Time Table

As both an actor and a director, Mark Stevens created a number of acclaimed noirs (The Dark Corner, 1946; The Street With No Name, 1948; Cry Vengeance, 1954), but, sadly, today he’s often forgotten in the shadows of more prolific and exciting film noir figures. In Time Table, he directs himself as Charlie Norman, an average-seeming insurance investigator assigned to track down half a million dollars that was stolen from a train’s vault in an elaborate scheme with which he’s very well-acquainted. The film keeps viewers riveted through plot twists, dark revelations, and Norman’s inner turmoil and desperation, which Stevens so effectively evinces (Stevens’s noir characters generally seem to be crawling towards death). Walter Scharf’s score makes for excellent accompaniment, particularly during the more suspenseful scenes, while cinematographer Charles Van Enger adds lambent depth to Norman’s bedroom, the police station, a bar manager’s office (shot diagonally from above the ceiling light), and, most notably, the final chase scene atop Tijuana’s nocturnal balconies and rooftops.