La grande porta grigia

A very simple story of a young boy accidentally locked in a bank vault with no way of getting out until the time lock is released some 60 hours later, well after the air will have run out. No way except, of course, breaking in. And that's it. Together with an average cast and fairly wooden performances from some of them this should, by rights, have been no more than an average fifties film. Its strength, however, is its script. This kept the story very tight with very little embellishment and a great deal of intelligence. Usually with this type of story there are many gaps where one cannot help but feel that a truck could be driven through the errors made or the ridiculous twists. With Time Lock, however, the script covers virtually everything that the viewer would consider. Details such as the thinking and methodology of how to get into the vault, organising the people required and even such items as the possible medical effects on the boy and how to calculate the amount of air left to breathe. All this had a great effect on building the tension and I had to watch it until the end. One of the most enjoyable films that I have seen in a while.