Review of Time Table

Time Table (1956)
6/10
Complex Little Noir
15 September 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This film, starring and directed by Mark Stevens, has more twists and turns than the streets of San Francisco. Stevens plays a seemingly by-the-book insurance investigator called in on a train robbery caper which appears to be the perfect crime. But all is not as it seems and the true character of Stevens is revealed. He is the man, obsessed with sticking to the timetable, who has planned the robbery and now is on his own trail. (This is reminiscent of "The Big Clock" where Ray Milland was put in a similar situation of being the hunter and the hunted). He is romantically involved with one of the perpetrators, played by Felicia Farr, and must avoid detection by misdirecting his partner from the truth and the clues that keep popping up all over the place.

The chase leads to Mexico, leaving a trail of bodies, and the game is up. Farr gets killed, Steven's oblivious wife finds him out, and Stevens attempts to escape, forcing his partner to shoot him down.

This film packs quite a punch in the short running time of a little over an hour. The plot is complicated but believable and all the players do a good job of making this a stand-out in the realm of the lower budget B film genre.
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