--- title: "Seconds: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/seconds/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/seconds" critics_score: 75 critics_reviews: 9 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Seconds (1966): what the critics said Critics' score 75 from 9 reviews: 6 positive, 2 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics admire Seconds, and the praise lands in two places. James Wong Howe’s black-and-white cinematography is named again and again, described as disorienting, stark and agitated, the thing that turns a story about a bored banker into something closer to a nightmare. Rock Hudson’s performance draws nearly as much comment, with several reviews calling it revealing. The words that recur are bleak, unsettling and frightening, and most of the reviews mean them as compliments; one critic calls the film years ahead of its time. The spread is wide. The warmest notices come from later reviews, written after the film was restored, and the one clear dissent is the earliest: Variety finds it intriguing but unsuccessful as thriller, science fiction or fable, and faults the Faustian theme as underdeveloped. Two of the nine reviews could not be read in full, so the middle ground is thinner than the numbers suggest. ## IndieWire — Max O'Connell Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 3 December 2014. O’Connell presents the film as a striking, unsettling work of existential terror and paranoia. He singles out its disorienting cinematography and Rock Hudson’s revealing performance for praise. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/criticwire-classic-of-the-week-john-frankenheimers-seconds-125340/) ## Slant Magazine — Bill Weber Rating 4.5/5. 11 August 2013. Weber finds Seconds a bleak, visually striking film whose restoration enhances its Kafkaesque descent. He especially praises James Wong Howe’s disorienting black-and-white cinematography and the transfer’s depth and detail. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/seconds/) ## The AV Club — Sam Adams Rating B+. 14 August 2013. Adams finds the film unsettling, audacious, and stylistically daring. He especially praises John Hudson’s performance and the film’s agitated visual style. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/seconds-1798177673) ## Radio Times — Tony Sloman Rating 4/5. The critic calls the film brilliant, frightening, and years ahead of its time. They praise its stark black-and-white cinematography and Rock Hudson’s performance. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-cf76p6/seconds/) ## The New Yorker — Brendan Gill Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 30 September 1966. Gill finds Seconds exhilarating and ultimately delightful despite its bleak theme. He praises its superb plot and James Wong Howe’s varied, ravishing camerawork. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1966/10/08/in-charge-2) ## The New York Times Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 6 October 1966. The page content is blocked, so the critic’s verdict cannot be verified. No praise or complaint can be reliably identified from the available text. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1966/10/06/archives/screen-seconds-scary-thriller-opens-its-stay-at-3-theaters-faust.html) ## Time Out — TJ Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). The available page shell identifies this as a review but does not reveal the critic’s verdict. Its standfirst highlights the banker’s transformation into a new identity, but provides no specific praise or complaint. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/seconds) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 35/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1965. The review finds the film intriguing but ultimately unsuccessful as a thriller, science-fiction story, or philosophical fable. It praises the original treatment of suburban boredom and the yearning for a chance to begin life again, while faulting the underdeveloped Faustian theme. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1965/film/reviews/seconds-1200421038/) ## The Skinny — Steve Timms Rating ★★★★★. 5 October 2015. Timms calls the film possibly the bleakest ever made and says it has become a modern classic. He praises its critique of society’s obsession with youth and success, and celebrates the Masters of Cinema release. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/dvd-reviews/seconds-rock-hudson-dvd-masters-of-cinema) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/seconds.md