Basic Blackout

The Third Day. Looking agitated, George Peppard climbs through a broken guardrail, glances below at the riverbank where his Lincoln Continental and a take-home cocktail waitress have come to a bad end. He staggers off to a plush roadhouse where he is eyed knowingly by the bartender, the pianist, and his waiting chauffeur. He blinks, confused, unable to place faces but sensing in the situation something familiar. The familiar something is, of course, amnesia--the basic blackout of more suspense melodramas than most moviegoers care to remember.

In Third Day, Peppard learns from a medic that his "memory is on vacation." But under befuddled Director Jack Smight, none of Peppard's intimates react like normal human beings to the news that he cannot recall his name and address. A dithery old aunt (Mona Washbourne) starts spouting reams of plot exposition. His wealthy, neglected young wife (Elizabeth Ashley) strikes poses in doorways or on beds as though all the world were a fashion layout.

Did Peppard kill the waitress? One clue is the knavery of his wife's cousin (Roddy McDowall), who schemes to take over and sell the family's china factory. Though Peppard was once a ne'er-do-well, amnesia has instantly transformed him into a decent chap who knows he is incapable of murder and irresponsible profiteering. He finds a kindred soul in his father-in-law (Herbert Marshall), a tycoon smitten with aphasia and therefore exempted from many a dull speech. Reels later, the hero's name, his wife's pretty neck, his marriage and the fine china are salvaged. Actors Peppard and Ashley, a romantic duo off screen as well as on, toil in vain to capture the thrill of it all for posterity. What they see in each other will undoubtedly outlast The Third Day.

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