Time Is My Enemy (1954)

good back-story, and good acting

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

This is very similar to Cage of Gold where a disappeared David Carter returns to blackmail his remarried wife Jean Simmons.Here we have Dennis Price a very effective and devious blackmailed come back from the dead to blackmail Renee Asherson.It is a very entertaining film notwithstanding it's very limited budget.However there is a bit of a hole in the plot.Firstly she would have received a death certificate for Price and secondly she would have been described on the marriage certificate to Barr as a widow.So Barr would have known that she had been married before.Price was on his way down when making this.So he had to make whatever was given to him.So we have a lot of performances to treasure.

TIME IS MY ENEMY is a solid example of the British crime B-movie, featuring a notable cast working their way through a story which is both familiar and engaging at the same time. The subject this time around is blackmail, with a thought-dead husband returning to make his former wife's life a mystery. She thought him dead and has remarried, and he now threatens to expose her for bigamy if she won't come up with the five hundred quid he needs in order to flee the country. The story goes along at a quick old clip and builds to a twist ending you won't see coming.Films like this were bread and butter for many actors during the 1950s and so it proves here. Dennis Price is delightfully distasteful as the awful kidnapper and you'll cheer at certain plot points. Renee Asherson gives a carefully mannered and convincing turn as the put-upon wife, just one credit in an extremely lengthy film career. Patrick Barr is continually underrated but gives a very good turn as the innocent husband caught up in the mess, and the likes of Alfie Bass, Duncan Lamont, William Franklyn, and Susan Shaw round out the cast very nicely.

A cheaply made thriller with a convoluted plot, and some clunky dialogue sequences (writing and directing), but enough of interest to keep you going - especially if you like British character actors, like Dandy Nichols, Alfie Bass, William Franklyn and Duncan Lamont. And, for me, a performance by Dennis Price is always worth watching. Although he's rather lacklustre in this supporting feature, he has some nice, sinister moments as an oily villain. His posture is assured and confident, his suits are well cut, he commands attention, and stands head and shoulders above the rest of the cast, which also boasts a nice performance from Susan Shaw (who was also, at that time, somewhat down on her luck, after a very promising start.) Director Don Chaffey clearly struggles with budget and time constraints and some dodgy sets, but there is a pivotal action sequence (I wont give it away) which is chillingly good - a sudden break from the style of the rest of the film, beautifully directed and edited. It's also interesting to see so much of London, 9 years after the end of WW2, still showing the ravages of the blitz. Nice print running on ABCTV in Australia.