After being blacklisted during the McCarthy era, American director Joseph Losey worked in England during this period and churned out this rather odd murder mystery, his second feature in that country.
The odd thing about it is that it's about a recovering alcoholic David Graham (Michael Redgrave) who's been in a sanitarium in the US during the time his son Alec (Alec McCowen) has been arrested and convicted for murdering his girlfriend. For some reason while at the sanitarium he's permitted no contact with the outside world and only learns of his son's predicament a couple days before his scheduled execution.
David returns to England where he has one day to save his son by attempting to find out who really murdered the girlfriend. You'll have to suspend your disbelief with this scenario that he never found out what was happening to the son while engaged in his alcohol treatment.
You'll also have to suspend your disbelief as to why Alec was found guilty as it is a wholly circumstantial case, and one wonders why he indeed was convicted let alone sentenced to death.
After apparently getting no help from the murdered girl's sister David calls upon Alec's best friend Brian Stanford whose adopted parents, Robert (Leo McKern), a wealthy racing car manufacturer and his estranged wife Honor (Ann Todd) own the residence where the murder occurred.
David pays a couple of visits to Alec in prison who initially rebuffs him due to his father's failure to come and visit earlier as well as turning into an alcoholic.
The bulk of the Act II machinations revolve around the red herring of David's theory that Honor had fallen in love with Alec and murdered the girlfriend. This was based on his assumption that the two were physically involved after being seen together in a bedroom at the Stanford residence on Christmas eve.
It turns out Honor was concerned for Alec like a son and after this revelation is made clear during David's second meeting with Alec at the prison, David is plunged into despair as he now no longer has any theories or leads as to who killed the girlfriend.
Not only that but Alec wants nothing to do with him after finding out about David's myopic theory (don't ask me why prison officials would have permitted a meeting between father and son in a private room hours before a scheduled execution).
David then takes to the bottle after initially vowing to lay off all drink. Finally, David recalls something that the murdered girlfriend's sister had told him-which destroyed an alibi Robert Stanford had provided on the night of the murder.
So, we now learn Robert killed Alec's girlfriend. However, we already knew that because Losey shows Robert killing the girlfriend during the film's introduction. It might have been a better idea not to reveal who the murderer was until David is shown figuring it out.
The climax features a somewhat clever twist after David's attorney informs him that the "Home Office" (who can postpone the execution) won't do so as there are only a few hours to go before it takes place and they rarely consider giving any weight to last minute appeals.
So, David confronts Robert at his office adjacent to the racetrack where he was just seen test driving one of his new Mercedes race cars.
David confronts Robert with a gun which he pilfered from the auto magnate's residence but it's Robert who gets a hold of it. A struggle ensues and David deliberately has Robert shoot him dead.
Brian and Honor arrive to see Robert standing over David's body holding the gun. Now implicated, the execution is called off and presumably David will be set free.
Or will he? Certainly, Robert will be convicted of David's murder, but will the authorities learn of Robert's phony alibi regarding the first killing thus exonerating Alec? I wasn't sure of that-unless David's solicitor could present that information based on what David had possibly told him.
Time Without Pity features some overacting particularly by McKern as well as Redgrave, especially in the moments where he plays an inebriated man. I also found the music soundtrack to be oftentimes overly intrusive.
But the father's sacrifice comes as a surprise and there's enough suspense here for the film to earn a rating of a tepid 6 out of 10.
The odd thing about it is that it's about a recovering alcoholic David Graham (Michael Redgrave) who's been in a sanitarium in the US during the time his son Alec (Alec McCowen) has been arrested and convicted for murdering his girlfriend. For some reason while at the sanitarium he's permitted no contact with the outside world and only learns of his son's predicament a couple days before his scheduled execution.
David returns to England where he has one day to save his son by attempting to find out who really murdered the girlfriend. You'll have to suspend your disbelief with this scenario that he never found out what was happening to the son while engaged in his alcohol treatment.
You'll also have to suspend your disbelief as to why Alec was found guilty as it is a wholly circumstantial case, and one wonders why he indeed was convicted let alone sentenced to death.
After apparently getting no help from the murdered girl's sister David calls upon Alec's best friend Brian Stanford whose adopted parents, Robert (Leo McKern), a wealthy racing car manufacturer and his estranged wife Honor (Ann Todd) own the residence where the murder occurred.
David pays a couple of visits to Alec in prison who initially rebuffs him due to his father's failure to come and visit earlier as well as turning into an alcoholic.
The bulk of the Act II machinations revolve around the red herring of David's theory that Honor had fallen in love with Alec and murdered the girlfriend. This was based on his assumption that the two were physically involved after being seen together in a bedroom at the Stanford residence on Christmas eve.
It turns out Honor was concerned for Alec like a son and after this revelation is made clear during David's second meeting with Alec at the prison, David is plunged into despair as he now no longer has any theories or leads as to who killed the girlfriend.
Not only that but Alec wants nothing to do with him after finding out about David's myopic theory (don't ask me why prison officials would have permitted a meeting between father and son in a private room hours before a scheduled execution).
David then takes to the bottle after initially vowing to lay off all drink. Finally, David recalls something that the murdered girlfriend's sister had told him-which destroyed an alibi Robert Stanford had provided on the night of the murder.
So, we now learn Robert killed Alec's girlfriend. However, we already knew that because Losey shows Robert killing the girlfriend during the film's introduction. It might have been a better idea not to reveal who the murderer was until David is shown figuring it out.
The climax features a somewhat clever twist after David's attorney informs him that the "Home Office" (who can postpone the execution) won't do so as there are only a few hours to go before it takes place and they rarely consider giving any weight to last minute appeals.
So, David confronts Robert at his office adjacent to the racetrack where he was just seen test driving one of his new Mercedes race cars.
David confronts Robert with a gun which he pilfered from the auto magnate's residence but it's Robert who gets a hold of it. A struggle ensues and David deliberately has Robert shoot him dead.
Brian and Honor arrive to see Robert standing over David's body holding the gun. Now implicated, the execution is called off and presumably David will be set free.
Or will he? Certainly, Robert will be convicted of David's murder, but will the authorities learn of Robert's phony alibi regarding the first killing thus exonerating Alec? I wasn't sure of that-unless David's solicitor could present that information based on what David had possibly told him.
Time Without Pity features some overacting particularly by McKern as well as Redgrave, especially in the moments where he plays an inebriated man. I also found the music soundtrack to be oftentimes overly intrusive.
But the father's sacrifice comes as a surprise and there's enough suspense here for the film to earn a rating of a tepid 6 out of 10.