ridiculous rating

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

A lot of fun.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

TEN SECONDS TO HELL is one of the most atypical Hammer films I can remember seeing. Other than a few technical credits this has no connection to other Hammer films whatsoever. It's a post-war thriller, shot in Germany by Hollywood director Robert Aldrich, with an American cast including Jack Palance and Jeff Chandler. The film is very much like THE HURT LOCKER of its day, featuring a bomb squad working through the ruins of a bombed-out Berlin, striving to save the populace from unexploded ordnance. What follows is a character-based study in duty, camaraderie and fear, bolstered by some fine bomb-defusing suspense sequences. Chandler and Palance work well together and if this isn't as good as THE HURT LOCKER that's no surprise; it's still gripping for its day.

The answer to that question is, "You can't!" I saw this film when it first came out in 1959, and I recently had the opportunity to see it again after 49 long years on Turner Classic Movies. I think the thing that makes this film so memorable to me is that the two leading actors Jeff Chandler and Jack Palance were given the opportunity to "break the mold" so to speak. Chandler who always played "the good guy" and "Palance" who always played "the bad guy" got the opportunity to switch roles. Earlier in their careers Chandler played a Roman Soldier (good guy) opposite Palance's Attila (bad guy) in "Sign of the Pagan". Chandler appears to be having a ball with the role of Karl Wirtz. His speech about how his Uncle Oscar taught him how to "look out for number ono" is reminiscent of the Burt Lancaster (Joe Erin) speech about the man who raised him (Ace Hannah) and how he double crossed him as well in "Vera Cruz". Interstingly enough, both films "Ten Seconds To Hell" and "Vera Cruz" were both directed by Robert Aldrich. The film's plot is about a German Bomb Disposal Unit working for the British after WWII which make a pact that the survivors will split the spoils of their labor after the job is finished. The texture and mood of the black and white film adds to the suspense of the film. One of both Chandler and Palance's best films.

This might have been a good film, but it failed on more than one count. I have to compare it to the TV Series "Danger UXB", which, while it had much longer to develop its' story, was infinitely superior. The technical information in the TV series was much more interesting, and I kept wondering why the methods used in this film were so obviously poor, especially at the end of the war when all the methods, equipment and information should have been superior. In the finish, I came to the conclusion that this film, based on Lawrence P. Bachmann's novel "The Phoenix", used the bomb defusing merely as background, and that methods of bomb disposal were poorly understood by the writer, who probably didn't care anyway. In contrast, it is clear that someone who knew what he was talking about wrote the TV series. Although not credited in the listing here, I recall someone mentioned in the credits for the series (an Army officer) as a technical advisor, and it shows.We are left, therefore, with viewing this film as an essay on personal conflicts and relationships, and it fails badly on that count as well. The motivations of the characters are confusing and hard to believe and ultimately uninteresting. The cast are wasted in this, which is only worth watching if you are sick in bed and have nothing better to do.

Six nonconformed former German soldiers work for the British occupation forces on defusing blind shells in Berlin. The men, of very different characters, make a bet, that those who stay alive should get half of all their pays. Indeed one after another of them perishs. So it comes to the showdown between Koertner (Jack Palance) and Wirtz (Jeff Chandler), who also compete for the affection of their host Margot (Martine Carol).This exciting adventure movie is staged carefully by past master Robert Aldrich. He shows in fascinating details bomb deactivation and the atmosphere of Berlin lying in ruins - a striking metaphor for the devastated lifes of the characters! Chandler and Palance are believable in their roles. Psychological it impress through the description of the fatefully scratched squad, whose members are not able to get out of this suicidal job.In short: A depressing but exciting look on World War II survivors, who battle for the reorganization of their lifes.