Count the Hours *** (1953, Teresa Wright, Macdonald Carey, Dolores Moran) – Classic Movie Review 5250

Macdonald Carey stars as a lawyer who battles to release migrant worker ranch hand George Braden (John Craven) from Death Row in director Don Siegel’s neat little 1953 suspense thriller support feature, running just 74 minutes, so you don’t have to count the hours.

Teresa Wright also stars as the man’s wife Ellen, who was also accused of killing the couple’s employers, but she turned out to be pregnant and Braden (Craven) took the rap when he was falsely accused of the two murders.

Luckily in this kind of film, enthusiastic acting and satisfying complexity of the plot count more than credibility in the screenplay by Doane R Hoag and Karen DeWolf, based on Hoag’s story.

Made for RKO, it is perhaps not vintage Siegel, maybe, but he makes the most of this exploration of the criminal mind by stoking up the pace and the emotional heat,

Also in the cast are Dolores Moran, Adele Mara, Edgar Barrier, John Craven, Jack Elam, Ralph Sanford, Gene Roth, I Stanford Jolley, John Harmon, Dolores Fuller and Ralph Dumke.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5250

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com