Ten Seconds to Hell

1959

Action / Drama / Romance / War

3
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 31% · 3 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 31% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.5/10 10 1384 1.4K

prisoner of war ex soldier

Plot summary

Two rivals from a German bomb squad are left to deactivate duds in postwar Berlin.

Director

Robert Aldrich Photo
Robert Aldrich

Top cast

Jack Palance Photo
Jack Palance as Eric Koertner
Martine Carol Photo
Martine Carol as Margot Hofer
Richard Wattis Photo
Richard Wattis as Maj. Haven
Wesley Addy Photo
Wesley Addy as Wolfgang Sulke
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
861.36 MB
1280*772
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 4
1.56 GB
1792*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 1

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by blanche-2 6 / 10

suspenseful if predictable

Director Robert Aldrich had his name removed as producer because the studio cut 40 minutes from "Ten Seconds to Hell." He felt without the 40 minutes, the film made no sense. Actually it does, but possibly some of the footage would have added to the suspense.After the war, German soldiers out of favor with the Reich for a variety of reasons were sent to Berlin to attend to British bombs that hadn't gone off but could if not defused. Interestingly, in 1979, the show Danger UXB covered the exact plot, but with British soldiers working in London. It's a very dangerous mission, as the bomb could go off in your face.The team is made up of six people, the main men being a pre-war architect, Koertner (Jack Palance), and an arrogant jerk, Wirtz (Jeff Chandler). Wes Addy, Robert Comthwaite, David Willick and Jim Goodman make up the rest of the team. The men bet half their salaries on staying alive, and anyone standing at the end of the mission win the purse. Koertner is the head of the team, and he and Wirtz both compete for the affections of their landlady, Margot, played by a somewhat overwrought Martine Carol.This is a predictable story but, given the volatility of the bombs, a lot of suspense. Palance had worked several times with Aldrich and is actually the lead and the good guy rather than the normally heroic Chandler. Both of them are very good. Sobering, and definitely worth seeing.
Reviewed by Bunuel1976 6 / 10

TEN SECONDS TO HELL (Robert Aldrich, 1959) **1/2

I watched this in a colorized version (shudder, I know!), but I guess it's better than nothing!! This is yet another war-themed film for Aldrich but a novel one, dealing with a six-man bomb-disposal unit in Germany after the end of World War II.As such, it's much closer in spirit to the stark (and often hysterical) ATTACK! (1956) than the sweeping blockbusters - THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967) and TOO LATE THE HRO (1970; see review above) - of the next decade. Indeed, here, Jack Palance is again given a sympathetic role - while Jeff Chandler, uncharacteristically, essays the villainous type. Interestingly, the film was made by Britain's House of Horror - Hammer Films (in association with United Artists) - with shooting taking place at Germany's celebrated UFA studios! Plot-wise, however, the film is somewhat contrived: Palance and Chandler hate each other's guts but still lodge together and, of course, fall for their attractive - and lonely - French landlady (Martine Carol); by the end, only they have survived their dangerous line of work and the two face-off in a literally explosive climax! While no classic, it's professionally handled and has undeniable moments of power (one of the deaths is filmed in a way that we never see the man's face but, when the remaining members of the group are reconvened, we realize that Wesley Addy is missing; Chandler's story about his uncle teaching him to always look out for himself first and how the latter was the first to suffer for it).
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