Main Cast: Ida Lupino, Steve Cochran, Howard Duff, Dean Jagger, Dorothy Malone
Release Year: 1954
Country: US
Run Time: 81 minutes
Plot
Private Hell 36 was one of the last feature-length efforts by Filmmakers, a company created by producer Collier Young and his then-wife Ida Lupino. Young and Lupino also wrote the script for this grim crime melodrama, wherein two detectives Cal Bruner (Steve Cochran) and Jack Farnham (Howard Duff Lupino's future husband) are assigned to track down $300,000 stolen in a bloody hold-up. The two cops manage to locate $80,000 of the booty, whereupon Bruner, not the most ethical of men, suggests that he and Farnham split the money 50-50 and keep their mouths shut. Also involved in this conspiracy is a nightclub singer (Ida Lupino), whose motivations are a tad on the mysterious side. When Farnham decides to turn honest and hand the money over to his superiors, Bruner responds with the business end of his revolver. The very small cast is rounded out by Dean Jagger as the detectives' boss and Dorothy Malone as Duff's understandably worried wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Private Hell 36 is ultimately a rather standard police flick with noir overtones, but it's worth watching for a number of reasons. Director Don Siegel is not turning in the best work of his career, but he's still in firm command here, directing at all times efficiently and at times going beyond that into the electrifying. The latter is evident in the two big gun battles that bookend the film and that demonstrate Siegel's ability to create tension and excitement with seeming ease. Hell also has at its disposal a superior cast. Ida Lupino, world weary but vulnerable, is always a plus. Her role in Hell is not as well written as one might wish, but she makes the most of what is essentially a supporting part. In an even smaller role, Dorothy Malone is aces, but it's the male leads who really do the best work here. Howard Duff is quite convincing as the good cop who has a moment of weakness, and Steve Cochran turns in really impressive work as the tortured, bitter cop. The plotting gets awkward in places, and there's too much that's familiar, but overall Hell is a decent way to pass the time. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Budget Duff - Baby Famham; Dabbs Greer - Bartender; Jerry Hausner - Nightclub Boss; Jim Hawkins - Delivery Boy; Kenneth Patterson - Superior Officer; King Donovan - Burglar; Chris O'Brien - Coroner; George Dockstader - Fugitive
Credit
Walter E. Keller - Art Director, Don Siegel - Director, Stanford Tischler - Editor, Leith Stevens - Composer (Music Score), John Franco - Songwriter, David Newell - Makeup, Burnett Guffey - Cinematographer, Ida Lupino - Producer, Collier Young - Producer, Edward Boyle - Set Designer, Howard Wilson - Sound/Sound Designer, T.A. Carman - Sound/Sound Designer, Ida Lupino - Screenwriter, Collier Young - Screenwriter
