The Third Day Reviews

Peppard is involved in an automobile crash-up alongside a river. He loses all memory, but over the course of the next three days things come back to him in a big way. His wife (Ashley) wants to leave him, and his cousin (McDowall) expects Peppard to sell him the family china manufacturing business. Problems are compounded when he learns that Kellerman, a cocktail waitress married to Johnson (good in a pre-"Laugh-In" appearance), was killed in the accident. Johnson and McDowall try to frame Peppard for the death, and Peppard is arrested. Johnson kidnaps Ashley and threatens revenge for his wife's death. But Peppard is helped by his aunt (Washbourne) in escaping just in time to save his wife. It is revealed that Kellerman drowned herself, and Johnson is arrested. Despite some turgid moments in the script, the ensemble of THE THIRD DAY works well together, making for a not-too-bad melodrama. The direction covers the script's problems with some success, taking the story at a good pace.