Two Seconds
| Two Seconds | |
|---|---|
 1932 Theatrical Poster |
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| Directed by | Mervyn Le Roy |
| Written by | Harvey Thew |
| Based on | Two Seconds (play) by Elliott Lester |
| Starring | Edward G. Robinson Vivienne Osborne Preston Foster |
| Music by | W. Franke Harling |
| Cinematography | Sol Polito |
| Editing by | Terry Morse |
| Studio | First National Pictures |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | May 28, 1932 |
| Running time | 68 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Two Seconds is a 1932 Pre-Code film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Edward G. Robinson with Vivienne Osborne and Preston Foster. It was based on a successful Broadway play of the same name by Elliott Lester. The title refers to the two seconds it takes the condemned person to die in the electric chair after the executioner throws the switch. Preston Foster reprises the role he played on the Broadway stage.[1]
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[edit] Plot
As John Allen, a condemned murderer, is led to the electric chair, a witness asks a guard how long it takes for the condemned person to die. "Two seconds," the guard answers, "the longest two seconds of his life." As the executioner throws the switch, the events that led up to the execution appear in flashback.
Allen worked with his friend and flatmate Bud Clark as a riveter high on the girders of a skyscraper under construction. Bud is engaged to be married, and tries to set up a date for Allen, but Allen is uninterested. He goes to a dance hall, where he meets dancer Shirley Day. He defends her from an amorous patron, and she is fired by Tony, the proprietor who is also her lover. Allen wants to be with an educated woman, and Shirley pretends to be interested in attending a lecture with him. Instead, she persuades him to go to a speakeasy and she gets him drunk on "tea". She bribes a justice of the peace to marry them; Allen is too drunk to realize what is happening.
When they return to Allen's apartment, Shirley throws Bud out. Almost immediately, Shirley begins seeing Tony. When, three weeks after the marriage, Bud tells Allen that Shirley is unfaithful they fight, and Bud falls to his death from a skyscraper girder. The grief-stricken Allen then quits his job, but is demoralized by living on Shirley's ill-gotten money.
Later Shirley pretends to repent and tells Allen that she has been meeting with Tony to borrow money to help Bud's fiancee Annie get a job at the dance hall. Allen begins betting on horses in order to pay off the debts Shirley owes Tony. One of his bets pays off $362 and Allen heads to Tony's house with the money, only to find Shirley in Tony's arms. He realizes that Bud had been telling the truth, and Shirley had been lying to him. Jealous, he kills Shirley and is sentenced to the electric chair.
At his trial Allen refuses all defenses saying he should have been killed when he was at his lowest, not when he had been avenged. As the switch is pulled, Allen reflects on how he got away with Bud Clark's accidental death, but was condemned for Shirley's murder.
[edit] Cast (in credits order)
- Edward G. Robinson as John Allen
- Vivienne Osborne as Shirley Day
- Guy Kibbee as Bookie
- Preston Foster as Bud Clark
- J. Carrol Naish as Tony
- Frederick Burton as Judge
- Harry Beresford as Doctor
- Dorothea Wolbert as Lizzie, Cleaning Lady
- Berton Churchill as The Warden
- William Janney as College Boy At Execution
- Edward McWade as The Prison Doctor
- Gladys Lloyd as Woman
[edit] Critical reception
Although he called it a "a sordid and melancholy study" that was "glum and gruesome" and "minus any comedy relief", New York Times critic Mordaunt Hall also found a lot to like in Two Seconds. "Edward G. Robinson contributes a remarkably forceful portrayal," he wrote, adding that the film was "adroitly done [and] compels attention." He called LeRoy's direction "imaginative and lifelike" and praised the supporting cast: "Preston Foster plays Bud Clark, a rôle he also interpreted on the stage. His acting is capital. Vivienne Osborne is very real as the conscienceless Shirley. J. Carroll Naish makes the most of the part of Tony." In summary, he writes: "In spite of its drab tale, it calls forth admiration, for it never falters."[2]
Variety's 1932 review was less enamored: "General slowness and stodgy overdramatics won't draw the flaps, nor will a tragic finale help."[3]
In later years, prolific critic Leslie Halliwell tersely called Two Seconds a "competent, pacy crime melodrama."[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Two Seconds as produced on Broadway at the Ritz Theatre October 9, 1931 to November 1931, 59 performances; IBDb.com
- ^ Hall, Mordaunt (1932). "Edward G. Robinson in a Flash-Back Pictorial Melodrama Telling of the Last Thoughts of a Murderer". The New York Times, May 19, 1932 accessed 10/11/11
- ^ Variety 1932 review excerpted in Halliwell, Leslie and John Walker, ed. (1994). Halliwell's Film Guide 9th Edition. New York: HarperPerennial. ISBN 0-06-273241-2. p. 1246
- ^ Halliwell, p. 1246
[edit] External links
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