Review #928: 'Seconds' (1966)

The opening scene of John Frankenheimer's massively overlooked thriller Seconds follows everyman Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph) as he ushers along a familiar railway station seemingly heading to another day at work. Through Frankenheimer and Oscar-nominated cinematographer James Wong Howe's eyes, this is our world but not quite as we know it, but how a lot of us will no doubt feel it. Obscure camera angles and extreme close-ups invoke a deep sense of paranoia, like someone is subtly observing from afar while the walls of our world feel like they're closing in. The man looks like the kind of pod-person Mad Men depicted so well, but who is he and where is he going? Eventually the man is handed a note from a stranger baring an address.

Seconds is the last and least well-known of John Frankenheimer's so-called 'paranoia trilogy', which began with The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and was followed by Seven Days in May (1964). Paranoid thrillers of the highest quality, Seconds is arguably the best. Dismissed by the majority of critics and unseen by audiences upon its release in 1966, it has been frequently re-evaluated over the years but has never achieved the level of recognition is surely deserves. It tries to answer the questions no doubt pondered by many middle-aged men caught up in the mundaneness of modern life, of what it would be like to be offered a clean slate - to change your appearance, be given the money to conquer your goals, and have your former self completely removed from the world. Will you achieve happiness and live the life you have always desired, free from the constraints of marriage and a 9 to 5 lifestyle? Or will you simply make the same mistakes as before?

Arthur Hamilton is contacted by an old friend he believed to be long dead, who tempts his old school buddy into a radical - and highly secretive - procedure that will transform him into a completely different person. Arthur cannot resist and visits the address he was handed by the stranger, and is soon transformed into a handsome and younger man, and is given a new name, Antiochus Wilson (played by a career-best Rock Hudson). Arthur's death is faked and he is whisked off to a warmer climate, where a swanky new pad and the tools to pursue his dream life as an artist await him. Is this life-changing reset merely covering up the underlying cracks deep within in his soul? Antiochus is soon indulging in trendy cocktail parties and the attentions of neighbour Nora (Salome Jens), but as the drinks are consumed his old self starts to bubble over.

Although he only appears around the hour mark, Hudson is nothing short of mesmerising here. Retained his handsome features but gaining a world-weariness, the man best known for his screwball comedies seems to perfect fit to play a man hiding his true self, given the double-life he was forced to lead to improve his public image and which eventually damaged his career. Wilson's drunken antics during a long party segment of the film are filled with pity and embarrassment, and it's here that Frankenheimer starts to lose his grip on the story. The narrative sags, but it only adds to the whole disorienting experience. Though technically a thriller, Seconds also works well as a horror, hiding the surgeons ready with their scalpels behind thick walls and shrouding the organisation offering the services in secrecy. Deserving of far more respect in the world of cinema, Seconds is a disturbing and depressing experience, but one that is drenched in irony, featuring one of the most unsettling closing lines I've ever heard.


Directed by: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Rock Hudson, Salome Jens, John Randolph, Will Geer, Jeff Corey
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie