Two Seconds

There's no chance a movie like this is coming out of Hollywood this decade or the previous decade or in the nineties or eighties. Two Seconds is the story of an unhappy steel worker and his squalid little life. At times, Edward G. Robinson is very over the top, but when it matters, his performance is crackling with authenticity and passion and it is clear why this small and unattractive man became a huge Hollywood icon. His fire is undeniable.

Unpredictably plotted in the way many pre-code B pictures were, this piece is always engaging and alive and perhaps a bit too short. It contains an absolutely searing monologue that you will never forget and overall the work is a dirty window through which the desperation of life for the lower class in 1930 American can be gleaned.

A good film and a rich portrait.

(I saw 35mm prints of the movie at Film Forum, N.Y. on two occasions.)