Forgotten Film Noir: Split Second (1953)
"Drama That Explodes in Your Face!"
I’m not sure whether you’d call Split Second (1953) a film noir or a disaster thriller. Either way, this movie is loaded with surprises, starting with its director, Dick Powell, behind the camera for the first time. We also have master cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, who gets equal time shooting outdoors in the desert and indoors inside a run-down building in the middle of nowhere. Plus I'll watch any movie whose poster features Stephen McNally kissing Alexis Smith as an atomic bomb goes off. Hey, when you're hot, you're hot.
Right from the start we’re dropped into an atomic testing site in the middle of an abandoned Nevada ghost town where a test bomb is scheduled to go off the next day at 6 am. Everyone’s been warned ad nauseam, and anyone within the blast zone has already been evacuated. Nothing to see here, folks, unless you want your body to be part of an atomic fireworks show.
Ah, but the three guys who’ve recently busted out of prison probably didn’t have radios in the joint and don’t know about tomorrow’s test bomb. “The Nation’s #1 Killer” Sam Hurley (Stephen McNally, right) and his buddies Bart Moore (Paul Kelly, left) and the mute they call “Dummy” (Frank de Kova, center), provide their own explosion and escape to… the Nevada desert, of course, where they stop a car containing a normal, everyday couple, Kay (Alexis Smith) and Arthur (Robert Paige). Well, actually they have a little secret: they’re not married! (Well, Kay is, but she’s stepping out on her husband.) Hurley doesn’t care. He just wants the wheels. Now he has two hostages.
Meanwhile, amid the local authorities warning everyone about the upcoming atomic blast just one more time, eager beaver reporter Larry Fleming (Keith Andes) is determined to cover the story of the prison escapees. After stopping at a gas station, Larry gives a ride to Dottie Vail (Jan Sterling), a nightclub dancer. When Larry and Dottie stop to help Kay and Arthur, whose car has run out of gas, they’re “encouraged” to join the escapee party.
This shot looks like something from a Marx Brothers movie. C'mon, you've gotta admit there’s something hilarious about these seven people crammed into a car. I almost wish somebody had farted or something. (You know the guys who made Airplane! could’ve had a field day with this movie just like they did with Zero Hour! [1957]) The picture almost seems to be saying, “Tell us a story, Uncle Hurley.” He does tell them a story, one that’s familiar to film noir fans: Hurley is a veteran “ruined by the war.”
Hurley checks everyone into an abandoned building in a ghost town, planning on hiding out there until Bart (who was shot in the prison escape) can see a doctor. It’s Hurley and Bart’s lucky day: Kay’s husband Neal (whom she’s cheating on with Arthur) just happens to be a doctor and would be delighted to help them out. Sure… Hurley contacts Neal (Richard Egan), telling him to get a move on. “I’ve got your wife! Play it safe, you’ve got yourself a wife. Get cute, you’ve got yourself a corpse.” It’s not exactly Shakespeare (closer to James Patterson), but Hurley gets his point across.
But what about the atomic blast? the hostages say. No problem, Hurley says. We get Bart fixed up and we’re outta here. But while we’re waiting around, I think I’ll get friendly with Miss Dottie, here… Well, now…
But soon Kay, fearing that she might otherwise die out in the desert, friendlies up to Hurley for a little security. Well, now!
Things get more interesting with the appearance of one of my favorite character actors, Arthur Hunnicutt as the ghost town’s sole resident Asa Tremaine. (Sounds like the kind of name you’d hear at a high school graduation. Maybe middle school. Make that elementary school…) Hunnicutt delivers his usual country schtick which works well, providing some comic relief and maybe some hope for the hostages.
Hurley provides one of the most interesting aspects of the film, desiring to care for his friend Bart and bed Dottie (and maybe even Kay, if he has time). His concern for Bart is so intense that you wonder if they were more than friends in the big house. (Double well now!)
There’s a bit of a twist near the end that’s pretty nifty and the overall suspense is quite impressive. You can’t take Split Second too seriously, but it is a lot of fun. So is it film noir, thriller, or something else? I’ll let you be the judge.
You can find Split Second on DVD from Warner Archive or just watch it on YouTube: