36 Hours (1965)

36 Hours takes the typical concept of a war movie and tosses it out the window, instead giving us a cynical, suspenseful, psycho-thriller that will make you smirk, think, and it *will* surprise you.

James Garner plays US Army Major Jeff Pike, who's dispatched to Portugal on a mission just before D-Day. He's privy to the details of operation Overlord, and the Germans know it. Through their nasty network of Nazi spies they manage to kidnap him, and then the real fun begins.

Instead of sending him off to your typical Gestapo interrogation session and prison camp, the Germans have created an elaborate fantasy world set six years in the future. This "Allied" hospital, located in "occupied" Germany, is just the thing Pike needs to get over his retrograde amnesia, or so they tell him. He buys into it, having his hair greyed and his eyes doctored so he looks and feels a bit older.

His doctor, "Major" Gerber (Rod Taylor) is in fact an SS researcher, albeit a strangely benign one. His motives actually appear on the up-and-up, having invented this "process" to help shell-shocked German soldiers from the Russian front overcome their hurdles. But as Gerber so eloquently puts it, its been subverted by the SS for nefarious purposes.... And his SS overlords have given him a short 36 hours (hence the title) to get the information out of him. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Also present is ex-concentration camp prisoner Anna (Eva Marie Saint), who has been "recruited" to play Pike's nurse. Recruited probably isn't the right word, more like "acquired" as she speaks English and actually is a nurse.

Well, after falling for the experiment for a time, and indeed revealing crucial details of the invasion, Pike accidentally gets some salt in a paper cut. The same paper cut he got during the D-Day briefing, and the charade is revealed. He confirms it by pulling a fast one on the gate guard, who instinctively clicks his heels together at the mention of a superior officer.

As you can imagine, the SS overseer Schack (Werner Peters) takes charge, and immediately distrusts Pike's information on the invasion, instead choosing to bend facts and statements and arrive at a conclusion which instead supports the Reich's original intelligence on the matter. It's this sort of cynicism which I think drives the picture. Between the "who do you trust" aspect, and the dealings with Gerber, you can't help but just nod and go, "yep, that figures."

The real gem of the movie comes though at the end, when Pike and Anna escape. I won't spoil it, but lets just say the minister's housekeeper's husband is one of the best war movie characters ever.

36 Hours is a great overall film, not just a good war movie. No you're not going to get to see any great battles or intense shootouts, or even any insight into the "warrior mind." Instead you'll get a great comment on the business of military intelligence, and if nothing else, a heaping helping of good old fashioned bleak 1960's cynicism.

Technorati Tags: war movie review, 36 hours, world war ii, james garner, eva marie saint, rod taylor, military intelligence

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Description

Top-notch espionage tale with James Garner as an American agent carrying confidential war plans who is abducted by Nazis shortly before the D-Day invasion. After being drugged, Garner is convinced the war has ended and is urged to reveal secrets of the Allied invasion by psychiatrist Rod Taylor. With Eva Marie Saint and Alan Napier. 115 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English, French; theatrical trailers. NOTE: This Title Is Out Of Print; Limit One Per Customer.

WWII films of the '60s were often half caper-movie, with ornate and muscular missions behind enemy lines dreamed up by the likes of Alistair MacLean. The caper in 36 Hours (1965)--which was dreamed up by Roald Dahl--reverses the dynamics. A U.S. diplomatic courier (James Garner) with knowledge of the plans for D-Day is kidnapped, drugged, and taken to a sanatorium surrounded by forest. He wakes up in the presence of solicitous doctors and staff who seem to be fellow Americans and ever so happy to have him back after all those years in a coma. War's long over, of course; we won--and isn't it a good thing the Allies scrapped that first, wacky invasion plan they almost used? The plan maybe he still remembers?... 36 Hours is an intriguing thriller up to a point--and the moment when Garner catches on to the trick is a grabber--but George Seaton's direction is pedestrian and the production has a soundstage-y look. Rod Taylor takes acting honors as the sympathetic German psychiatrist in charge of the plot, under the suspicious eyes of SS man Werner Peters. --Richard T. Jameson

DVD Information

Binding: DVD
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Brand: GARNER,JAMES
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Original Release Date:
Actors:

• James Garner
• Eva Marie Saint
• Rod Taylor
• Werner Peters
• John Banner

Reviews

Related posts:

1. In Harm’s Way (1965)
2. Battle of the Bulge (1965)
3. None But The Brave (1965)
4. The Bedford Incident (1965)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 7:42 am and is filed under 1960s, Reviews, World War II Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.