MovieChat Forums > Danger UXB (1981) Discussion > Calling all movie buffs - I'm trying to ...

Calling all movie buffs - I'm trying to identify a movie

posted 19 years ago by dbpi1
3 replies | jump to latest

I recently read a review of the TV series "Danger UXB" (1979)whose WWII plot was the defusing by English army engineers, of unexploded German aerial bombs which had been dropped on English cities. I'm trying to identify the title of an older black-and-white movie which I saw many years ago, which had a similar plot.

As I recall -- assuming my memory is still correct -- this was a movie with a post World War II setting (1946), which took place in Germany instead of England. In the movie a German crew of engineers has the job of defusing unexploded aerial bombs in the rubble, which had been dropped on German cities by the Allies during the war. Most of the engineers are killed during the course of their work in the movie, by booby-trap fuses that explode the bombs. I thought that actor Burt Lancaster had originally played the part of one of the German engineers, but in checking his movie credits, I found no reference to him making a movie with this plot.

Can any serious movie buffs out there recall this old movie, and give me the name of the title and main actors? Thanks.

[–] racoom_bs 19 years ago

I don't remember your movie set in Germany, but I did see a British movie (B/W), probably J. Arthur Rank, back in the fifties about a British bomb disarming crew in London. I'm certain the title was "UXB: Unexploded Bomb", and it starred a well-known
young English actor, possibly Dirk Bogarde or David Farrar. No luck with IMDb's listing, though.

You're not looking at a soldier now, you're looking at an expedition! I'm an expedition!

[–] apple314 18 years ago

Well, better late than later. The movie you're thinking about might've been "Ten Seconds to Hell", which starred Jack Palance. Here's IMDb's link to it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053341/. It was released in 1959, is in black-&-white, & set in Germany. From the review(s), it sounds like a pretty cool movie.

[–] davidwile 10 years ago

Hey folks,

I remember Ten Seconds To Hell fairly well considering I saw back in 1959 while I was spending the day on the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In my high school years in Middletown, Pennsylvania, I used to love the summer months when I could spend a few weekends visiting some family members who lived in Ocean City, New Jersey. Every time I visited, I always spent a full day at the Steel Pier - from the time it opened until it closed at night. They always showed two feature films each day, and they always had musical entertainment that went from big bands to rock & roll singers of the day.

On one of my visits that summer, one of the films I saw was Ten Seconds To Hell which featured Jack Palance and Jeff Chandler. I thought it was a great film at the time because of what I thought was a really great ending. As years went by and I was probably in my late 50s, I had a chance to see the film again, and I expected it to be not so good any more after all the years that had passed. To my surprise, I still found the film to be quite exciting, and I still found the ending gripping. The only thing I did not like the second time was realizing that Jeff Chandler and Jack Palance were the only actors with whom I was familiar.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile