I considered using Desert Noir in the post title, but Nuke Noir better captures the dark spirit of 1953’s Split Second. The Cold War was heating up after the Dulles brothers took charge at the State Department and CIA. Americans were already paranoid about nuclear war, so Hollywood capitalized on that paranoia with a series of Cold War movies. Split Second was one of the earlier entries.

Split Second combines multiple genres. There’s a prison break, a hostage situation, and a nuclear test looming. All these plot threads were tied up by screenwriters William Bowers and Irvin Wallace. I typically mention writers later in these posts, but this is a writerly script. Bowers was the master of the smart mouth one-liner and Wallace had a gift for ripped from the headlines stories.

Stephen McNally and Paul Kelly escape from prison. The escape was planned complete with a getaway car driven by Frank DeKova best known to me from F Troop. Things get messy when Kelly is shot in the gut. His wound and the need to get him medical help drive the plot.

While on the run, the convicts indulge in a bit of carjacking. It’s a trendy crime now but it wasn’t in 1953. They snatch these characters:

The abductees include Jan Sterling, Robert Paige, Keith Andes, and Alexis Smith. They’re taken to a ghost town in the Nevada desert. There’s a problem with this plan: there’s an A-Bomb test scheduled the next morning at 6AM and the ghost town is smack dab in the middle of the test site.

Our characters are eventually joined by Smith’s doctor husband, Richard Egan, and a garrulous prospector played by Arthur Hunnicutt. There seems to be a rule that movie prospectors are bearded and talk too much. Hunnicutt’s loose lips get him in trouble with the gangsters:

Much of the movie takes place inside a claustrophobic building in the abandoned town. The characters get agitated, most of all leading lady Alexis Smith seen here with Stephen McNally who she throws herself at in a fit of fear.

The parts were originally supposed to go to RKO stars Victor Mature and Jane Russell but they made The Las Vegas Story instead. The casting of Smith in particular is much better. Russell specialized in tough broads, not whiny rich ladies like Smith’s character.

Mature and Russell would have overpowered the story and ensemble cast. Besides, Stephen McNally was a better heavy than Mature. Mature was better as a hero or reluctant bad guy, McNally goes for villain gusto in this part.

Tension builds to a breaking point when the nuclear test is moved forward. Our characters hear the warning siren and split up. The featured image shows McNally, Smith, and Kelly driving to their doom. The others are guided to a cave by the poor man’s Gabby Hayes and survive:

Split Second is directed by movie star and noir tough guy, Dick Powell. He did an excellent job building tension aided by the terrific script and fine cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca. The film’s 88 minute running time flies by before going KABOOM at the end.

Grading Time: I give Split Second 3 stars and an Adrastos Grade of B. It’s not to be confused with the 1992 movie of the same name with Rutger Hauer and Kim Cattrall.

Let’s bring some posters to the post.

That was the long of it, here’s the quad of it:

KABOOM.

I need some refreshments after that hair-raising image. Let’s all go to the lobby:

As always, the lobby cards for this black and white movie are in color. I’ve run out of those jokes. It had to happen.

I’d scream too if I were trapped in a ghost town about to be nuked. Nuke noir meets desert noir.

Let’s flee the desert in a trailer:

The last word goes to Eddie Muller with his Noir Alley intro and outro.