Advertised as "suspenseful" and "a stick of dynamite", Robert Aldrich's Ten Seconds to Hell (1959) drops a handful of men in the middle of near-constant danger...with mixed results. The story is simple: six German POWs, including Karl Wirtz (Jeff Chandler) and de facto leader Erik Koertner (Jack Palance), have been offered a large payday to clear unexploded Allied bombs from war-torn Berlin. All six are not expected to survive; knowing this, they combine their money for the benefit of whoever survives the three-month task. Between shifts, Karl and Erik rest at a boarding house managed by French widow Margot Hoefler (Martine Carol); before long, both are competing for her affections.

If Ten Seconds to Hell does one thing exactly right (and it's a big thing, to be sure), it depicts the act of bomb defusing skillfully. First-time viewers won't know if or when these bombs will go off, creating tension that's still potent more than 55 years after the film's original release. Though not without a few eye-rolling jump scares, these scenes are efficiently crafted with minimal music and other distractions; combined with the fact that they're populated by just one or two characters apiece, these segments of Ten Seconds to Hell quickly become isolated, unpredictable waiting games.

Unfortunately, almost every other aspect of the story is, like a few of the bombs, a dud. First and foremost, the love triangle that forms between Margot and our two leads routinely brings all that well-earned suspense to a grinding halt. On paper, perhaps this romantic angle was crafted to attract a wider audience; in action, it yields compromised results. Karl and Erik's relationship changes because of this competition (not necessarily for the worse, since they don't like each other at the beginning, either), but not enough to warrant the valuable screen time it eats up. Though it's just over 90 minutes long, Ten Seconds to Hell feels like every second of its running time...and I mean that as both as a compliment (for the tense bomb defusing sequences) and a complaint (the love story, as it were). Add in a generous amount of clunky exposition and narration on par with Blade Runner's theatrical cut, and you've got an uneven slice of 1950s cinema that's somehow memorable and frustrating all at once. Gotta love that ending, though.

Kino Classics' new Blu-ray package (also available on DVD format simultaneously) appears to mark Ten Seconds to Hell's home video debut, at least in Region 1/A. That alone should guarantee a purchase from anyone who's seen and enjoyed the film in decades past; although we only get the original trailer as a bonus feature, the A/V presentation certainly carries its own weight. This new 1080p transfer, combined with the terrific cinematography of Ernest Laszlo (whose credits include Stalag 17, Inherit the Wind, Judgment at Nuremberg, and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, just to name a few), makes the relatively small black-and-white production at least look like a million bucks.

I'll be honest: I'm not sure what Ten Seconds to Hell's original aspect ratio is, but it's presented here in 1.66:1 by Kino Classics. I've only ever seen it in 1.33:1 open matte, which seemed like a natural fit and makes this framing feel a bit more claustrophobic in comparison. But I'll give this Blu-ray the benefit of the doubt: Paramount started the 1.66:1 trend six years before Ten Seconds to Hell was released, and the film's European roots suggest that it might've been shown in that aspect ratio theatrically. Either way, the visuals look clean and crisp, aside from the moth-eaten stock footage used during the opening credits. Image detail is relatively strong with nice textures, deep black levels and a natural layer of film grain. Of course, there are inconsistencies along the way, but this transfer's strengths are apparent and die-hard fans should be enormously pleased. Possible aspect ratio issues aside, so was I.

Audio-wise, Ten Seconds to Hell sounds about as thin as you'd expect for a film more than 55 years old, but this is still a perfectly good presentation by Kino Classics. Presented in its original mono as a split DTS-HD Master Audio two-channel track, the dialogue is relatively crisp and Muir Mathieson's music sounds good without overpowering everything else. A few moments of hiss and crackling could be detected along the way...but once again, this is acceptable and won't disappoint fans in the least. Optional English subtitles have been included during the main feature.

When it's not shooting itself in the foot with clunky exposition, over-the-top narration and a corny love triangle, Ten Seconds to Hell serves up a potent amount of suspense that remains riveting more than 55 years after its release. If extra cheese is right up your alley, you might enjoy certain things about the film that I didn't...but even at a scant 93 minutes, this production feels like a padded compromise instead of a streamlined stick of dynamite. Kino Classics' Blu-ray package will please anyone looking high and low for this obscure film which, to my knowledge, has never been released on home video in Region 1. Bonus features are limited to a theatrical trailer...but the A/V presentation is certainly strong enough, despite the possibility that the picture might be cropped. I'd certainly recommend this Blu-ray (or Kino's simultaneous DVD counterpart) to die-hard fans, but everyone else should try before they buy. Rent It.