A condemned murderer, in the process of being executed, relives the events that led to his being sentenced to die in the electric chair. Told in flashback, we witness a sleazy dancehall girl (Vivienne Osborne) dupe a high rise riveter (Edward G. Robinson) into marriage so she can live off of him. But when he loses his job and his marbles, she ends up supporting him with money from her side man--and misses no opportunity to rub it in his face that she's now supporting him in his emasculated state. As the animosity grows and things get more and more unbearable, he is eventually driven to desperate measures.
Acting
Robinson's shattered desperation—before he became a gangster cliché.
Direction
LeRoy's electric chair framing device ratchets dread into every flashback.
Writing
Nasty pre-code dialogue that Hays would have murdered.
Director
Mervyn LeRoy
Edward G. Robinson
John Allen
Vivienne Osborne
Shirley Day
Guy Kibbee
Bookie
Preston Foster
Bud Clark
J. Carrol Naish
Tony
Harry Beresford
Doctor
Dorothea Wolbert
Lizzie, Cleaning Lady
Berton Churchill
The Warden
William Janney
College Boy at Execution
Edward McWade
The Prison Doctor
Adrienne Dore
Annie (uncredited)
Luana Walters
Tart (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during the Depression's darkest depths; John's sudden unemployment terrorized 1932 audiences who lived it.
The 'two seconds' title refers to how long electricity takes to kill—Warner Bros. loved morbid pre-code marketing.
US
