36 Hours (1964) User Reviews

Well-made, absorbing wartime thriller with an intelligent plot.

[barnabyrudge · 8/10 · 25 August 2005]

George Seaton had already written and directed the very impressive The Counterfeit Traitor when he turned his attention to this absorbing and cleverly-plotted thriller. Once again the film is set during WWII and once again Seaton weaves an exciting story against the backcloth of that intriguing and terrifying period of history.

Major Jefferson Pike (James Garner) is an American intelligence officer who is kidnapped and drugged en route to Lisbon during the days approaching the D-Day Landings. Pike's original mission before his capture was to pass on misleading information to the Germans, intended to trick them into expecting the Allies to storm ashore at Calais rather than the actual intended target area of the Normandy beaches. When Pike awakens, he is unknowingly in a secret compound in Bavaria, and the D-Day attack is still 36 hours away from actually taking place. He is told by disguised Nazi spy, Major Walter Gerber (Rod Taylor), that the war is over and that he has been suffering from amnesiac lapses for the past six years. Gerber's plan is to convince Pike that the war ended years previously with Allied victory and that it is safe to reveal details about the D-Day Landings.... details which would, in fact, be very useful to the German forces in the hours approaching the top-secret Allied attack.

It is a very interesting plot, and is well-handled. Rod Taylor's performance as the slippery Nazi trickster is exceptionally good, while Garner handles his slightly dull role (as the hero with sensitive information which he is unsure about revealing) with efficiency. The crisp black and white photography - unusual for a film made in the Technicolour-obsessed '60s - adds to the film's verisimilitude and sense of period, giving it a documentary-like feel. While the proceedings are stretched out to a rather lengthy 115 minutes, the film doesn't become significantly tedious and manages to keep the viewer excited (even though we know, because of the real-life success of the D-Day invasion, that the audacious Nazi plot is doomed to fail). 36 Hours is a solid, suspenseful yarn which should satisfy anyone who enjoys stories about wartime intrigue and audacious masquerades.

Great interplay between James Garner and Rod Taylor

[jeremy-tarling · 7/10 · 17 June 2005]

Really enjoyed this film, an engaging mix of psychological banter with pre-D-Day espionage tension.

The best scenes for me were the dialogues between James Garner and Rod Taylor, they'd make a great film on their own. Garner has that amazing combination of intellect and machismo - he can debate the moral aspect of duty and then knock out a guard just as convincingly

Eva Marie Saint's performance is very strong too as the concentration-camp victim unable to express emotion after the trauma that she has experienced. The power of Roald Dahl's writing comes through here, as she acts as a constant reminder to us of the grim realities of the war in the context of the other charismatic characters.

Sometimes Time Doesn't Fly As Fast As You Think.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 12 June 2008]

The story of a US major kidnapped in May, 1944, by the Germans who try to trick him into believing that he has amnesia, the war is over, the Allies won, and -- by the way, where and when will the D-Day landings take place? The Germans have set up a fake hospital staffed by phony Americans and they rush the unconscious Major Pike (James Garner) there. He is attended by Rod Taylor, a real doctor but wearing an American uniform, and Eva Marie Saint, his fake nurse and wife, who has been chosen for the deception from among the inmates of Ravensbruck.

The Germans have been very thorough. Alles in Ordnung. And they convince Garner for a day or two that the concocted story is true. Garner is sufficiently convinced that he spills the beans about the invasion. But he becomes suspicious and for some time exists in two zones, Schrödinger's major. When he finally twigs to the con game, he lies and tells them that he made up the Normandy story. Thereafter, it gets kind of complicated.

It's structured like a three-act play. Act I. We see Garner in his habitat in England, going over the invasion plans with other officers. He is told he must meet his contact in Lisbon. He incurs an important paper cut while handling a map. Act II. The ersatz hospital where Rod Taylor explains everything for the thousandth time to the phony staff. Here we see Garner wake up and react to his "amnesia". We then see the penny drop. Act III. An anticlimax in which Garner and Saint escape to Switzerland.

It would have made a good Twilight Zone episode. As it is, Act III should have been dropped and more time spent with Garner in the hospital, getting to know the other "patients", becoming friendly with Taylor, developing some affection for Saint. I don't know what they might have filled the story out with, but it's too sketchy. Here is Garner, in this typical VA-type hospital and we only see him talking to Taylor, Saint, and an intrusive and extravagantly stupid SS officer posing as a civilian.

Garner has lost six years of his life, as far as he knows, and he simply doesn't snoop around enough for missing information. How can he wander around and not stop a pinchbeck patient at random and ask how the Sox are doing? Or whether Mammy Yokum got out of the cabbage patch? And I wish the SS officer hadn't been so obviously a pig. The guy looks like Elmer Fudd. He's manipulative, craven, obsequious, "practical" as he puts it. The SS officer is a real stereotype, too. He's fat, arrogant, and has a hang-worthy neck the width of one of the Parthenon pillars. He ends every sentence with a rhetorical, "Huh?"

The German soldiers, when they are in American uniforms, look like anybody you might stop on the street. But when the jig is up, soldiers in German uniforms take over and they are pudgy, jowly, and ugly. How retro can you get? The movie is over-directed too. Example: There's a scene in which Saint and Garner are sitting across from each other. She's knitting. Garner has become suspicious and is silently probing a bookcase looking for something -- anything -- that describes post-war events.

Saint's job is to keep an eye on him without revealing that she's doing so. Garner is supposed to be hiding his doubts. You and I -- total amateurs at the business -- could do a better job of enacting the roles. Garner is supposed to act naturally, be casual, but he's frowning as he flips through the books and his suspicions grow. Saint should be concentrating on her knitting with only an occasional flick of her glance at Garner, but she virtually stops knitting and stares goggle-eyed at Garner. It's like watching a Cecil B. DeMille movie where every nuance is shoved down your throat. Just open a little wider please.

Interesting byplay towards the end between Garner and Taylor when the Reveal has been made and Garner is about to be toted off for interrogation by the SS. What do you suppose they'll do to me? asks Garner. "Oh, they'll probably start off with something simple first. Maybe sleep deprivation. A trick they picked up from the Russians. Deprive a man of sleep and you make him fuzzy, confuse his allegiances." It makes the SS sound like St. Francis of Assisi, compared to the "enhanced interrogation" of today.

Rod Taylor's character is supposed to have been born in America and spent his first sixteen years there before coming to Germany, but he wouldn't fool me for a minute because he uses the expression "different to", a British locution, rather than the American "different from" or "different than". Eva Marie Saint wouldn't fool me either. I know a person from Newark, New Jersey, when I see one.

I've kind of made fun of some of the movie but it's not actually badly done. I was impressed the first time I saw it. What a delicious trap the Germans have set. It's pretty suspenseful in Act II and the tension is underlined in Dmitri Tiomkin's score, with its familiar crashing, dramatic chords and its clanging bells. Worth catching.

A riveting film that had one surprise after another.

[thewools · 3 June 2004]

This is one of my all-time favorite films. Fortunately, we have a video store near us where I can rent old films like this and enjoy the creative story whenever I choose. The main plot of this story, along with the various subplots, held my interest from the beginning. After seeing the film just once, I could recall so many of the details because the film is just THAT GOOD! It is a well-casted film and one that I wish would be shown on TV (I can't recall the last time it was) so that others could become aware of this really suspenseful film. I've rented this movie for my kids and my husband to see because it hasn't been televised and I wanted them to be able to experience the same riveting viewing experience that I've enjoyed so many times.

A clever 1944 German con, doubled by James Garner, who at first thinks he came out of his coma in 1950

[Terrell-4 · 7/10 · 3 May 2009]

George Seaton was a Hollywood A-level writer and director who could tell a story efficiently and professionally. He also knew movies had to sell tickets to be successful. He kept that in mind while creating, often with William Perlberg as producer, movies that were satisfyingly A caliber and watchable, even when they were serious by Hollywood standards. He didn't mind threading in irony or even a message or two, but usually these were plot driven. Seaton, in other words, knew his way around.

And so we have 36 Hours. It's not about the terrible conflicts of wartime exigencies as The Counterfeit Traitor is. It's not a sad, uncomfortable story of love and sacrifice that The Country Girl is. And it's certainly not a bit of romantic fluff as Teacher's Pet is. 36 Hours is a fine, efficient, wartime yarn, nothing more, nothing less...and that, for me, is good enough.

Major Jefferson Pike (James Garner) is an Allied intelligence officer who has been flying between London and Lisbon to pick up information from a clerk in the German embassy. It's May 31, 1944. Pike is ordered to make one more flight...and the success of the Allied invasion only days away may hang in the balance. Hitler is convinced the invasion will take place in the Pas de Calais region. The Allies are doing everything possible to the keep the real location at Normandy from leaking out. The Germans, of course, are doing every thing they can to either confirm Pas de Calais or learn the real location.

German agents, with Pike now in Lisbon, slip him a mickey. When he wakes up he's in a U. S. Army hospital in Germany. It's May 15, 1950. His American doctor (Rod Taylor) tells him he's been in a coma for six years. Germany lost and the Allies occupy the country. Wilkie is President. Former president Roosevelt is recuperating again at Warm Springs, Georgia. G.I. patients greet Pike by name. U. S. doctors aid his recovery. And now that the war is won, there's no secret about where in France the Allies actually invaded six years earlier. So tell us about it, they ask Pike.

Pike's doctor, of course, is a German. Major Walter Gerber (Rod Taylor) is a skilled psychologist. The "U. S. military hospital" is a phony, a carefully prepared installation near the Swiss border where everyone -- patients, doctors, nurses -- are Germans carefully selected for their flawless English. And speaking of nurses, Pike's nurse, Anna Hedler (Eva Marie Saint), is introduced as his wife. Gerber has organized all this in a life-or-death gamble. He must convince Pike -- within 36 hours -- to volunteer the location of the invasion of France. Gerber, however, has someone watching over his shoulder. Otto Schack, a Gestapo interrogator, is equally convinced the experiment will fail. He is pressing to use the proved methods of Gestapo interrogation.

All this makes for an intriguing and clever, if unlikely, con. But it works. We sure outfoxed the Germans with Normandy, Pike says, and gives the details with pride. But then Pike notices a small paper cut on his hand which is barely healed...a paper cut he now remembers getting two days ago in London. He realizes what must be happening. The con game now becomes a deadly cat and mouse game. Somehow he must convince Gerber and Schack that he knew what was going on all along and had conned them into thinking he had deliberately misled them away from the Pas de Calais. The last third of the movie -- now with the Germans conned thanks in part to lousy weather on June 5 -- becomes a race for Pike to save his skin. Can Pike escape and make it across the border to Switzerland? Will Gerber prove he's a good German and help? And will Pike take with him Anna, a woman who was forced into her role by threats to return her to Ravensbruck?

Garner serves up a puzzled, troubled man who finally figures out the score. Taylor gives us a dedicated German who, however uneasily, realizes his "experiment" has personal costs he didn't bargain on. Saint does a fine job in a role that doesn't give much latitude. And John Banner, as an aging, fat German Home Guard sergeant who shows up during the movie's last 15 minutes, nearly steals the show. Weak spots? Otto Schack. He's just an old-style Hollywood Gestapo man, slimy and opportunistic. Seaton also gives both Saint and Taylor turgid opportunities to reflect on their past and, in Gerber's case, his good motives. And as professional and experienced a screenwriter as Seaton was, the movie at nearly two hours could use some trimming.

Still, 36 hours is just what it is, a good war yarn built around a clever double con. We should count our blessings.

Excellent Thriller, Wonderfully Retro

[telegonus · 9/10 · 20 April 2005]

36 Hours is a beautifully made thriller about an American major captured by the Germans in World War II not long before D-Day, and who is drugged and made to age artificially, so that when he wakes up he thinks five years have passed, that the war is over, and that the Americans won. A fake military hospital was made to convince him that this is so, complete with fake newspapers, reporting on the activities of President Wallace, with references to the retired FDR vacationing happily in Warm Springs. The idea behind it all is to get the major to spill the beans about where the Allied troops were going to land in France (indeed, the major does know this, and the Germans know he knows). In this respect the movie is based pretty much on fact. The Germans knew that there was going to be an Allied invasion of the Continent, most likely in France,--but where? Most of the German high command expected the Allies to land in Calais, but they weren't sure. Everything hinged on outfoxing the Allies, so that the Germans would be prepared for what they knew was going to be a massive invasion. But back to the movie: a friendly-seeming doctor, excellently played by Rod Taylor, explains to his "patient", quite convincingly, how he came to "lose" five years of his life. The race is on to find out the truth, only at first the major doesn't know it. He believes what the doctor tells him; but the doctor has his problems, too, which is how to tactfully get the information he needs from his "patient" (actually his captive) without the major knowing it.

James Garner is fine as the major; so good in fact as to make me wonder why his movie career wasn't more successful. Eva Marie Saint is her usual dignified self as the "love interest", though I found her character, once the truth is revealed about her background, hard to believe. Taylor's doctor is much more interesting, but alas gets less screen time. His character is ambiguous; a German-American who has returned to his homeland, where he has managed to get funds to do research, and who is slowly but surely becoming disenchanted with his Nazi superiors. The movie works like a charm for its first roughly two thirds and then falls off somewhat near the end, for reasons I won't give away. Overall, though, this is a very satisfying and somewhat neglected film. Though it doesn't appear to be made on a big budget it's very good in recreating the wartime mood, and in this respect wonderfully retro. It probably seemed a bit old-fashioned when it came out, when James Bond was all the rage; but time has been kind to it, and it plays better today than many of the more hip, sexy movies of the Austin Powers sixties.

" I remember yesterday, but what happened to the past six years? "

[thinker1691 · 7/10 · 3 December 2008]

As a matter of record, there were hundreds of soldiers who returned to the States with little memory of what their role was in World War Two. Here in this story called " 36 Hours " an Intelligent's Officer (James Garner) Major Jefferson F. Pike is given the latest secret plans for the Invasion of Normandy and is thereafter sent to Lisbon Portugal to ascertain if the German High Command are chasing the false ruses put out by the Allies. What the U.S Intelligence office does not know is, the Major is unexpectedly kidnapped and sent to Germany to undergo a daring experimental scheme. The Germans' have a highly educated Phychiatrist, Major Walter Gerber (Rod Taylor) who is going to try and convince the Major, that not only is World War II is over, but it is now six years in the future. With the help of Anna Hedler (Eva Marie Saint) heading a highly trained staff of English speaking Germans and a secret, isolated military compound they hope to trick him into revealing the Allies invasion plans. All things go according to plan until the one thing they had hoped would not happen does. Although Garner proves to command the screen with his role, it is Taylor who elicits sympathy for his compassionate character and we discover ourselves rooting for Gerber to succeed. A dramatic film and one which allows the audience to wait impatiently for the hours to be extended. ****

Thanks for the memory?

[benbrae76 · 10/10 · 28 August 2006]

This B&W movie "36 Hours" is now being repeated on digital TV quite regularly, and I never tire of watching it. The WW II storyline, written by Roald Dahl & Carl Hittleman, is an odd one. It has to be one of the most implausible, yet somehow believable tales ever to be thought up.

A US "hospital" run by Nazi Intelligence has been set up in Germany to enable secrets to be winkled out from it's "patients" (i.e. prisoners). The gimmick is that the inmates are led to believe that the war has been over for a number of years in favour of the Allies.

The new arrival a certain Maj. Jefferson Pike (James Garner) is an Overlorder (i.e. someone who is "au fait" with the plans of the forthcoming Normandy landings). After being kidnapped in Lisbon he is brought unconscious to the hospital and given necessary ageing treatment. On regaining consciousness he is told that he is suffering from amnesia, and has been a hospital patient for years, but he must now start remembering.

A disguised Wehrmacht psychiatrist Maj. Walter Gerber (an American born German, but a good guy at heart) (Rod Taylor) is given the task of unlocking the valuable knowledge. If he fails, he and his hospital are for the chop. (And the Allies will succeed in their invasion etc. etc.) Anna Hedler, his nurse, and supposedly Pike's wife, is an ex-concentration camp internee (Eve Marie Saint) who will do anything not to be sent back. End of stage one, but will the secrets come out in stage two?...watch the movie to find out.

"36 Hours", ably directed by George Seaton, is an intriguing movie that holds the attention right to the last. It's an intelligent script, complemented by intelligent acting, with suspenseful music holding it all together. Not exactly a classic, but I certainly think it will last the test of time (and on reflection...I suppose it already has done). Personally I love it.

don't tell the audience

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 7 June 2019]

American intelligence office Major Jefferson Pike (James Garner) is tasked with uncovering German troop positions on the eve of D-Day. He's on his way to Lisbon to make contact with an unreliable source when he is kidnapped. He wakes up in what appears to be a hospital on an American army base in 1950. In reality, it's a German creation to extract the D-Day plans. Anna Hedler (Eva Marie Saint) is pretending to be his nurse and his wife. Major Walter Gerber (Rod Taylor) is pretending to be the psychiatrist treating him for his memory issues.

This is a really interesting premise. For such an intriguing premise, there is surprisingly little tension for the first half. It's not until Pike uncovers the ruse when the tension truly builds. Then I realized that this movie would work much better without telling the audience the truth at the beginning. This should be a mystery like a Twilight Zone story. The audience should uncover the Nazi scheme along with Pike.

There is also a problem with the twist. It is such an obvious twist that Pike's intelligence is diminished when he falls into the trap. The operation had multiple dates and he would be expected to keep the secret all the way to the last date and beyond. He can't trust much more than the days he experiences. It's almost like stealing candy from children. After that, the story goes through more necessary turns. The escape is probably the least probable. The ending should be him holding out until the invasion and the Nazis get the shock of their lives.

Give Me 36 Hours and I'll Give You a Traitor!

[deanofrpps · 9/10 · 22 May 2005]

This is one of my favorite WW II movies. It's tag line was GIVE ME THIRTY SIX HOURS and I'll give you a traitor. D-Day is upon the Germans defending The Atlantic Wall. The US is about to launch a colossal invasion force on the European continent, but where will the blow strike? To be sure German agents kidnap American Major Pike (James Garner) from neutral Spain and send him deep into Germany where they've set up a Ptomekin village, a US post in an occupied Germany sometime five years hence. The psychologist an American born German serving in the Wehrmacht is to persuade captured Pike that Pike has been suffering from amnesia for five years and has now recovered his long term memory at the cost of losing his recent memory. The setting is idyllic and the gilted cage is cozy, replete with a faux-wife.

Will Pike see through the German plot? A must see unusually well done spy story.

Pretty good thriller with tight , intelligent and suspenseful plot

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 22 July 2021]

A decent and really intriguing film with fine performances all around -James Garner, Rod Taylor and Eve Marie Saint- make this an agreeable thriller even after that question is answered . Captors Germans abduct an American Major with knowledge of top-secret invasion and he is drugged and tortured by Nazis. The Nazis think he has information on plans for another invasion . He wakes up in an Army hospital with amnesia , as Pike can't remember anything about this . When they can't get the information through torture they attempt something totally different . Pike is also being treated by Dr. Gerber (Rod Taylor) and Diana (Eva Marie Saint) to recover from his memory loss. But Pike begins to think that Dr. Gerber has a different intention for him . They try to convince him that World War II is over , so that they can get details about the Allied invasion of Europe out of him. Then , he's coerced into telling the Nazi Doctor Gerber and his Gestapo overlord (Werner Peters) , all the plans concerning the D-Day landings by allied forces in France. Are they telling the truth or is this an elaborate hoax ?

A nail-biting and enjoyable movie with workmanlike direction and solid interpretations , containing an attractive premise : a high-ranking WWII Army Officer is captured by the Nazis , Pike is then woken up , told the war is over and they want the date of Normandy . But Maj. Jefferson Pike, in a position to lose the entire war for the Allied forces in Europe and he's not sure what's real and what isn't , especially when the doc asks him to explain , in great detail , what happened just before he lost his memory . The main and support cast do reasonable jobs . James Garner is frankly well as Pike , as he is kidnapped, drugged and taken to a supposedly American hospital in what is supposed to be post war Germany . Eva Marie Saint is brilliant as the nurse who cares and deceives him . While Rod Taylor , unusually cast , is the best as an American-speaking dedicated German shrink telling him that war's been over some time . Along with an adequate secondary cast , such as : Werner Peters giving memorable acting as a nasty SS officer , John Banner , Russell Thorson , Sig Ruman and veteran Alan Napier . It had an acceptable but inferior remake with similar plot as interesting in their own right as the original , though really no match for the previous line up of , titled ¨Breaking Point¨(original title1989) by Peter Markle with Corbin Bernsen , Joanna Pacula , John Glover , David Marshall Grant , Lawrence Pressman.

This motion picture 36 Hours was stunningly directed by George Seaton. Professional and polish writer and director who occasionally rose well above his average standard and was twice rewarded with Academy Award for so making . Seaton formed a partnership with William Perlberg , was to produce all Seaton's movies for several years . Both of them produced and directed the following successes as ¨Miracle on 34th Street¨, ¨The country girl¨, a monster Box office as ¨Airport¨ , the warlike movie : ¨Counterfeit traitor¨ and , of course , another unusual War film as ¨36 hours¨ . Rating : 7.5/10 . Above average .

The Opening MUSIC Is the Tip off to this film's QUALITY

[mcgarig1 · 10/10 · 7 April 2005]

If you really listen to the very first moments of the opening music, and if you know something of music, then you'll immediately recognize that the Composer (Dmitri Tiomkin ) was not messing around with THIS score. Tiomkin wrote a beautifully impending theme, internally driven, colored with adventure, suspended by taught phrases, and completely in line, and easily telling, of the quality of everything about this movie. ( My thought was that if Tiomkin wasn't messing around, no one else would be messing around either. This movie HAS IT ALL. )

When I heard those first opening passages, especially the quiet and complex timpani part, then I knew I was in for a really OUTSTANDING FILM. So, right then, I put off an important meeting, because I felt the movie would be as good as the music score. If you encounter this movie, put off anything else, except medical emergencies, and WATCH THIS MOVIE. ! !

Life's too short to miss this one, so watch it - NOW ! Yes, NOW !

Implausible? Probably. Exciting? Certainly!

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 25 April 2024]

Yes, there are a lot of plot holes in this thrilling World War II espionage drama, but if you can get past that, it becomes quite exciting. James Garner gives an excellent performance as a pilot who is put into a coma and brought out looking six years older, told that the war is over, and begins to reveal secrets that most men would have forgotten after a month let alone remember years later. But it's really only a matter of months, and everything around him is phony right down to the american soldiers and officers who are really Nazis.

Standing by him is his alleged fiance, nurse Eva Marie Saint, filling in amnesic bits and pieces of his past that don't exist. Rod Taylor is the nazi posing as an American who along with alleged German traitor Werner Peters fills him in on falsehoods of how the war ended. This alternate ending of the war will be fascinating to history buffs, although I found the ease of their false conclusion a bit too contrived, as if the military and the German people had just had enough and decided to take out the leaders.

But as storytelling goes, it's quite superbly done and at times nail biting especially when Garner begins to catch on. The performances are excellent, certain elements quite sly, and the direction of George Seaton brilliant because of the realization that this has many directions in which it could go. The scene where all of the extras who are Germans are told that if they boost their American accent what the consequences will be is quite sinister. Definitely one of the most original of post wartime set dramas, and I doubt it could be improved on.

Fighter Pilots don't know much about Intelligence Work

[denscul · 4/10 · 7 April 2007]

Mr. Dahl, who was a fighter pilot during WWI, was captured by the Germans and held prisoner for a short time. With those credentials, he was certainly in the position of writing a credible story/film. However, the plot and story line became tedious for this viewer because Intelligence officers, even Nazi's were not inclined to spend so much effort in a plan that was easily doomed to failure. Just imagine yourself in James Garner's position as the American with info about the D Day invasion. In the first place, a Major is not likely to know what the German's want to know. Both sides had major disinformation campaigns operating. The Nazi's actually knew the Allied plans, they just didn't believe them, because Hitler had decided the attack was coming at the Pas DeCalais, the shortest distance between Europe and England. He refused to believe the reality of the Normandy invasion, for days. Many German General's suspected Normandy would be the intended target, they also knew how futile changing Hitler's mind would be.

Hitler, a corporal during WWI, was not a professional soldier, as a politician and head of state, he frequently refused to take professional advice, which caused the end of his regime more than any other factor. Knowing all this in 1965, it was hard for me to accept the concept of this story. I knew that the German's had discovered through a spy in the British embassy in Turkey, solid proof the name of Overlord, the date, and place. The information came from the British Ambassador's safe, a much more credible source than what an American Major might know, considering the deception plans of the time.

Without knowing the history of the times, today's viewers should consider this. If you were told 6 years had passed from your life, you certainly would want to get on the phone and tell someone. If you were at an alleged American base, there would be no credible reason you could not make a call to someone, the planners of this deception could anticipate. A trained intelligence officer, would immediately suspect the reality of the situation far quicker than it took Garner. In real life, the planners of such an operation would realize this hurdle would be insurmountable, and go on to other methods. The props of the film are wonderful, the nurses, American Jeeps, the role played by Rod Cameron, as the fake American. Obviously, they could fool any one for about 5 minutes. Good fiction must be logical however clever it is hidden. Wouldn't you want to call someone if you just found out you were six years older, the war was over, and how was so and so back home?

The Nazi's couldn't anticipate who you would call, and what questions would be asked.

James Bond movies were just hitting the theaters, at the time this film was made. They were enjoyable because they did not try to be serious. You didn't have to believe they were believable. They were outrageous, and most of Bond's exploits were just as far fetched as the plot of 36 hours. But 36 hours would have you believe that its story line was plausible, at least until Garner discovered he was being duped It took too long, the character played by Eva Maria Saint was even less credible than Rod Cameron's character. But for the sake of a happy ending with a girl at the end of the rainbow, 36 hours is unfortunately a contrived story that made it seem more like a TV show rather than a good film.

Excellent off the beaten path WWII melodrama

[docnoc66 · 8 July 2001]

Great, offbeat WWII thriller from The Spy Who Came in From the Cold Genre. If you've ever wondered where the Sgt. Schultz character developed from Hogan's Heroes - watch and be surprised! Tight Script and excellent performances from Saint, Taylor, and Garner. Filmed in B & W to enhance the intensity.

A Day & A Half.

[AaronCapenBanner · 6/10 · 10 November 2013]

George Seaton directed this psychological WWII thriller that stars James Garner as Army Major Jefferson Pike, who is knocked-out and kidnapped by the Germans in an effort to tell them about the forthcoming Allied D-Day invasion plans. Rod Taylor plays German Major Walter Gerber, who concocts an elaborate scheme to fool Pike into believing that the war is now over, with an Allied victory, but that he suffers from amnesia and to recover his memory, must remember the events of the day he last remembers - the day he was taken, and Gerber has only 36 hours to succeed, before the Gestapo takes over... Clever premise and good performances help fanciful story that is also quite talky, yet still intriguing.

Skeptical About Information Not Obtained Under Torture

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 26 July 2008]

36 Hours is a film that finds James Garner as a major attached to Allied intelligence and to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in London. The best kept secret of World War II was the exact date and location of the cross channel invasion into western Europe. As things get closer to D-Day, the Allies want to make sure the Nazis stay fooled right up to the end.

Which is why Garner goes to Lisbon to check out a source at the German Embassy in neutral Portugal. But the Nazis have been watching him too. While in Lisbon, he meets up with a Mr. Michael Finn at a hotel bar rendezvous which renders him unconscious and Garner is secretly flown to Germany.

The nice things about 36 Hours is that some of the facts about the landings at Normandy are woven very nicely into an intricate espionage story. Incidentally some of the same facts that were used in another Garner classic film, The Americanization of Emily, but in a far more comic vein.

What the Nazis have decided to do is trick Garner into revealing the plans for the imminent invasion. They've set up an elaborate facade of a US. Army Hospital in an occupied Germany in 1950 and when Garner wakes up, they're going to convince him that the war is over and the allies have been victorious. They've even cooked up a love interest in Eva Marie Saint who is formerly a concentration camp inmate and like all of them will do anything to avoid going back.

All this is the brainchild of German doctor Rod Taylor who is convinced that without the usual Nazi like methods Garner can be tricked into revealing vital information. Skeptical about the plan, but willing to go along with it if it succeeds is SS major Werner Peters who played a lovely variety of Nazis in the Sixties.

Of course when Garner does realize this is all a charade it becomes quite a three cornered cat and mouse game between him and Taylor and Peters. The SS has a tried and true motto, they're skeptical in general about information not obtained under torture.

36 Hours is a finely executed espionage and escape drama. The cast is at they're combined very best. But as good as the ones I've mentioned, there is one stunningly droll performance by John Banner, soon to become Sergeant Schultz on Hogan's Heroes. He plays a German version of Dad's Army and he's one of the older generation that hasn't bought into the Nazi way. He's the best in this fine film.

(POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD)...Worth watching...but lacks that extra punch to make it a classic war yarn...

[Doylenf · 7/10 · 17 August 2005]

A tantalizing story has been fashioned out of the idea that the American Major Pike might be tricked into spilling the beans about the Allied invasion of France during World War II, if he is made to believe that, because of amnesia, he is unaware of the war's outcome.

Once the plot gets into high gear, it gives the viewer much satisfaction mainly because of the excellent performances of James Garner, Eva Marie Saint and Rod Taylor. The situations that develop are tense, but the trouble comes halfway through. There's not enough tension to keep events in the second hour strong enough to overcome inadequacies in the script. The extra punch needed to wrap up the story just isn't there. I will say, however, that there is a nice final moment in the story where Eva Marie Saint's character is able to shed a tear for James Garner--and it is a moment extremely well played by both actors.

Garner is his usual self in the role of Major Pike, perhaps a bit more subdued but defiant enough when he finds out he is being played for a patsy by Rod Taylor and Saint, whose character undergoes a rather unbelievable turn at mid-point in the story. The expository scene in which she reveals her background, however, is well played by the actress and a bit reminiscent of her Eve Kendall in NORTH BY NORTHWEST.

A tighter script would have been more forceful instead of the almost two hours of time needed to tell the story. And more tension should have been drawn from pitting the two leads (Garner and Saint) against each other in the noir style of, say, a Bogart and Bacall. Some melodramatic music in the style of a Warner Bros. composer like Franz Waxman would have spiced things up more than the sparingly used music of Dimitri Tiomkin.

Still, worth watching for its fascinating story idea.

One of my favorites

[Carroll-3 · 9/10 · 2 October 2000]

It wasn't a blockbuster, but is haunting. I still remember the first time I saw it, and remember it every time I ... well, I don't want to reveal any plot points. But it is probably one of the films that triggered my love of mysteries.

better in idea then in execution

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 27 May 2011]

James Garner plays an intelligent officer who is captured in the eve of the D-Day invasion. The Germans try to trick him into think six years had passed and that the war was over in order to get him to reveal what he knows.

Off beat spy yarn is a clever idea but never quite gels. Give it points for not going in the direction you'd expect, it doesn't take long before Garner figures out its ruse and then things don't go as you'd think.

I like the film more for what it tries to do rather than for what it accomplishes. Its an interesting misfire, thats worth seeing for that reason

Great suspense flick!

[mls4182 · 10/10 · 10 December 2021]

This film was very original with a clever premise. For the most part, they pulled it off rather well. There are a few implausibilities but overall they make it work.

Top notch writing, direction, cast and supporting cast who offer some comedic relief.

Somewhat probable.

[lrcdmnhd72 · 6/10 · 31 May 2011]

36 Hrs (1965), (B&W), is a fairly plausible, World War II espionage drama dealing with the impending Allied invasion of Europe just prior to D-Day in June, 1944.

U.S. Army Intelligence Officer Major Jeffery F. Pike (James Garner), who has accurate and detailed information of this invasion, is drugged and kidnapped by the Germans about five days prior to this invasion.

Pike then wakes up in a bogus, but convincing, U.S. military hospital created by the Germans in an attempt trick Pike into thinking it's six years later, that war is over and that he has amnesia hoping that he'll reveal the information he has about the pending invasion.

Instead, it's really June 2,1944, one day after Pike's kidnapping.

U.S. Army Medical Doctor, Major Walt Gerber, MD (Rod Taylor), who is assigned to Pike's case, is actually a German military officer who speaks perfect English with no accent because Gerber spent the first sixteen years of his life being raised in the United States.

Gerber tries to convince Pike that he might regain his memory if he discusses the details of this invasion. The German SS has given Gerber 36 hours to get the information from Pike, but due to a communications delay, Gerber now only has about 24 hours to get this information before the German SS takes over the interrogation.

Through a series of sessions with Gerber, Pike is convinced of his amnesia and gradually reveals information of the pending D-Day invasion until a very minor, overlooked, detail emerges that blows this whole deception.

Being shot in black and white seems to add to the effectiveness of this movie.

Great movie

[Tony-77 · 10/10 · 7 December 1998]

This is one of my favorite movies. It makes you anxious wondering when (or if) Maj. Pike is going to see through the Nazi facade or is going to be duped.

Look for an appearance by John Banner ("Hogan's Heroes"'s Sgt. Schultz) and a brief cameo by James Doohan ("Star Trek"'s Scotty).

36 Hours of suspense

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 9 June 2013]

A film called Resisting Enemy Interrogation was released in 1944. Ostensibly, it was produced to dramatically demonstrate that any information (other than name, rank and serial number) provided by captured American soldiers could potentially cost American lives.

In the film 36 Hours (1965), Major Pike (James Garner)is a captured American serviceman. He is the object of a clever German ruse devised by Major Gerber(Rod Taylor)to get him to reveal inside information about the Allied plans for the D-Day invasion. The action is set in 1944, so we can assume that Major Pike has been briefed on German interrogation techniques and warned of the various ploys that might be used to soften him up. In fact, this is asserted in the film.

Eva Marie Saint plays the part of Anna, Gerber's collaborator. Playing on Pike's vulnerability, she helps convince Pike that the date and the location of his convalescence are not what he might have expected. I do not want to reveal much more about the plot, because the main enjoyments of this story come from the premise of the film and the various plot twists. Suffice it to say that this story of intrigue is worthy of Hitchcock.

The title refers to the length of time the SS gives Major Gerber to prove the value of his unorthodox interrogation method. The time limit helps drive the action--fine use of a Hitchcock method, but without frequent images of a clock counting down.

Speaking of Hitchcock, Eva Marie Saint played in North by North West (1959) and gives a performance as convincing in 36 Hours.

I recommend this film for it plot that captures the imagination, the excellent performances by all actors, and a quality score.

Watch for John Banner's portrayal of a German sergeant. In 1965 he will also begin his role as Sergeant Schultz in TV's Hogan's Heroes.

Off the Mark!

[JohnHowardReid · 5/10 · 30 August 2013]

Saddled with an over-verbose script and mollycoddlingly dreary dialogue direction, this overtly promising spy melodrama turns out to be only intermittently exciting. It could have been considerably improved by really ruthless cutting. 115 minutes is too long to sustain suspense unless something really exciting is happening on-screen all the time. Here, all the unnecessary and often phony explanations could be judiciously cut to the bone. Another problem is that Rod Taylor is definitely not a convincing German – even with a dubbed voice to help him out. What's worse is that I didn't find either James Garner or Eva Marie Saint at all charismatic. Their verbose, over-padded dialogue merely serves as an excuse for one monotonous close-up after another. In fact, although lensed for the cinema wide screen, director George Seaton seems to have placed TV sales far more firmly in his mind. I believe this picture holds the record for the number of close-ups in an anamorphic movie. Widescreen framing is only used once or twice in the entire production. The rest of the slates are simply filled out with empty background space. Fortunately, production values are otherwise up to standard, and the climactic escape has its moments of suspense and genuine excitement (plus some human relief contributed by John Banner as a practical Home Guardsman). Of the other players, only Werner Peters, who contributes an effective characterization as the chief villain, deserves mention.