The precedent user,a genuine French cinema connoisseur, had harsh words about this thriller,and I can find little fault with the opinion expressed .
At the time Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac were the toast of the country as far as suspense was concerned ; their novels produced classics :"les diaboliques" and "vertigo" as well as less known but estimable works such as "les louves" (Saslavsky) "maléfices " (Decoin) and even in England ("faces in the dark" ,IMHO their best book , David Eady)
"Douze Heures d' horloge " was based on a radio play ,"la belle" (not about a woman ;"se faire la belle" = to break out of jail) and the Boileau-Narcejac fans won't get something out of it :yes,there's the de rigueur unexpected twist but it's a damp squid ,nothing to do with those of the works mentioned above.
The screenplay is complicated instead of complex; the screenwriters multiply the characters at such a speed it's hard to catch up with a plot : the drunk gendarme ,intended as a comic relief, is so unbearable the viewer feels like pressing the fast forward button; never had Guy Tréjean overplayed in such a dismal manner ; if Lino Ventura and Suzy Prim ( actress/producer) save something from the wreckage ,the rest of the cast is downright mediocre .Highly talented Laurent Terzieff would have been a strong asset ,had he been given more than a (hardly) ten-minute presence :instead the viewer has to make do with inexpressive pretty boy Gil Vidal.
As for Geza Radvany ,as a follow-up to his estimable remake of "Mâdchen in Uniform" , it does not make it.
His best work remains "somewhere in Europe";the thriller was definitely not his forte.
