Split Second (1953)

An escaped murderer (Stephen McNally) and his accomplices (Paul Kelly, Frank DeKova) and six hostages (Alexis Smith, Jan Sterling, Richard Egan, Keith Andes, Arthur Hunnicutt, Robert Paige) are holed up in an abandoned town in the Nevada desert. The only problem is that the town is smack in the middle of an atomic testing site with the bomb due to go off the next morning. Directed by actor Dick Powell in his directorial debut. This one is a gem of a thriller with noir-ish trimmings. Powell's direction is tight, never loosening its grip as the fate of these strangers shifts right up to the final countdown. Powell would go on to direct four more films including THE CONQUEROR (1956) and the irony is not lost that SPLIT SECOND deals with an atomic blast and the cast and crew of THE CONQUEROR were victims of unknowingly filming near an atomic test site with some 91 deaths from cancer which was inordinately high. That grim note aside, this minor thriller delivers the goods and with one exception, the acting is good. The one exception is Alexis Smith whose histrionics didn't quite convince me. The film's ending seems a bit naive considering what we know today of the long terms effects on the victims of atomic radiation.