In the last hour

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Movie
German title In the last hour
Original title Time Without Pity
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 1957
length 88 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Joseph Losey
script Ben Barzman
production John Arnold
Anthony Simmons
music Tristram Cary
camera Frederick Francis
cut Alan Osbiston
Max Benedict (anonymous)
occupation
synchronization

In the last hour (original title Time Without Pity , literally "Time without pity", German alternative title Devilish Alibi ) is a British film noir by director Joseph Losey from 1957 . The film, which is “also a plea against the death penalty ”, is about a race against time, about an attempt to rescue someone sentenced to death within a period of 24 hours. In that the main plot is compressed into a few hours, the film resembles Robert Siodmak's Witness Wanted , Anatole Litvak's You are still alive 105 minutes and Stanley Kubrick's The calculation didn't work out .

action

London , just before Christmas : Alec Graham is about to be hanged for the murder of his girlfriend . The act took place in the country house of the wealthy automobile manufacturer Robert Stanford, whose son Brian Alec Graham's best friend is.

Alec Graham's father David, an unsuccessful and alcoholic writer, did not participate in the trial of his son because he was in Montreal on addiction treatment . He returns from there 24 hours before the judgment is carried out. He firmly believes in his son's innocence, but is alone. At first, Alec Graham doesn't even want to see his father, who has barely looked after him. He does not share his father's hope of being able to prove his innocence in the remaining time.

David Graham visits Jeremy Clayton, his son's attorney, who is paid by Robert Stanford. His support is reluctant.

David Graham sets out alone on a search through the nightly London to find clues to relieve his son. He meets Stanford's adopted son Brian, who reminds him of his failure as a father, and Stanford's wife Honor, who is in love with Alec, and Stanford's former secretary Vicky Harker. Robert Stanford turns out to be an irascible and infantile family tyrant , whom his wife even describes as "a perverted child". Aside from the strange impression the Stanford family makes - everything seems like a facade - there are some inconsistencies, but the increasingly desperate father realizes that this will not save his son. He starts drinking again.

Ultimately, David Graham sees no other way out than to sacrifice himself: He informs Clayton that he has convicted Stanford and engages him in a fight. He points Stanford's revolver at his own heart and pulls the trigger with Standford's finger. “What are you doing?” Asks Stanford, aghast.

background

Losey's first own-name film to be shot in England recently . After the Un-American Activities Committee put him on its ' black list ', which meant a work ban in the United States, he had worked in England under changing pseudonyms since 1953.

In the literary source of the film, the drama Someone Waiting by Emlyn Williams , the focus is on the search for the perpetrator. The film dispenses with the resulting tension: the identity of the murderer is already revealed in the pre-title sequence , which is also shown in a close-up. This interpretation Norbert coarse and Bernd Kiefer Sun: This open "Losey space for the actual drama. For the tension between the characters and their behavior on the darkest scenes"

synchronization

A first synchronization was produced in 1958 for ARD . A second synchronization was made later.

role actor Speaker 1. Synchronization Speaker 2. Synchronization
David Graham Michael Redgrave Hans Paetsch Rüdiger Schulzki
Honor Stanford Ann Todd ? Kerstin De Ahna
Robert Stanford Leo McKern Heinz Piper Harald Halgardt
Brian Stanford Paul Daneman ? ?
Jeremy Clayton Peter Cushing Richard Münch Peter Aust
Alec Graham Alec McCowen Günther Schramm Nicolas King
Mrs. Harker Renee Houston ? Ursula Vogel
Vicky Harker Lois Maxwell Renate Heilmeyer ?
Mr. Maxwell, MP Richard Wordsworth ? Achim Schülke
Barnes, editor Georg Devine ? Frank Straass
State Secretary Ernest Clark ? Gerhart Hinze
Prison chaplain Peter Copley ? Harald Pages
Prison director Hugh Moxey ? Jörg Gillner
journalist John Chandos ? Peter Kirchberger

criticism

"Detective film that increasingly gets lost in psychological and moral fallacies , but thanks to its skilful staging is consistently exciting."

- Lexicon of international film

“Joseph Losey is one of those directors who gain a deeper dimension from their crime films - be it social, be it psychological - without appearing artificial. [...] 'Devilish Alibi' is a tightly staged thriller with a good cast. "

- prism

"Michael Redgrave [...] plays his heart out. Also, Dracula '-Jäger Peter Cushing is the clever cat-and-mouse game with us. "

- Cinema

“The diabolical alibi exudes a sadness and harshness that reminds one of Luis Buñuel's Die Vergessenen […] and Orson Welles ' black and white Franz Kafka film The Trial […]. In the concrete wasteland of their metropolis, rich and poor lead an equally joyless life, determined by greed and greed, neurosis and hatred , which only separates having and not having. Devilish alibi is [...] a pitch-black study of primitive instincts and perfidious calculations. "

- Der-Film-noir.de

“The picture that Joseph Losey painted of London in 1956 is that of a world without pity. The places dim, the light pale and strangely disinterested people. [...] A dancer in a vaudeville theater is happy about the impending execution; [...] a newspaper editor prefers to play darts than to be interested in the story about an innocent convict. Noir, that is always a look that fatefully focuses on the side and side rooms of the everyday world. "

- Norbert Grob and Bernd Kiefer, 2008

literature

  • Emlyn Williams : Someone waiting. A play in three acts. London 1953 [new editions Heinemann, London 1954, 1970 a. ö.]
  • Emlyn Williams: A man is waiting. Piece in three acts. German adaptation by Hilde Spiel […] . Kaiser, Vienna [approx. 1960].
  • Norbert Grob , Bernd Kiefer : Deadly [sic!] Alibi / In the last hour. In: Norbert Grob (Ed.): Film genres. Film noir (=  RUB . No. 18552). Reclam, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-15-018552-0 , pp. 215-220 [with references].

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Norbert Grob, Bernd Kiefer: Deadly Alibi / In the last hour. In: Norbert Grob (Ed.): Film genres. Film noir (=  RUB. No. 18552). Reclam, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-15-018552-0 , pp. 215-220, here 217.
  2. ↑ Cf.: Norbert Grob, Bernd Kiefer: Deadly Alibi / In the last hour. In: Norbert Grob (Ed.): Film genres. Film noir (=  RUB. No. 18552). Reclam, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-15-018552-0 , pp. 215-220, here 216.
  3. ↑ See: Bernd Kiefer, Marcus Stiglegger : [Article] Joseph Losey. In: Thomas Koebner (Ed.): Film directors. Biographies, descriptions of works, filmographies. 3rd, updated and expanded edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2008 [1. Ed. 1999], ISBN 978-3-15-010662-4 , pp. 445-449, here 447.
  4. ↑ a b In the last hour (1957) . In: Synchronous database , accessed on December 21, 2017.
  5. ↑ a b Devilish Alibi (1957) (1st synchro) . In: Deutsche Synchronkartei , accessed on December 21, 2017.
  6. ↑ a b Devilish Alibi (1957) (2nd synchro) . In: Deutsche Synchronkartei , accessed on December 21, 2017.
  7. ↑ In the last hour. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 21, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  8. ↑ Devilish alibi . In: Prisma , accessed December 21, 2017.
  9. ↑ Devilish alibi . In: Cinema , accessed December 21, 2017.
  10. ↑ Devilish alibi . In: Der-Film-noir.de , accessed on December 21, 2017.
  11. ↑ Deadly alibi / In the last hour. In: Norbert Grob (Ed.): Film genres. Film noir (=  RUB. No. 18552). Reclam, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-15-018552-0 , pp. 215-220, here 218 f.