Split Second
by Dick Powell
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Alexis Smith, Arthur Hunnicutt, Jan Sterling, Keith Andes, Stephen McNallyDirector: Dick Powell
Cinematographer: Nicholas Musuraca
Editor: Robert Ford
Producer: Edmund Grainger
Writer: Chester Erskine
Writer: Irving Wallace
Writer: William Bowers
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: Black & White, NTSC
Running Time: 85 minutes
Release Date: 1989-03-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Turner Home Entertainment
Studio: Turner Home Entertainment
VHS Movie Reviews of Split Second
Movie Review: A Worthwhile Noir
Summary: 4 Stars
The government is doing nuclear tests in the middle of the Nevada desert. They plan to bomb a ghost town at 6 am and have evacuated the town. Reporter Larry Fleming (Keith Andes) is covering the story until he is assigned to a breaking story; a killer (Stephen McNally) has escaped from jail and is in the area. He takes along a girl (Jan Sterling) with him to Carson City, but on the way, he is stopped by convict Sam Hurley himself. Hurley has kidnapped a couple (Robert Paige, Alexis Smith) and called the woman's doctor husband (Richard Egan) to get him to fix his partner's wound. He chooses a less than ideal hideout: the ghost town in the middle of the bomb site.
This was Dick Powell's first screen credit as a director, and he recieved good notices for his work. It is difficult to create atmosphere in the desert which offers little variety in the way of locations, but Powell works well with the outdoors. When the action moves indoors to an abandoned barroom, he manages to convey the claustrophobia of the captives. His direction is not fancy; he does what he needs to do to set the mood, but there is nothing overly beautiful about his work. The actors do a good job of aiding the tension of the film, and Paul Kelly gives a standout character performance as the old prospector.
Interestingly enough, nuclear testing sites played a major role in Powell's life a few years later when he directed The Conqueror. The film was shot in the desert on grounds that had once been used for nuclear tests. Rumor has it that the location contributed to almost half of the cast and crew's contraction of cancer.
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