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Time Without Pity

Play trailer Poster for Time Without Pity Released Nov 22, 1957 1h 28m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 3 Reviews 73% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
When an innocent man is sentenced to death for murder, his father takes matters into his own hands. A day before his son's execution, Canadian writer David Graham (Michael Redgrave) delves into England's criminal underworld and turns to increasingly desperate measures in an 11th-hour attempt to uncover any scrap of evidence that may exonerate his condemned son. Graham's search begins at the luxurious home of automotive industry giant Robert Stanford (Leo McKern).
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Time Without Pity

Critics Reviews

View All (3) Critics Reviews
Bertrand Tavernier Positif From the very first sequence, and even the very first shot, we know that we are about to see a film directed by someone who has taken his ideas to the limit. Apr 5, 2022 Full Review Fernando F. Croce CinePassion An hour and a half of absolute metaphysical raging Oct 10, 2010 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Its power is in the story's hard-edged structure. Rated: B+ Apr 15, 2007 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jithin K A very interesting movie that explores a lot of issues through the narrative of a father trying to stop the hanging of his son when there are 24 hours left for it to happen. It starts by showing who the real killer is and the rest of the movie, we follow this vulnerable drunk father with all the guilt in the world for never being there for his son. Every character's motivation is an introspection into why we humans do everything we do, for love, for fear, and the confusion in between. Even though the themes it explores are great, it does feel contrived how everything moves. Maybe, it's me not being very familiar with the British movies of the time, but just like They Made Me A Fugitive yesterday, this also feels like it jumps from one point to another without giving the characters enough breathing space to make sense of their thought processes for each decision. These films would've been even greater if they had a runtime of an hour more. The direction is very interesting with some quirky choices that make it very cinematic even when it stays away from a lot of the cliches of the time. The director being blacklisted during the McCarthy era automatically makes him a great human being, so watching someone's perspective during that era on such complex issues was also interesting. Parenting, alcoholism, love, the meaning of success, capital punishment, etc are as important today as then, and checks out coming from such a director. Overall, it did feel like it could've been way better but it's still a really really good look into complex human experiences of the time. The ending which is triumphant and tragic at the same time really helped me what they were trying to do throughout the movie. Without that ending, I would've been at least a bit confused about a lot of the choices in the movie. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/20/25 Full Review nick s Good acting and directing kept the ship steady. Which is more than I can say for the shakey-handed protagonist. The drunkard's character arc was a little tedious for me. But overall the movie was exceptional and it had a nice little lemon twist at the end. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/03/24 Full Review david f When a man is sentenced to die for murder his father only has a short amount of time to find the real killer and save his son's life. A morally complex tale with a convoluted plot that lives up to its Noir billing. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review s r Props for some original ideas and exploring different aspects to death row, alcoholism, murder and England. It was a bit poorly delivered, but it picked up at the end. I enjoyed the Mercedes driving portion with Stanford. Saw it on HBO. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Amazing. Liked the rawness of how the movie was made, along with a compelling ending. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member A slow burner to begin with, but gets deep and meaningful by its end. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Time Without Pity

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Movie Info

Synopsis When an innocent man is sentenced to death for murder, his father takes matters into his own hands. A day before his son's execution, Canadian writer David Graham (Michael Redgrave) delves into England's criminal underworld and turns to increasingly desperate measures in an 11th-hour attempt to uncover any scrap of evidence that may exonerate his condemned son. Graham's search begins at the luxurious home of automotive industry giant Robert Stanford (Leo McKern).
Director
Joseph Losey
Distributor
PM-VID TIM
Production Co
Harlequin Productions Ltd.
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
British English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 22, 1957, Original
Release Date (DVD)
Aug 10, 2005
Runtime
1h 28m
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