Time Limit (1957)

Director: Karl Malden

Writers: Henry Denker, Ralph Berkey

Composer: Fred Steiner

Starring: Richard Widmark, Richard Basehart, Dolores Michaels, June Lockhart, Carl Benton Reid, Martin Balsam, Rip Torn, Khigh Dhiegh, Yale Wexler, Alan Dexter, Manning Ross, Joe Di Reda, James Douglas, Kenneth Alton, Jack Webster, Edward McNally

More info: IMDb

Tagline: This is the face of war you've never seen before!

Plot: During the Korean War former POW Major Cargill admits to having collaborated with the enemy but military investigator Colonel Edwards wants the details.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Nah.

I must've blinked when Karl Malden's name came up as the director.  It's his sole film in that capacity.  It's a good one, too.   The picture starts off much lighter than it ends (the last act is pretty intense) and the performances intensify as the film progresses toward the truth which is withheld until the final moments of the picture.  There's a good story here as well, one that shows you how not everything is black and white and how being by-the-book isn't always the right choice when faced with the lives of men in your hands.  The big payoff, of course, is the last act when we see first hand what went down with the death of an American POW, the son of a high ranking officer who brings in Col. Edwards (Widmark) to get to the bottom of it by way of Maj. Cargill (Basehart), the man charged with treason in relation to the case.  It's a good war drama that deserves a look.