Based on a short story by Roald Dahl,
36 Hours
is a 1964 war thriller with a psycological spin. It opens in 1950: Maj. Jefferson Pike (
James Garner
), an Army intelligence agent who served with distinction in World War II, awakens in a hospital with severe amnesia. He isn't sure where he is, how he got there, or even who the woman at his side is, even though the doctor tells him that her name is Anna (
Eva Marie Saint
) and that she is his wife. The doctor instructs Pike to recall, in as much detail as possible, what he was doing before the accident that caused his traumatic memory loss. But the doctor isn't a doctor, Anna isn't Pike's wife, it isn't 1950, and he isn't in an American hospital. World War II is still very much in progress, and Pike is being duped in an elaborate scheme prepared by Maj. Walter Gerber (
Rod Taylor
), a German intelligence agent, to reveal the details of the Allied D-Day invasion, to which Pike is privvy. Gerber is trying to trick a drugged and suggestible American major into telling him everything he knows, as the captured Pike lies in a Bavarian military hospital after being taken prisoner. Will Pike be able to see through the cracks in Gerber's facade before he spills the beans that could mean death and defeat for American soldiers?
was later remade for TV under the title
Breaking Point
. TV fans will want to keep an eye peeled for bit parts by
James Doohan
from
Star Trek
and
John Banner
Hogan's Heroes
.