i know this film have it defender and and the opening scene be promising and but i have to say that in the end i find two second unsatisfying and despite some interesting element along the way . edward g. robinson be an actor i almost always admire and even when his material isn not up to par and but in the final scene here his performance be overwrought and unconvincing . for the finale he throw all restraint out the window and indulge himself in over the top histrionics and a if to compensate for a script that do not rise to the occasion . to be fair and he be miscast in the role of naive and simple minded construction worker john allen while robinson be push 40 when this film be make and his childlike pronouncement in the early scene just do not ring true . if this have be make in the 1940s perhaps broderick crawford or even lon chaney jr. might have make this character credible and but robinson intelligence shine through too plainly for u to accept him a an oddly virginal blue collar guy who turn homicidal . the premise be that what we be see represent the thought in a condemned man mind during the last two second that his brain still function and a he die in the electric chair . that the hook which provide the title and but it little more than a gimmick for frame the story represent what unfold in john allen mind be a straightforward narrative of the event lead to the capital crime he commit and present in the familiar style of a 30 crime flick . ( and the screenplay violate it own gimmick and for there be sequence in allen flashback that occur when he isn not present and explaining thing he doesn not know and which be therefore memory he couldn not have . ) from the begin the script set up expectation it fail to meet . in an early scene when john be work high above manhattan with his friend bud on the frame of an unfinished office building and he look down on the people below and delivers a speech compare them to ant that suggest a seminal version of harry lime famous speech in the third man . be prepare to expect that john will come to fancy himself some kind of nietzsche like superman and and that his crime will derive from a sense of superiority over others and but nothing in his subsequent behavior follow from this speech . instead and john action be motivate by deep seat feeling about the proper relationship between men and woman and perhaps unspoken feeling for bud and his friend and longtime roommate . more directly and john crime be provoke by his rage toward his grasp wife shirley and who trick him into marriage by get him blotto drunk and who indirectly contribute to the accidental death of bud . shirley be well play by vivienne osbourne and an actress i would never see before and who be vivid in a two dimensional and underwritten role . shirley and like john and be another character who be strangely inconsistent from scene to scene and but she eventually settle into the familiar movie staple of no good trollop and a parasite who marry john for his steady paycheck and shower him with contempt when his health fails and the paycheck be no longer come in . be give no credible reason whatever why shirley stay with him and and when she seek work a a dancer at her former place of employment it seem like a smart survival tactic and but this be where the story true thesis kick in represent john be now the parasite because he live off his wife earnings . the script become increasingly shrill and hysterical a it reach these final scene and and robinson performance follow suit . what interesting be that john speech reflect the panic felt by a lot of men of his era over the painful fact that they be no long the breadwinner in their household . a the depression deepen and more and more men be jobless and a grow number of woman and marry or not and have to earn income through secretarial work and factory work and needlework and clerking in shop and or less savory pursuit . it bluntly imply that shirly isn not make all her money by dance and and it her success in earn low money that provoke john rage . he state repeatedly that a man who live off his wife earnings be no good than a rat and and after he kill her he complain that since he become a man once more it entirely unfair to punish him for it . do the people who make two second believe this . i seriously doubt it and but do that mean we be to dismiss john a crazy and ignore his rant . it isn not entirely clear and and i wish the screenwriter have work out their theme ( and follow their intriguing premise ) more carefully before the camera roll . even so and this be an interesting and unusual movie which stand a a fascinating reflection of the period when it be make . still and for a truly great performance by edward g. robinson i will take little caesar or double indemnity any day .