Time Table (film)
| Time Table | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Mark Stevens |
| Produced by | Mark Stevens |
| Screenplay by | Aben Kandel |
| Story by | Robert Angus |
| Starring |
Mark Stevens King Calder Felicia Farr |
| Music by | Walter Scharf |
| Cinematography | Charles Van Enger |
| Edited by | Kenneth G. Crane |
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Production
company |
Mark Stevens Productions
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| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Time Table is a 1956 American film noir crime film produced and directed by Mark Stevens, who also stars as the lead character.
This was one of the first film appearances by both Jack Klugman and actress Felicia Farr. She had earlier appeared (as Randy Farr) in Big House, U.S.A. (1955).
Paul Bruckner, a surgeon whose license has been revoked for aloholism, poses as "Dr. Sloane" aboard a train passing through Arizona. His presence there is part of a caper involving a fictitious patient, on whose behalf he gains access to his physician's bag in the baggage car, whereupon he blows the safe and steals a cash payroll $500,000. Bruckner and the "patient," supposedly infected with polio, are let off at a remote small town with a hospital, which is also far from any scheduled train stop, escaping with the money in an ambulance. The railroad officials do not discover the robbery until the train reaches Phoenix, many hours after their escape has been effected.
In response, the insurance company puts a claim investigator, Charlie Norman, on the case, forcing him to postpone his vacation to Mexico with his wife Ruth the next day. Joe Armstrong, a veteran railroad policeman who is also investigating the crime, works with him. Gradually evidence starts to turn up that the thieves stole the ambulance just before the robbery, then ditched it in the desert, escaping in a stolen helicopter. The scheme was thus elaborate, showing that the robbery had been carried out according to a strict timetable.
But there was one misstep that keeps it from being the perfect crime. During the escape the "patient," Lombard, accidentally shot himself, forcing Bruckner—and the money—to remain with him instead of escaping to Mexico, throwing off the timetable. Assigning Charlie to the case, a move by the insurance company unanticipated during planning of the crime, further disrupts the timetable and reveals to the audience that Charlie is the secret mastermind. Charlie carefully planned the crime after meeting Bruckner, who filed a false accident claim. Charlie plans to disappear in Mexico with Bruckner's wife Linda, who pretended to be Lombard's wife, using the cash to finance his new life. Bruckner, desperate for money, joined the crime strictly for the cash.
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Wikipedia