Movie Reviews by Edwin Jahiel

SECONDS (1966)

Dissatisfied banker Rock Hudson finds totally new identity by feigning death, resurfacing as completely new person via plastic surgery, all arranged by a peculiar organization of reborns. Problems develop. Downbeat, semi-science fiction film raises disturbing questions about self and others, identity, the cult of youthfulness. It was a flop, became a sleeper, grew into a legend. It's one of the most original, literate, "intellectually" scary films of its period, one of director John Frankenheimer's best and by far Rock Hudson's most memorable performance, in his best-etched, most serious and original role. A wine orgy sequence was censored by the not-so-liberated 1960s. Some aspects are gauche and sag a it, but everything else is first-rate. Salome Jens, John Randolph, Murray Hamilton, Jeff Corey and others are excellent, with unctuous Will Geer unforgettably sinister. Superb black and white photography by a master, James Wong Howe. For horror and suspense the film knows exactly how and when to use wide-angle distortions, extreme closeups, angles, and quick cuts. (Edwin Jahiel)