Time Table [notes 1] | |
---|---|
Directed by | Mark Stevens |
Screenplay by | Aben Kandel |
Story by | Robert Angus |
Produced by | Mark Stevens |
Starring | Mark Stevens King Calder Felicia Farr Marianne Stewart |
Cinematography | Charles Van Enger |
Edited by | Kenneth G. Crane |
Music by | Walter Scharf |
Production company | Mark Stevens Productions |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Time Table is a 1956 American film noir crime film produced and directed by Mark Stevens, who also stars as the lead character. [1] The film includes early appearances by both Jack Klugman and Felicia Farr. She had earlier appeared (as Randy Farr) in Big House, U.S.A. (1955). [2] Other cast members include King Calder and Marianne Stewart. The fil was distributed by United Artists.
Paul Bruckner, a surgeon whose license has been revoked for alcoholism, poses as "Dr. Sloane" aboard a train passing through Arizona. His presence there is part of a caper involving a fictitious patient, on whose behalf he gains access to his physician's bag in the baggage car. There he blows the safe and steals a cash payroll of $500,000. Bruckner and the "patient," supposedly infected with polio, are let off at a remote small town with a hospital, which is also far from any scheduled train stop, and escape with the money in an ambulance. The railroad officials do not discover the robbery until the train reaches Phoenix, many hours later.
In response, the insurance company puts a claim investigator, Charlie Norman, on the case, forcing him to postpone his vacation to Mexico with his wife Ruth the next day. Joe Armstrong, a veteran railroad policeman who is also investigating the crime, works with him. Gradually evidence starts to turn up that the thieves stole the ambulance just before the robbery, then ditched it in the desert, escaping in a stolen helicopter. The scheme was thus elaborate, showing that the robbery had been carried out according to a strict timetable.
But there was one misstep that keeps it from being the perfect crime. During the escape the "patient," Lombard, accidentally shot himself, forcing Bruckner—and the money—to remain with him instead of escaping to Mexico, throwing off the timetable. Assigning Charlie to the case, a move by the insurance company unanticipated during planning of the crime, further disrupts the timetable. The audience learns that Charlie is the secret mastermind. Charlie carefully planned the crime after meeting Bruckner, who filed a false accident claim. Charlie plans to disappear in Mexico with Bruckner's wife Linda, who pretended to be Lombard's wife, and use the cash to finance his new life. Bruckner, desperate for money, joined in the crime strictly for the cash.
Charlie decides they should all wait for the investigation to cool off before trying to continue on to Mexico. However, Joe, methodically investigating each aspect of the crime, finds an accomplice, who leads to another, Wolfe, the owner of the "stolen" helicopter. Charlie realizes that Bruckner and Wolfe double-crossed him, killed Lombard and planned to keep the money for themselves. Charlie kills Wolfe to silence him and makes it appear to be a suicide. Bruckner, trying to escape to Mexico with Linda and his share of the loot, panics during a routine customs check and tries to force his way across the border, but is killed by police. Linda escapes, and Joe arranges to go with Charlie to Mexico to find her, believing she has the rest of the loot.
Charlie sees an opportunity to escape and stashes his cut of the money in a briefcase to smuggle into Mexico. He suspects Bruckner had already arranged to leave Mexico for another country with Linda. Charlie also discovers that an unsuspecting Ruth has tried to pull a practical joke on him by substituting fishing gear for his work reports in the briefcase. She has discovered the stolen money and returned it anonymously to the insurance company. While tracking down Linda to take Bruckner's place in the double-cross plan, Charlie draws the suspicion of Joe and the Mexican police, who close in. Forced to abandon Bruckner's plan, Charlie and Linda are cornered and killed in a shoot-out.
Film critic Dennis Schwartz liked the film and wrote, "A gripping film noir about an ace insurance investigator, Charlie Norman (Mark Stevens—he also directs), who successfully plans a complicated train robbery in Arizona and ends up teamed with railroad detective Joe Armstrong (King Calder) as co-leaders of the investigation. The film's moralistic theme could be that there's no such a thing as a perfect crime, perfect marriage, or perfect job. It's a taut thriller with a fine script and acting ... This neat little suspense thriller had two noir themes going for it—the respected veteran insurance-agent-gone-wrong and the mid-life crisis of a conventional man who throws away a wife who loves him and his cozy but empty middle-class existence for a woman he lusts after. Mark Stevens, as the director, handled both themes rather well." [3]
The Great Train Robbery was the robbery of £2.61 million from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London on the West Coast Main Line in the early hours of 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn, near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England.
The Newton Boys is a 1998 American Western crime film directed by Richard Linklater, who co-wrote the screenplay with Claude Stanush and Clark Lee Walker. It is based on Stanush's 1994 book of the same name, which tells the true story of the Newton Gang, a family of bank and train robbers from Uvalde, Texas. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, who was actually born in Uvalde, Skeet Ulrich, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Dwight Yoakam. It was filmed throughout Texas including the towns of Bertram, Austin, Bartlett, New Braunfels, and San Antonio.
The Killers, released in the UK as Ernest Hemingway's "The Killers", is a 1964 American neo noir crime film. Written by Gene L. Coon and directed by Don Siegel, it is the second Hollywood adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's 1927 short story of the same name, following the 1946 version.
The Killers is a 1946 American film noir starring Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien and Sam Levene. Based in part on the 1927 short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, it focuses on an insurance detective's investigation into the execution by two professional killers of a former boxer who was unresistant to his own murder. Directed by Robert Siodmak, it featured an uncredited John Huston and Richard Brooks co-writing the screenplay, which was credited to Anthony Veiller. As in many films noir, it is mostly told in flashback.
Kansas City Confidential is a 1952 American film noir and crime film directed by Phil Karlson starring John Payne and Coleen Gray. The film was released in the United Kingdom as The Secret Four. Karlson and Payne teamed a year later for 99 River Street, another film noir, followed by Hell's Island, a film noir in color.
Armored Car Robbery is a 1950 American film noir starring Charles McGraw, Adele Jergens, and William Talman.
Roadblock is a 1951 American film noir starring Charles McGraw and Joan Dixon. The 73-minute crime thriller was shot on location in Los Angeles. The film was directed by Harold Daniels and the cinematography is by Nicholas Musuraca.
Colorado Territory is a 1949 American Western film noir directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, and Dorothy Malone. Written by Edmund H. North and John Twist, and based on the novel High Sierra by W.R. Burnett, the film is about an outlaw who is sprung from jail to help pull one last railroad job.
Manhandled is a 1949 American film noir crime film directed by Lewis R. Foster and starring Dorothy Lamour, Sterling Hayden and Dan Duryea. It is based on the 1945 novel The Man Who Stole a Dream by L. S. Goldsmith.
The Split is a 1968 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by Gordon Flemyng and written by Robert Sabaroff based upon the Parker novel The Seventh by Richard Stark.
Charlie Chan at the Circus is the 11th film produced by Fox starring Warner Oland as Charlie Chan. A seemingly harmless family outing drags a vacationing Chan into a murder investigation.
A Place to Go is a 1963 British crime drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Bernard Lee, Rita Tushingham and Michael Sarne. Set in contemporary Bethnal Green in the East End of London, it charts the dramatic changes that were then happening in the lives of the British working class, fitting into the kitchen sink school of film-making that was popular in Britain at the time. The film was based on the novel Bethnal Green by Michael Fisher, which had been published in 1961.
Thomas Marius Joseph Butler was a Detective Chief Superintendent in the Metropolitan Police in London. He was most notable for leading the team of detectives that investigated the Great Train Robbery in 1963. He never married and lived with his mother. Butler was arguably the most renowned head of the Flying Squad in its history. He became known as "One Day" Tommy for the speed with which he apprehended criminals and the "Grey Fox" for his shrewdness.
Appointment with Crime is a 1946 British crime film directed by John Harlow and starring William Hartnell, Raymond Lovell, Joyce Howard and Robert Beatty.
Guns, Girls and Gangsters is a 1959 American film noir crime film directed by Edward L. Cahn starring Mamie Van Doren, Gerald Mohr, Lee Van Cleef, and Grant Richards.
The Big Shot (1942) is an American film noir crime drama film starring Humphrey Bogart as a crime boss and Irene Manning as the woman he falls in love with. Having finally reached stardom with such projects as The Maltese Falcon (1941), this would be the last film in which former supporting player Bogart would portray a gangster for Warner Bros..
Kill Me Three Times is a 2014 black comedy thriller film directed by Kriv Stenders, which follows a hit man who falls into schemes of blackmail, murder, and revenge. It was selected to be screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released in the United States on 10 April 2015, by Magnet Releasing.
The Lawbreakers is a 1961 American film directed by Joseph M. Newman. Made in a film noir style, the crime drama is based on the pilot episode of the 1961 television series The Asphalt Jungle and stars an ensemble cast including Jack Warden, Vera Miles, Robert Douglas, and Arch Johnson.
Bad Turn Worse, also known as We Gotta Get Out of This Place, is a 2013 American noir film directed by brothers Zeke and Simon Hawkins. It stars Mackenzie Davis, Logan Huffman, and Jeremy Allen White as teens who steal money from a local mobster, played by Mark Pellegrino.
Calculated Risk is a 1963 British crime thriller film directed by Norman Harrison.