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d£# ■ *Seconds’ Brilliant,* • *•tFrightening Movie*I: ‘.“Seconds,” at Bethany West and Cinema Park is easily the j most brilliant and frightening film of the year.♦V .**♦It suffers from more than a few faults, but anyone who appreciates film entertainment made by a master craftsman will fnjoy this harrowing exercise in mounting suspense.**The story concerns a man who accepts a second chance atlife, hence the title. We first fcieet him as a prosperous banker, on his way to Scrasdale. Soon we are ensared in the pulse of the film as we learn that his life is empty, andthrough a somewhat confusing though ingenious method, unbelievable except in the context of the film, our banker emerges as Rock Hudson, artist.UP TO THIS POINT, director John Frankenheimer has constructed a taut and compelling drama, one that grips you from the start and keeps you guessing. And James Wong Howe’s imaginative camerawork provides Some of the most chilling scenes you have ever witnessed. But here the film falters, as if, having given us the basic situation, 'Frankenheimer is not quite cer--tain what to do with it.who knows how to make film tell a story, and who treats the medium with respect. “Seconds” is Hollywood high entertainment, chilling, sometimes loaded in its implications, but always compelling. Recommended. W.J.N.Hudson’s acting is not quite what the role calls for. He is presented as a confused and bumbling person, totally unsure Of himself.The final minutes of the film get us back on the right track, and they are something you will not soon forget. Probably some will say that Hudson is supposed to be uncertain and bewildered.THERE IS SOME excellent acting in secondary roles: Salome Jens as Hudson’s free-as-a-bird love interest in his new life. Will Geer as a seemingly kindly old man who is actually the brains of the entire operation, John Randolph as Hudson in his days as a banker, Wesley Addy as Hudson’s valet, a subtle and terrifying portrait.I But “Seconds” is primarily a director’s picture, and, with the .above mentioned reservations, John Frankenheimer has again demonstrated that he is one of Hollywood’s most gifted young lhen. This is the work of a manrlX♦
Newspaper Details
Phoenix Arizona Republic
Phoenix, Arizona, US
Fri, Sep 23, 1966
Page 37
Full Page
Clipped by
Rotten T.
USA 22 Sep 2021
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