36 Hours (1964)

Overrated and overhyped

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Generally, a pretty interesting story, well acted by all concerned. (My assessments of acting, special effects, etcetera, often revolve around the question 'did they make the story believable?' Good special effects helped me suspend my belief systems when I watched any of the films of the 'Star Wars' or 'Harry Potter' franchises, but that's another argument.) One thing caught my attention, though. When Schact and Gerber are arguing about whether Pike's information on Overlord is genuine, there is no mention of George Patton. In the critical first weeks following the invasion, it was the German's fascination with and fear of Patton that made 'Fortitude', the fake alternate plan for an attack on the Pas De Calais, work. The Allies very much feared that following the initial landings, the forces from the pas De Calais could be shifted to Normandy faster than additional Allied forces could be brought over to Normandy from England. That would enable them to push the invasion forces back into the sea, Dunkirk-style. It was essential that the Germans be convinced that the Fifteenth Army should remain where it was, and Patton was key to that. That's touched on in 'Patton'. They could have had Schact say 'A diversionary attack in Normandy, led by Montgomery, followed by the main attack at Calais, led by Patton? That does make sense' and then built a conversation around that line of thought. Having read a little about the topic, that's apparently what the Germans thought. And it worked to the Allies' advantage.

a war film. not an ordinary one. because, more than a story, it is a form of embroidery. it is something who makes it different and that fact is the key for discover a movie who has the cast, the music and the script as impressive pillars not only for artistic value but for force of message. a film about sacrifices, touching and precise, out of ordinaries temptations of genre and seductive for a kind of beauty who has as source the art to choose the right actors. adventure, love, tension and honor , vulnerability and force are ingredients of it and that could not be a surprise. but the doses and the art of use is wise and that detail transforms one of so many war movies in a certainly must see it.

A film called Resisting Enemy Interrogation was released in 1944. Ostensibly, it was produced to dramatically demonstrate that any information (other than name, rank and serial number) provided by captured American soldiers could potentially cost American lives.In the film 36 Hours (1965), Major Pike (James Garner)is a captured American serviceman. He is the object of a clever German ruse devised by Major Gerber(Rod Taylor)to get him to reveal inside information about the Allied plans for the D-Day invasion. The action is set in 1944, so we can assume that Major Pike has been briefed on German interrogation techniques and warned of the various ploys that might be used to soften him up. In fact, this is asserted in the film.Eva Marie Saint plays the part of Anna, Gerber's collaborator. Playing on Pike's vulnerability, she helps convince Pike that the date and the location of his convalescence are not what he might have expected. I do not want to reveal much more about the plot, because the main enjoyments of this story come from the premise of the film and the various plot twists. Suffice it to say that this story of intrigue is worthy of Hitchcock.The title refers to the length of time the SS gives Major Gerber to prove the value of his unorthodox interrogation method. The time limit helps drive the action--fine use of a Hitchcock method, but without frequent images of a clock counting down. Speaking of Hitchcock, Eva Marie Saint played in North by North West (1959) and gives a performance as convincing in 36 Hours.I recommend this film for it plot that captures the imagination, the excellent performances by all actors, and a quality score.Watch for John Banner's portrayal of a German sergeant. In 1965 he will also begin his role as Sergeant Schultz in TV's Hogan's Heroes.

Very good film with Jim Garner, Eva Marie Saint and Rod Taylor in basically a cat and mouse game.Garner is captured by the Nazis and is made to believe that he is an amnesia victim who has had his memory restored in the year 1950.The movie does lose some of it potency once Garner discovers the ruse.The film then becomes one of the Nazis not believing Garner when he had send that the allied invasion would occur at Normandy. Ms. Marie-Saint plays a nurse, who had been released from a concentration camp so that she could participate in the duping of Garner. She is very good in the part as she evokes the facade of a concentration camp survivor.Also excellent is Rod Taylor as the German doctor, American born, he went to live in Germany at age 16. You do wonder though why he ever fell in with the Nazi movement.