Second Chance (1953)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

RKO's first foray into 3D is a rather dire star-vehicle for Robert Mitchum and Linda Darnell. Gangster's girl in South America, anxious to turn herself over to the police and release incriminating evidence to Washington officials against her boyfriend, instead finds herself on the run from the mobster's murderous stooge (whom she's also apparently been involved with!). She uses a smitten professional boxer from the States to get the thug off her tail, but he's relentless and they all end up in a crippled cable car suspended perilously over the valley. Muddled script by Oscar Millard and Sydney Boehm, from D.M. Marshman Jr.'s original treatment, makes a particular mess of the relationship between breathless Darnell and good-guy Mitchum (she's such a complete blank anyway, it's confounding why Mitchum would even give her the time of day). The climax is well-directed (if visually unconvincing), there's a colorful wedding celebration with fireworks, and Jack Palance is a menacing heavy. ** from ****

Linda Darnell and Robert Mitchum are two people in love and looking for a "Second Chance," a 1953 film also starring Jack Palance. I chose to see this film because Darnell, Mitchum, and Palance are three of my screen favorites - Darnell for her looks and association with some of my favorite films, Mitchum just because I love him, and Palance because he can be quite interesting.The movie concerns a gangster's ex-girlfriend Claire (Darnell) being pursued by a gunman named Cappy (Palance) as she runs away to avoid testifying against her ex-boyfriend. Though it seems like Cappy is stalking her, he really wants her for himself. In Mexico, Claire meets a down but not quite out prizefighter Russ (Mitchum) and the two fall in love. He wants her to go away with him to his next fight and then to New York, where he intends to fight in Madison Square Garden and make a comeback.I found this film fairly routine, dull, predictable and in the beginning, somewhat confusing. The star is really Mexico. Shot in color, the scenery is incredible. The last scenes on the cable car were very exciting and then tension really built.Mitchum looks great but is somewhat lethargic - that sullen sexuality of his can become merely passive, and it does here. Darnell is beautiful and has the more dramatic role, which she handles well. Palance plays a somewhat bizarre character - a killer in love with his proposed victim - and it's not one of his better performances. It's probably the role, which isn't fleshed out - every time we see him he's threatening Claire in one manner or another.This movie is okay but the end and the scenery are well worth seeing. Unfortunately, I didn't see it in 3D, and you won't either.

It's hard to say why the producers of SECOND CHANCE filmed it in 3-D, since that gimmicky device wore out its welcome very quickly. At any rate, without any added frills, SECOND CHANCE is little more than a routine exercise in suspense with some colorful Mexican locales to hold interest when the plot, involving LINDA DARNELL, ROBERT MITCHUM and JACK PALANCE, enters some dull stretches. Given that the story borders on film noir territory, it might have been more sensible to photograph it in classic B&W rather than washed out color.Darnell is the pretty damsel in distress being menaced by Palance and helped by Mitchum, an American boxer who proves himself up to the task of defending her from her jealous ex-boyfriend.A chase with Palance on her trail, is soon interrupted by a cable car ride to a mountain top site and a pause to enjoy a Mexican festival celebrating a wedding, which seems to have nothing to do with the plot but adds some local color. George Chakiris can be seen as a bystander in the background of a Mexican dance sequence.Mitchum looks bored most of the time, Darnell looks ravishingly lovely for all her close-ups and Palance chews whatever scenery is in sight as the villainous thug, all strictly one-dimensional roles.The story finally gets into a higher gear with the cable car sequence at the finale. By that time, interest has wavered throughout and the payoff seems rather tame despite the struggle between Mitchum and Palance on the cable car which has a predictable ending.Both Mitchum and Darnell deserved better material than this at this point in their careers. Nothing memorable here, strictly routine.

These are the last spoken words in this movie, before it ends rather abruptly. They characterize the whole affair accurately. Second Chance is a beautiful movie, the locations in Mexico look superb and made me yearn for my next holiday, despite the faded colors. In the middle there is a long sequence of a typical fiesta with fireworks and a surprisingly lascivious and suggestive dance scene – just for the fun of it. The action moves on to a spectacular old suspension railway which I also found impressive and entertaining.Unfortunately the story development is not good. It looks like nobody could decide what kind of movie this should be. It starts out like a film noir, then becomes a dreamy romance before turning into a classic, full fledged disaster flick with a suspended cable car full of different characters (look how all passengers assemble on the rear platform without the whole thing keeling over as I expect it should). Every part is OK in itself, but the different pieces do not tie together well.Anybody who is interested in old movies, where locations, objects and events may or may not have symbolic significance will like this Technicolor movie made by RKO studios in its last stages of existence.