Disappointment for a huge fan!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

When first made, this film was known in Britain as "Time Bomb", but in the US it was released under the title "Terror on a Train", and is sometimes referred to by that title when shown on British television today. The story is a fairly simple one. A terrorist has placed a time bomb on board a trainload of naval mines, being transported between the factory in Birmingham and the Royal Navy Yard at Portsmouth. (We do not learn very much about the terrorist or his motivation, although he appears to be a lone individual not working as part of an organised group). The police become aware of the plot and stop the train in a siding. Major Peter Lyncort, a Canadian-born wartime bomb disposal expert now working for a Birmingham firm, is called in to deal with the situation while the police organise the evacuation of neighbouring residential areas. There is also a subplot dealing with the relationship between Lyncort and his French wife Janine who, tired of her dull life as the wife of a Birmingham businessman, is threatening to leave him.Rather oddly, given that he is described as a native of French-speaking Quebec, Lyncort is unable to speak his wife's language. I suspect, however, that the decision to make Lyncort a Canadian was taken at the last minute when the Canadian-born Hollywood star Glenn Ford was drafted in to play the part. During this period, Hollywood actors were often cast in British films to increase their appeal to the North American market, another example being "The Purple Plain", starring Gregory Peck as a character who was British in H E Bates's original novel but Canadian in the film.I don't think that the Lyncort/Janine sub-plot adds much to the story, but it may have been included because, even with it, the film has a short running time, less than an hour and a half. Without it the film may well have been too short to be shown in cinemas, even as a second feature. It does not appear to have been a box-office success when released in 1953, but has since garnered some appreciation among film buffs. With the exception of Herbert C. Walton as "Old Charlie", a childish, possibly mentally handicapped, old man with a fascination for trains who refuses to be evacuated despite the pleadings of the police, none of the cast really stand out. Ford, who could be excellent in American films noirs, seems rather wasted as Lyncort.The direction by Ted Tetzlaff, however, is good, and there is a sense of ever-mounting tension as Lyncort tries to find and defuse the bomb. I would not classify this is film noir- genuine noir generally involved a deeper level of characterisation and a greater degree of moral ambiguity- but it includes some noir characteristics such as attractive expressionist black-and-white photography of the night-time city. Despite the low budget, this is a very decent example of a tautly-made suspense thriller. 6/10

If there is any reason to see this little suspense film, it is the appearance of Old Charlie (Herbert C. Walton), an old codger who is entering senility but has an endearing habit of loving trains. And there is this nice big one parked behind the church near his home that only one fellow seems to be on. Unfortunately Old Charlie doesn't realize the train is going to explode about seven o'clock - a time-bomb is on the train, and as the cargo of the train is a set of old navy mines, it can level the town or city it is in.The nearest city is Birmingham, England (where some of my ancestors came from), but the authorities, acting on the telephoned threat of the saboteur (Victor Maddern) have acted fast enough to get the train side tracked to a relatively less populated area. Even so, the scenes of the townspeople being transported away by bus makes one realize how really complex evacuations can be. Just change this film's weapon from a booby trapped train to a dirty bomb threat and one can see it's still very valid.As I watch TIME BOMB I realize that it bears comparison to a contemporary British film, SEVEN DAYS TO NOON, made about 1950. That film was about a pacifist nuclear scientist who plants an atomic bomb in London to force Britain to disarm it's nuclear arsenal. Again it too had massive urban evacuations (in Britain's capital). And like this the threat is eventually overcome.The difference here is that sheer chance causes the threat in SEVEN DAYS TO NOON to collapse. Here it is due to the really dangerous work of bomb deactivation expert Major Peter Lyncourt (Glenn Ford, playing a Canadian here). Lyncourt is suffering from marital problems with his French wife Janine (Anne Vernon), who walks out on him in despair at the rut their marriage seems to be in (she hates Birmingham). He is approached by Scotland Yard (Maurice Denham as Inspector Wanlow) to assist in disarming the train before the bomb explodes the cars at about seven in the following morning. Lyncourt agrees to this, and most of the film follows the slow attempt of the Major in going through one car after another after another and through each of the mines to find the triggering mechanism that will cause the explosion.At the same time, we watch Janine fending off a masher at a coffee shop while waiting for the train, and finally heading home to find her husband missing. Only gradually does she figure out where Peter has gone off to.One final thread is the search for the saboteur. Constable Charles Baron (John Horsley) had a brief struggle with the saboteur but was knocked out. However he knows what he looks like, and he figures the saboteur will probably go to a spot to see the explosion. So he is waiting from one train to another for the saboteur to show up...and keeps being disappointed.The finale pulls all the threads together, including good old Charlie. At the end he is allowed to enjoy his train. God bless him. A nice little thriller, it is not a major work in Glenn Ford's career, but it certainly keeps one interested to the end.

Truly awful film made by cinematographer-turned-director Ted Tetzlaff. Decent enough looking film but for a time-bomb movie totally devoid of any tension whatsoever. Ford, as someone put it here, sleepwalks though this one with his characteristic smirk. There are some details thrown around- Canadian ex-army or RAF, defused bombs in the war, his wife is leaving him- but none of these back stories add up to much. The bomber himself is a complete mystery. Why is he trying to blow up this shipment of mines? For that matter, what time period are we talking about here? WWII or postwar?? I assumed the latter which makes bomber's motive even more salient. Generally, though, just a horrible film. There are plenty of good time-bomb flicks to skip this one. Watch any episode of "Danger UXB" for a more exciting time, at about the same running time.

I think that this is a very under rated 50's film with terrific cast. Yes, of course the film seems dated by today's standards. And the very "obvious" solution to the explosive problems is completely ignored.. Park it somewhere in the uninhabited countryside. But just have a look at the full list of credits. Some wonderful names there from this era. Some at the start of illustrious careers. Laurence Naismith, Sam Kydd, Maurice Denham, Arthur Mullard, Bill Fraser etc etc. Many of them uncredited in the film.I have another interest in this movie, I am quite certain that my grandfather was hired to drive the locomotive in the train sequences.