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| TEN SECONDS TO HELL
(director/writer: Robert Aldrich; screenwriters: Teddi
Sherman/from the novel "The Phoenix" by
Lawrence P. Bachmann; cinematographer: Ernest
Laszlo; editor: Henry Richardson;
music: Kenneth V. Jones; cast: Jack
Palance (Erik Koertner), Jeff Chandler (Karl Wirtz),
Martine Carol (Margot Hofer), Robert Cornthwaite
(Franz Loeffler), Virginia Baker (Frau Bauer), Richard
Wattis (Major Haven), Wes Addy (Wolfgang Sulke), Nancy
Lee (Ruth Sulke), Dave Willock (Peter Tillig), Jimmy
Goodwin (Hans Globke); Runtime: 93; MPAA Rating:
NR; producer: Michael Carreras; United
Artists/Hammer Films; 1959-UK/USA) "A downbeat so-so off-beat message suspense WWII drama that never explodes and remains mostly tedious." Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz A
downbeat so-so off-beat message suspense WWII
drama that never explodes and remains mostly
tedious. It's weakly co-written by director Robert
Aldrich ("Kiss Me Deadly"/"Vera Cruz"/" The Flight of
the Phoenix") with Teddi
Sherman. It's adapted from the
novel "The Phoenix" by Lawrence
P. Bachmann. To make things go from bad to worse,
the studio edited about 40 minutes out of the
film--thereby it lacked whatever Aldrich
was reaching for in this unfortunate project. In
post-war Berlin six recent returning German POW's in a
British prison camp, who were squad members of
a bomb disposal unit because they were in disfavor
with the Nazis, volunteer to work for the
Allies in ridding the city of unexploded
bombs. The dangerous job rewards the men with good pay
and housing and extra ration cards. The men volunteer
to do it for three months, and are under the
command of a British Major Haven (Richard Wattis) and
Frau Bauer (Virginia
Baker) is their kindly liaison
officer. As a wager suggested by the
mercenary Karl Wirtz (Jeff Chandler),
the men make a pact to place half
their earnings in a joint fund and the last man
surviving during the period collects the money or if
there's more than one survivor they will share. The
story focuses on the two dominant personalities, the
idealistic brave unofficial leader Erik Koertner
(Jack Palance) and his rival the 'me
first' survivalist Karl Wirtz. The
rivals also battle to win the love of their attractive
widowed landlady Margot Hofer (Martine
Carol), a French woman married to a German
soldier who died in the African desert. The
rivals clash over philosophical differences, as the
four other demolition experts -- Hans
Globke (Jimmy Goodwin),
Peter Tillig (Dave
Willock), Wolfgang Sulke
(Wes Addy), Franz
Loeffler (Robert
Cornthwaite) -- are unlucky in the bombs
assigned and one by one get blown to bits. Tension
builds to see which of the rivals survives. The
message is that out of destruction there's hope to
rebuild. The
b/w film was shot in 32 days on location in Berlin
and finished in Berlin's UFA studio. REVIEWED ON 11/7/2012 GRADE: C+ Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |