a masher at a coffee shop while waiting for the train, and finally heading home to find her husband missing. Only gradually does she figure out where Peter has gone off to.
One final thread is the search for the saboteur. Constable Charles Baron (John Horsley) had a brief struggle with the saboteur but was knocked out. However he knows what he looks like, and he figures the saboteur will probably go to a spot to see the explosion. So he is waiting from one train to another for the saboteur to show up...and keeps being disappointed.
The finale pulls all the threads together, including good old Charlie. At the end he is allowed to enjoy his train. God bless him. A nice little thriller, it is not a major work in Glenn Ford's career, but it certainly keeps one interested to the end.