36 Hours (1965)

                 

                    “36 Hours” is a WWII suspense movie based on a short story by Raoul Dahl, although the production began using a story by two other writers.  The screenwriters and director George Seaton (The Counterfeiter Traitor) were not aware of this until the script was offered to actress Patricia Neal.  She immediately recognized her husband Dahl’s story “Beware the Dog”.  She pointed this out to Dahl and MGM was forced to pay a large settlement to avoid a law suit.

                    The movie begins in London on May 31, 1944.  Maj. Pike (James Garner) is sent to Lisbon to contact an agent who will know if the Germans have an inkling of the invasion coming at Normandy, not Calais.  This is a cinematic construction as Pike happens to know a lot about the invasion plans.  Someone slips something in his drink and he wakes up in what appears to be an American military hospital.  The year is 1950 or so a newspaper tells him.  Doctor Gerber (Rod Taylor) has 36 hours to use his humane methods of mental torture to get information from Pike.  After that, Pike will be turned over to the Gestapo with their more brutal methods.  Gerber is abetted by the comely Anna (Eva Marie Saint) who pretends to be Pike’s wife.

                    The premise behind “36 Hours” is certainly different.  The execution could have been better as there are a few head-shaking moments.  However, this type of what-if tale often has trouble avoiding plot holes.  It is helped by an outstanding cast.  Garner, Taylor, and Saint Marie are fine actors and they lend some weight to what is a very implausible tale.  The climax is goosed with the appearance of John Banner (the future Sgt. Schultz of “Hogan’s Heroes”).  For trivia lovers, the movie also casts the original Schultz from “Stalag 17” -  Sig Ruman. 

                    The buildup to the escape is the better half of the film, although it has its weaknesses.  There is not enough on the trickery before Pike makes his inevitable discovery.  The escape itself lacks suspense and conforms to the movie’s overall suspension of disbelief.  The romance is unconventional and avoids sappiness well.  Anna is a intriguing character.  She is not simply an ilsa the She-Wolf.  She is a concentration camp survivor.  More iconoclastic is Gerber, who could be argued is the real hero.  The movie came out in 1965 so Gerber is a good German typical of many Cold War era WWII movies.  For the old school fans, the Gestapo officer is despicable.  It’s a nice, if pat, balance.

                    Sooner or later, someone was going to make a movie about D-Day with this plot.  Imagination will eventually come through.  It was nice that this cast was assembled to fulfill the stories destiny.  It is not a great movie, but it is fun.  If you were a “Mission Impossible” TV series fan, you’ll like it. 

GRADE  =  B

 

WAR SHORT STORY:  Beware of the Dog

                “Beware of the Dog” is a Roald Dahl short story set in WWII.  Dahl is famous as a children’s author.  He wrote many famous stories, including “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.  But before becoming an author, he was a fighter pilot in the RAF.  He enlisted and became an ace while flying in the Mediterranean Theater in 1940.  His first kill was a JU-88 over Greece.  Earlier, he had crash-landed in the desert of North Africa and suffered serious injuries, including temporary blindness.  He was later invalided back to England and his flying career was over.  He was sent to Washington as an intelligence officer.  In America, he married the actress Patricia Neal and they had five kids.  The marriage lasted thirty years.  A meeting with C.S. Forester inspired him to become a writer and his first work was about a wartime incident.  One year later, in 1943, he published his first children’s book, “The Gremlins”.  “Beware of the Dog” was published in Harper’s Magazine in 1944 and later appeared in his “Over to You” collection. 

                The story begins with a Spitfire pilot in distress over France.  It turns out that he has lost a leg to anti-aircraft fire and is struggling to keep his plane in the air.  He imagines how stoically he will deal with his mates when he lands, but he ends up having to bail out.  Dahl does a great job describing falling through space before the parachute opens.  Next thing he knows, he awakens in a hospital bed.  A nurse is waiting on him and reassures him everything will be okay.  But he is a bit suspicious about the situation.  For instance, he could swear he heard some JU-88s passing over.  The nurse assures him he must be mistaken.  She mentions that he is to be visited by Wing Commander Roberts for a report on his downing.

                I won’t give away the twist, but I will mention that the story was the inspiration for the WWII movie “36 Hours”.  ‘Nuff said.  The story is entertaining, although not outstanding.  The mystery is intriguing, but it is easy to figure out with the clues given.  In fact, the pilot figures out the subterfuge too easily.  It does not have a shocking ending.  For that reason, the pay-off does not deliver.  The best thing about it is that it was expanded into an interesting movie. 

GRADE  =  B

You can read it at:  https://fiction.eserver.org/short/beware_of_the_dog