Time Without Pity

"It all started with a young girl’s scream …"

1957 1h 28m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 53

CrimeThrillerMysteryDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Alec Graham is sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend Jennie, with whom he spent a weekend at the English country home of the parents of his friend Brian Stanford. Alec’s father, David Graham, a not-so-successful writer and alcoholic who has neglected his son in the past, flies in from Canada to visit his son on death row. David then goes on a quest to try and clear his son’s name while battling “the bottle.”

“It all started with a young girl’s scream …”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Michael Redgrave
David Graham
Ann Todd
Honor Stanford
Leo McKern
Robert Stanford
Paul Daneman
Brian Stanford
Peter Cushing
Jeremy Clayton
Alec McCowen
Alec Graham
Renée Houston
Mrs. Harker
Lois Maxwell
Vickie Harker

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joseph Losey
Writers: Ben Barzman
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

88 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

69 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joseph Losey, shot by Freddie Francis. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Tristram Cary. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Alan Osbiston shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Michael Redgrave and Ann Todd and Leo McKern carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "It all started with a young girl’s scream …".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0049856 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joseph Losey directs. Freddie Francis behind the camera. Tristram Cary scores. Alan Osbiston cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
269 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Joseph Losey, shot by Freddie Francis. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Tristram Cary. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Alan Osbiston shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Michael Redgrave and Ann Todd and Leo McKern carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "It all started with a young girl’s scream …".
8IMDB entry: tt0049856 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 53 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Freddie Francis
Original score: Tristram Cary
Editing: Alan Osbiston
Production design: Reece Pemberton
Makeup / hair: Ivy Emmerton
Runtime: 88 min · 1h 28m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Time Without Pity (1957)

Also by

Joseph Losey

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-04-15
★ 9/10
Everyone has a secret. It's not always written in the face. Time Without Pity is directed by Joseph Losey and adapted to screenplay by Ben Barzman from the Emlyn Williams play Someone Waiting. It stars Michael Redgrave, Ann Todd, Leo McKern, Paul Daneman, Peter Cushing, Alec McCowen, Renee Houston and Lois Maxwell. Music is by Tristram Cary and cinematography by Freddie Francis. David Graham (Redgrave) is a recovering alcoholic who comes out of the sanitarium to try and prove his son is innocent of murder. His son, Alec (McCowen), is to be hanged in 24 hours for the slaying of his girlfriend. David finds he is constantly met with brick walls and his sobriety is tested at every turn, but salvation may lie with the suspicious Stanford family... Blacklisted in America, Joseph Losey went to the UK and made a number of films under various pseudonyms, Time Without Pity marked the first time he would put his own name to the production. It's also a film that stands tall as another of Losey's excellent British offerings. Losey and his team do not make a murder mystery, from the off we see who the killer is and it's not young Alec Graham. This is a device that in the wrong hands has often over the years proved costly, where viewers looking for suspense have been sorely short changed. What happens here is that we are privy to an investigation by a man in misery, battling his demons as he frantically searches for redemption. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Shunned by his estranged son, who would rather be hanged for a crime he didn't commit than accept his "waster" father's help - that might in turn give him false hope, David Graham is a haunted being who is closer to solving the case than he knows. This brings us viewers tantalisingly into the play, we know who it is, we can see how they react around David and how the other players who are hiding something also behave from scene to scene. The script never looses focus, it constantly keeps a grip on the tension as the clock ticks down on the Graham's. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Losey and the great Freddie Francis are a dream pairing, a meeting of minds who could produce striking lighting compositions and scenes of other worldly distinction. Time Without Pity is full of such film making smarts. Time is a key, obviously, clocks feature constantly, including one classic era film noir extended scene as David visits a potential witness who has her home filled with alarm clocks! Alarm clocks that keep going off at regular intervals, thus putting an already twitchy and sweaty David Graham further on the edge of his nerves. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. One scene enforces that on the page there's an anti-capital punishment message, but as a bunch of suits sit in a room digressing about the ethics of it all etc, Losey and Francis fill the room with stripped shadows filtered via the led patterned windows, it's that what you remember, not a social message. Gorgeous and potent all in one. Mirrors feature as well, with one elevator shot superb, while the bittersweet ending deserves better credit than it got at the time of release. Certainly noir lovers will enjoy it as much as they enjoy some other kinks in the story narrative. Over the top of it all is a brilliant musical score by Tristram Cary (all his 50s work is worth checking out), three years before Herrmann brought bloodied strings to Psycho, Cary deals from an earlier deck of cards with string menace supreme, while his ticking clock motif is a pearler. Redgrave is terrific, a sweaty mass of fragility, while Todd, Cushing and Houston (wonderful) bring class to their respective characters. Losey's misstep is in not reigning in McKern, who is way too animated throughout, but such is the strength of everything elsewhere, it can't hurt the picture at all. Oh and look out for future Miss. Moneypenny Lois Maxwell, the little minx. Now widely available on DVD with a good print, Time Without Pity demands to be better known. 9/10

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