''Four Hours to Kill!'' is a 1935 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Mitchell Leisen James Mitchell Leisen (October 6, 1898 – October 28, 1972) was an American film director, director, art director, and costume designer. Film career He entered the film industry in the 1920s, beginning in the art and costume departments. He d ...

and starring Richard Barthelmess.

Plot

Taft, a policeman, has fugitive murderer Tony Mako in custody and in handcuffs, two thousand miles from the prison from which Mako escaped. With four hours to kill, Taft takes his prisoner to a theater where an unfaithful schemer named Mae is a hostess. Mae is the wife of Anderson, the man who informed on Mako. She is trying to extort $200 from coat-check kid Eddie, insinuating she is pregnant. Eddie doesn't want his fiancée Helen to hear this, true or otherwise, so he tries to raise the money to pay Mae's blackmail. Eddie is also suspected of stealing an expensive piece of jewellery from an adulterous couple. Mako made the journey this far in the hope of gaining revenge against Anderson. After telling Taft he would prefer a quick death to a painful execution, Mako breaks free and shoots Anderson before being shot by Taft, dying the kind of death he wanted. Eddie is cleared and now free to marry Helen, while Mae is taken away to jail.

Cast

* Richard Barthelmess as Tony Mako *

Joe Morrison Joseph R. Morrison (August 21, 1937 – February 5, 1989) was an American football player and coach. He played professionally as a running back and wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants from 1959 to 1972. M ...

as Eddie *

Gertrude Michael Lillian Gertrude Michael (June 1, 1911 – December 31, 1964), sometimes nicknamed Beck Michael, was an American film, stage and television actress. Biography Lillian Gertrude Michael was born in Talladega, Alabama to Mr. and Mrs. Carl H. Mich ...

as Mrs. Sylvia Temple * Helen Mack as Helen * Dorothy Tree as Mae Danish *

Roscoe Karns Roscoe Karns (September 7, 1891 – February 6, 1970) was an American actor who appeared in nearly 150 films between 1915 and 1964. He specialized in cynical, wise-cracking (and often tipsy) characters, and his rapid-fire delivery enlivened many ...

as Johnson *

Ray Milland Ray Milland (born Alfred Reginald Jones; 3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a Welsh-American actor and film director. He is often remembered for his portrayal of an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder's ''The Lost Weekend'' (1945), which wo ...

as Carl Barrett * Charles C. Wilson as Taft *

Henry Travers Travers John Heagerty (5 March 1874 – 18 October 1965), known professionally as Henry Travers, was an English film and stage character actor who specialised in portraying slightly bumbling but amiable and likeable older men. His best known ...

as Mac Mason * Noel Madison as Anderson *

Paul Harvey Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast ''News and Comment'' on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous ''The Rest o ...

as Capt. Seaver * Olive Tell as Mrs. Madison *

Lee Kohlmar Lee Kohlmar (27 February 1873 – 14 May 1946) was a German film actor and director. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1916 and 1941. He also directed nine films between 1916 and 1921. He was born in Forth and died in Hollywood, Ca ...

as Pa Herman

Production

Paramount bought the film rights to the stage play in December 1934.

Reception

The ''New York Times'' called it "a gripping, although extremely theatrical, melodrama with a neatly dovetailed plot, a uniformly excellent cast and well paceed direction".

Proposed remake

In 1944 Paramount Pictures announced it would create a new film adaptation of ''Small Miracle'', the play that was the basis of ''Four Hours to Kill''. Leisen was to direct the new version;

Alan Ladd Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film producer. Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns. He was often paired with Veronica Lake in ...

in the lead. The project was not realized. In 1947 Jack LaRue presented a stage version.EQUITY STAGE UNIT TO CUT PRODUCTION: New York Times (Oct 25, 1947: 13.

References

External links

*
''Four Hours to Kill''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...

*
Four Hours to Kill!
' review at Mystery File
Review of film
at Variety {{Norman Krasna 1935 films 1935 drama films American black-and-white films American drama films American films based on plays Films directed by Mitchell Leisen Paramount Pictures films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language drama films