Time Without Pity (1957)
"It all started with a scream..."
NOIRVEMBER 2025
DAY 29
Hollywood Blacklist #4
Time Without Pity is a 1957 British noir thriller film directed by blacklisted director Joseph Losey. The screenplay was written by fellow blacklisted writer Ben Barzman, based on the 1953 play Someone Waiting by Emlyn Williams.
The film is about a father trying to save his son from being executed for a murder he did not commit.
CAST
David Graham - Michael Redgrave
Honor Stanford - Ann Todd
Robert Stanford - Leo McKern
Brian Stanford - Paul Daneman
Alec Graham - Alec McCowen
Jeremy Clayton - Peter Cushing
Vicki Harker - Lois Maxwell
Alec Graham is sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend Jennie Cole, with whom he was spending the night at the parents of his friend Brian Stanford.
Alec’s father David, an alcoholic writer, returns to England after spending time in a sanitarium in Canada to dry out.
Alec and his father have been estranged for several years. David has had no access to news of the outside world for some reason. He missed the news of Alec being charged with murder, his trial, his sentencing, and finally shows up THE DAY BEFORE Alec is to be hanged to stand by his son’s side.
Despite this tenuous relationship, David believes his son is innocent and sets out to prove as much in less than 24 hours.
David questions everyone involved with the case hoping to get answers;
Brian Stanford, Alec’s friend
Robert Stanford, Brian’s father
Honor Stanford, Robert’s wife
Vicki Harker, Robert’s secretary, with whom he is having an affair.
Let’s focus on Robert for a second because Robert is volatile. A successful automotive magnate, Robert will fly off the handle at the drop of a hat, and has been known to be violent.
Can David Graham stumble his way through this investigation and save his son’s life without breaking his sobriety? With British drinking culture, it’s gonna be tough.
Robert Stanford: “Drink can black out everything.”
David Graham: “It can’t black out the man with the rope.”
I covered a Joseph Losey film a few weeks ago called The Prowler. I really love his movies. He was called “the most European of American directors.”
Losey’s films are very baroque, visually distinctive, and pessimistic. His work often explores themes of class, power and social isolation.
Losey had been blacklisted in the early 50’s. He wasn’t necessarily a communist, but he had many communist and politically left associations, including his first wife Elizabeth Hawes, who was on an FBI list of known subversives. He moved to England in 1953, due to being unable to find any work in America.
Time Without Pity was Losey’s first film he directed under his own name, since being blacklisted. He had used a fake name, Victor Hanbury, to direct his previous film, The Sleeping Tiger, because the stars were afraid of being blacklisted if it was discovered they worked with him.
Losey would later become known for his collaborations with Harold Pinter, directing three of his films, The Servant, Accident and The Go-Between.
Like a lot of kids who wanted to appear like the most intellectual person in the room, I had a Harold Pinter phase in high school. I will absolutely cover The Servant on this newsletter at some point.
Screenwriter Ben Barzman was also blacklisted in the 50’s. His wife Norma Barzman was an active member of the communist party from 1943 - 1949.
This was Dame Joan Plowright’s feature film debut as Agnes Cole, sister of murder victim, Jennie Cole.
Time Without Pity can be streamed on HBO MAX or The Criterion Channel.