Second Chance

Second Chance (1953)

To really enjoy this movie you have to know its place in the RKO filmmaking world. And you'd probably have to see it in 3D as it was originally intended. You won't get too far with the meandering plot that doesn't create tension, or romance, or even curiosity. We are made to simply watch and wait for something to happen.

Of course, something does happen, and in a big way, near the end, something completely separate from the intended plot. And even in 2D you get the drama and the dizzying depth of it all. And you get to watch three very big stars in expensive Technicolor--producer Howard Hughes really laid it all out for this one. Robert Mitchum looks good as both lonely man wooing the girl and as a boxer (briefly). Linda Darnell is the woman every man wants, apparently (especially Hughes, by the way). And Jack Palance is like a piece of wreckage, wired up and angry and with a face to sink a thousand ships.

The setting is interesting, too, all shot on location in Mexico, except some reshooting of the boxing scene (oddly enough, because it looks so authentic). Mitchum and Palance both got into some local fistfighting, and traded blows once during filming. When the movie came out, even though it has hardly any plot (other than surviving the final disaster scene), it was a success. Good thing, because RKO was financially reeling, and would in two years be bought by a rubber company and by the end the of the decade was the first of the Majors (the big 5 Hollywood studios) to completely go under.

So, don't expect much and you'll find lots of little things to enjoy. And maybe they'll get the Technicolor goosed up properly in a re-release someday, complete with 3D effects.

This was a very confusing movie. Like the summary says, Clair Sinclair (Linda Darnell) is on the run from a hitman (Jack Palance) and the local prizefighter (Robert Mitchum) helps her out.

However, there were so many plot points that came up but never lead to anything, I started to think that this movie must have been cut from its original length. Or, it was just not very well edited. Anyway, half of the movie is pretty watchable, but there are so many pointless scenes and unexplained loose ends, I find it hard to rate this higher than 5/10.

Robert Mitchum is pretty good (very handsome in this one) but Jack Palance completely over does the bad guy act. Linda Darnell does a good job, especially when she has to run UPHILL in high heels on the cobblestone streets of San Cristobal. Get this, Jack Palance is after her, seems to know every turn she takes, but he CAN'T CATCH HER!

It was only after I watched this that I found out it was a 3-D movie, which could explain some of the scenes (like the fiesta and the aerial tram), but most of the movie is so run of the mill, I can't see why they would make it in 3-D.

When characters in a film get into a cable car, you know it's only a matter of time before PING! the cable snaps. Strand by strand, of course, for maximum

tension (ha ha). Mitchum the boxer and Darnell the ex-moll on the run take

the fateful cable car up to a little Mexican hilltop town whose inhabitants have created a totally cardboard experience for tourists. The architecture is

"hacienda style" and lady guests can buy pseudo flamenco costumes in the

"vibrant, bustling" street market. Any Mexican not employed in the hotel,

selling peasant tat, or playing unctuous Mariachi music is out in the plaza

waving a balloon and shouting for joy, or performing a sinuous dance of no

particular origin. It reminds me of the many embarrassing ads on British TV

featuring funny Europeans. Then the main cast members climb aboard that

cable car and it becomes a lifeboat movie and you can write the script

yourself. Two cheers, though, for the feisty British middle-aged couple ("My

wife can help - she was a nurse's aide in London during the Blitz!").

Mitchum is brilliant as usual but Darnell is a little clumsy in the love scenes and speaks as though she was dubbing her lines.

SECOND CHANCE is a routinely-plotted thriller with an above-average setting (the glorious mountain top terrain of Mexico) and a decent cast to lift it above the norm for the genre. I should also note that it was originally released in 3D in 1953 as part of the short-lived 3D boom in movies, although watching it 'flat' there aren't many (or any) eye-popping sequences that stand out as in the likes of HOUSE OF WAX, for example.

The story opens with some excellent and suspenseful chase sequences in which put-upon heroine Linda Darnell is being hunted through the streets by the vengeful Jack Palance. It turns out that she's a witness ready to testify against a mob boss and he's the bodyguard sent to bring her home. You know the story by now, but what makes this fun is an ultra-laconic Robert Mitchum as a boozy boxer who Darnell ends up hooking up with.

Sadly the middle part of the film gets a little tedious with some drawn-out romance scenes and the great Palance left skulking in the background. However, things pick up for an extended, disaster-fuelled climax set in and atop a broken cable car. There are some great fight scenes and stunts which make full use of the taut scenario. SECOND CHANCE isn't the greatest film out there, but it's certainly a distinctive and memorable one.

The producers could have skipped the first hour, which is just filling time until the tram trip climax. And what a nail-biter that teetering-over-the-abyss is-- very well done in the special effects department. My only regret is the Palance-Mitchum face off, which should have been a bigger doozy than it is, considering it was for the broad-shoulders championship of Hollywood. Then too, both guys remain immaculately dressed the whole 90-minures—not what you'd expect of tough guys south of the border.

The first part, unfortunately, is pretty listless, except when poor Doc Adams, oops!, I mean Milburn Stone gets it in the gut. Looks like the producers knew they were short on substance, so they filled the Technicolor screen with a bunch of local color. Still, there's a lot of rather aimless walking around to and fro. And, oh yes, I almost forgot Mitchum's big boxing match that looks like it was filmed in a bull ring. Good thing he finally decided to use his power-house right, otherwise there might have been no story. And what a topical plot device putting the lovely Darnell across the border to escape a crime commission. Audiences no doubt connected that with the Kefauver Commission, so much in the news at the time.

On the acting front, Mitchum is his usual laid- back self, while, unfortunately, Darnell isn't given much to work with. At the same time, director Mate's non-use of close-ups denies Palance the skull-like menace that would otherwise fill in needed drama. Anyway, don't expect much until a climax that almost makes up for all that earlier dithering around.