Scandinavian countries have produced plenty of brilliant cinema, including one of the greatest directors in film history, but noir wasn’t a regional strength during the classic era, especially when compared to France, Mexico, and, of course, the United States. There are, however, some excellent contributions to the cycle, such as Danish director Torben Anton Svendsen’s To minutter for sent (US: Two Minutes Late) in which a jealous wife’s worst nightmare seems to be coming true. Despite his constant reassurances, Grete Paduan (Grethe Thordahl) suspects her husband Max (Poul Reichhardt) is spending time with other women, potentially even her own sister Beth (Astrid Villaume), a journalist for the local newspaper. When a local woman named Sara Klint (Jeanne Darville) is found murdered, circumstantial evidence points to Max as a suspect, prompting Beth and her police reporter colleague (Louis Mihe-Renard) to conduct their own investigation alongside the police in the hopes of clearing Max’s name. Svendsen’s film is well-crafted with expressive cinematography and a minimal score, and he effectively establishes the building where the murder takes place as a creepy netherworld populated by strange tenants, most notably watchmaker Jacobsen (Erik Mørk), who seems to be keeping a secret. The final sequence, during which a telephone call is made two minutes late, is a tour-de-force in tension accelerated and doom realized.