Time Bomb is a 1953 British film noir thriller film directed by Ted Tetzlaff and starring Glenn Ford, Anne Vernon and Maurice Denham.[2] It was produced by MGM at the company's Elstree Studios with sets designed by the art director Alfred Junge. In the United States it was released under the title Terror on a Train.[3]
In Birmingham one evening, Constable Baron confronts a suspected local vagrant and asks him what he is doing in a fenced-off railyard. After a heavy brawl, which Baron takes the worst of, the younger suspect escapes. A search discovers he has left a small case that includes miniature detonators and bomb-making components. The police conclude he was attempting to sabotage a trainload of sea mines destined for the Royal Navy Yard at Portsmouth. Unfortunately, the train has left the station, but officials order it re-routed to a little-used spur part way. Unfortunately, it is near a heavily populated village, which must be completely evacuated against the threat of mass annihilation.
A computer search of all records determine that the nearest man capable of defusing any bomb or booby trap set to trigger the entire lot of scores of one-ton mines is a former Second World War bomb disposal specialist living in Birmingham, Major Peter Lyncort, late of the Royal Canadian Engineers.
A consensus is reached by police officials in Birmingham that the sabotaged bomb is likely to have some timed fuse set to go off shortly after the train arrives in Portsmouth at 6 PM the following morning. Acting on Constable Baron's belief that the perpetrator will go to Portsmouth to witness the detonation of his handiwork, the patched-up officer is dispatched there to round him up on sight.
Railway Police security chief Jim Warrilow arrives summarily at Lincort's home around midnight, and he agrees to help. He leaves without even a note to his French wife, Janine, who has left for a train to Paris after a row.
After stopping at a local hospital for an electric stethoscope and some necessary tools, Lyncort is whisked to the railspur, and begins laboriously examining and opening the sea mines one by one. Several hours in it is clear he is losing his race against time, yet he doggedly persists.
Upon discovering she had missed the 10:30 train, the midnight has been canceled, and the next out is in the morning, Janine repaired to the railway canteen to wait out the night. Having had time to let off steam and reflect on her impetuousness, she calls her home but gets no answer. Harassed by an old dodger she leaves to grab a cab, only to learn not a one is to be had, all having been requisitioned to aid in the evacuation of the little town threatened by the bomb. Failing to make any connection with her husband's absence she drifts to their favorite romantic restaurant, and is warmly welcomed by its proprietor, who enquires about her husband and assures her he will show up.
Warrilow and a Constable maintain a watchful but safely distant vigil over Lyncort, attentive to any sign of alarm or danger from him.
At 2:30 the restaurant closes. A despondent Janine is driven home by its solicitous proprietor. Rather than rejoicing in her husband's arms she finds it empty. Fearing some kind of accident, she calls the hospital but is told no such man had been admitted. However, one by that name had some there for tools to help in bomb defusing. Immediately putting the two together she races to the village in the family's sports car.
As the last hours tick away, and against Lyncort's stong objections Warrilow volunteers to join him. After a crash course, he is given a wrench and set on his own to search for a hatchcover with a telltale connecting wire on its underside.
Meanwhile Constable Baron arrives at the railway station in Portsmouth, recognises the suspect and arrests him. They put on a Royal Navy helicopter to be expedited to the village.
Warrilow finds a wired hatchcover, and Lyncort disarms its large explosive charge. Everyone is relieved and police allow the villagers to return to their homes.
Upon arrival the constable and his prisoner are taken directly to Lyncort at the train. Told that Lyncort has found a charge and disabled it, the truculent sabateur refuses to divulge any information about the sabotage and who may have put him up to it. Cuffed to a railcar, he grows anxious with the passing moments as 7 AM approaches. Finally he confesses there is a second bomb, armed with an inherently inaccurate chemical fuse that is due to go off any moment. Pleading for his life, he reveals where it is and Lyncroft sets to disabling it.
Just as he does, Janine arrives and breaks through a police cordon to rush to his side. Refusing to go clear she affirms her desire to be reunited. Before it explodes in his hands, Lyncroft heaves the charge clear, which erupts in a terrific explosion far enough off to spare them. They walk away, tightly arm in arm.
According to MGM records the film earned $346,000 in the US and Canada and $400,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $517,000.[1]
In their survey of British B movies, Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane describe Time Bomb as "a slickly made suspense thriller with a twist in the tail" that "pointed the direction for British second features over the next decade": "Its compact story, clear narrative trajectory, convincing location work and engaging central performance augmented with entertaining character studies, all provided a template for smaller British production outfits looking to give their films some international appeal."[4]