Fri 19 Apr 2019
Movie Review: SPLIT SECOND (1953).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Suspense & espionage films[4] Comments
SPLIT SECOND. RKO Radio Pictures, 1953. Stephen McNally, Alexis Smith, Jan Sterling, Keith Andes, Arthur Hunnicutt, Paul Kelly, Robert Paige, Richard Egan, Frank de Kova. Director: Dick Powell.
A large ensemble cast portraying a group of strangers, mostly, being held captive in a Nevada ghost town by am escaped killer (Stephen McNally) and his two confederates, one of whom (Paul Kelly) is seriously wounded. Others include a journalist (Keith Andes) and the female hoofer (Jan Sterling) he had picked up earlier as a hitchhiker. Also trapped are a woman (Alexis Smith) doing in Nevada what women with unwanted husbands did in the 50s, along with her current male companion (Robert Paige).
Adding considerable stress to the situation is the fact that a nuclear bomb test is scheduled to take place at six the next morning, and they are less than a mile from ground zero.
The movie has a good many fans, but unfortunately I found it far less intense and suspenseful than I was supposed to, even with the time of the blast moved up an hour. As the crazed murderer in charge of his small gang, Stephen McNally is over the top when it comes to the “crazed” part of his role, while Keith Andes holds back a little too much. Perfect in her role, however, is Jan Sterling, caught between her attraction to Andes and diverting the crude advances of McNally.
While the camera work is fluid and very effective, the direction itself (Dick Powell’s debut) is often stagey and in effect calls attention to itself more than pleased me. Worse are the holes in the plot. Here’s one of them that puzzled me throughout the movie: How do so many people manage to avoid the roadblocks into the area to begin with?
April 19th, 2019 at 1:59 pm
A serious aside: Dick Powell and many others died of cancer probably caused by nuclear testing and/or waste during production of the Conqueror. An all star cast.
April 19th, 2019 at 2:46 pm
I’m not totally convinced, but the statistics are hard to argue against. If that’s what happened, what a waste, as in spite of the cast, the movie wasn’t all that good, or so I’m told.
April 19th, 2019 at 5:19 pm
Apparently neither June Allyson nor John Wayne totally accepted this, and but others did, and quite a few who got the disease recovered. But the numbers are out of proportion of the general public, as you noted. I do not want to believe it, but do.
April 20th, 2019 at 7:45 pm
There was a high cancer rate in the nearest town to where they filmed THE CONQUEROR too, but despite the impressive percentages there is also the fact that most of those who died were heavy smokers, and several of those who died lived to be fairly old like Wayne.
I’m not sure that mystery can ever be solved, but it’s a damn shame as well as a strange coincidence related or not.
I like SPLIT SECOND much better than this, but I agree with some of the complaints about plot holes and McNally is over the top.
Andes may be the “hero”, but his billing tells you he wasn’t considered very important to the plot. Sterling, Smith, Paul Kelly, and Hunnicutt get the best of the films acting honors.