36 Hours Reviews

Garner, an American intelligence agent during WW II, is abducted by Nazi forces and drugged shortly before D-day. He knows every detail about the proposed allied landings, and the Germans are determined to get it out of him. The enemy agents take him to Bavaria where they have set up an elaborate hoax. Upon awakening Garner finds himself in what is seemingly an American hospital in 1950. All the papers are carrying that date and he even has a "wife." The war apparently is over and a psychiatrist wants to talk to Garner about his long bout of amnesia. The doctor, Taylor, in an interesting job of casting, is really a German officer who has the title time to get information from Garner before resorting to torture. Garner begins to discuss the Normandy Invasion but soon catches on to the German scheme. He then engages in a mental game of cat-and-mouse with Taylor and Peters, an agent of the Gestapo. Along with Saint, his "wife," Garner goes for more questioning. Taylor falls out of favor with the Nazis for the plan's failure and, after helping Garner and Saint escape, he kills himself. D-day begins and Peters, enraged at the deception, follows Garner and Saint to the Swiss border. However, he's shot by a guard, and the two are safe. Garner returns to London, assured that he'll reunite with Saint after the war. The implausible plot is intriguing, with some good performances by the cast that make it work. The pace is fine, with some genuine moments of suspense that work well within the story's framework. Toward the end things bog down, and the final chase is all too conventional, but this doesn't detract from the overall effect.