jadedalex
"Private Hell 36" is by no means a great film noir classic, but for what the film promises, it offers up a tasty amoral tale about a crooked cop obsessed with a woman who requires expensive things. It's good to see Steve Cochran in a meaty, villainous role as the rogue cop. (He'll always be the ill-fated 'Big Ed' in Cagney's classic 'White Heat' to me.)What I notice about Ida Lupino is that, some thirteen years after her fine performance in 'High Sierra', she still looks very hot. She's the 'bad girl' here that is really not a 'bad girl' at all. Her crime seems to be that she's an independent, sexy chick! Which may HAVE been a crime back then. I'm certainly glad director Don ('Invasion of the Body Snatchers') Siegel's camera fell in love with Ms. Lupino's legs.It all comes to a tragic end because this IS film noir. However, you can't help but notice a fine little twist at the end.I thought Howard Duff was rather stiff as the 'good' cop. Dean Jagger was unexpectedly good as Duff's and Cochran's suspicious superior. This movie didn't venture much, but I was happy with the territory I was shown. A small, neat film. Ms. Lupino co-wrote it.Sharp viewers will note the appearance of actors King Donovan and Richard Deacon, who would also appear in 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers', Siegel's classic sci-fi film.
Michael O'Keefe
Top notch direction by Don Siegel and very good 1950s film noir. Los Angeles detectives, Cal Bruner(Steve Cochran) and Jack Farnham(Howard Duff)come across $300,000 in stolen money. The suspected robber is killed in a high speed car chase and loose greenbacks scatter from a box thrown from the vehicle. Cal decides to pocket a few bundles in hopes of keeping up with his girlfriend Lilli's(Ida Lupino)spending habits. Jack, a family man, could use extra cash, but nixes what his partner has done. Pleading with Cal is not working, because he wants to make a fast getaway out of the country with his night club singer girlfriend. Capt. Michaels(Dean Jagger)has a suspicion something isn't right with his detectives, who are being blackmailed over the stashed cash. You have to listen close to see how the number 36 fits into the film's title. Very good acting and believable screenplay co-written by Lupino. Other players in this crime drama: Dorothy Malone, Kenneth Patterson, Dabbs Greer and Richard Deacon.
MartinHafer
This film is interesting because it stars the real life husband and wife duo of Howard Duff and Ida Lupino (who also co-wrote the film). However, they do not play husband and wife in the film, as Duff's movie wife was played by Dorothy Malone. Even more interesting is that Duff's child in the film is actually played by his own daughter, Bridget. It was directed by Don Siegel--a guy known for making strong lower-budget thrillers during this era.Duff and Steve Cochran are both detectives, partners and friends. However, all this is tested when they are investigating a case and find a suitcase full of money. It's a lot of money and Cochran takes much of it for himself--figuring no one would miss it. Duff is appalled...but says nothing. It seems that he just hopes that his friend will see the light and do the right thing. However, the longer he waits the more trouble he, too, will be in for not reporting this. See how all this is resolved in this very nice detective film.My favorite aspect of the film was Cochran's character. Duff kept waiting for him to do the right thing...but Cochran had no mental compass and simply had no problem doing the selfish thing! None of this heart 'o gold or seeing the light at the end for this guy--a major plus for the film. Good acting, a good script and nice action make this one a nice example of film noir.By the way, the dead guy in elevator looked a lot like Nikita Khrushchev the way they had him made up! It was, in fact, Chester Conklin--an old movie veteran who gained some fame as one of Mack Sennett's 'Keystone Kops'.
Critical Eye UK
Though it's tempting to regard every black and white crime thriller as noir, there's a danger of reading too much into the merely monotone.As here. This isn't film noir but film monotone, devoid of the irony, and the anger, of genre classics and instead graced by, and in part compensated with, some often sassy dialog and Cochran's acting.As a movie, it's a mess: the title relates to a location of stolen money, but the money isn't stolen until well past the half way point in the running time, and so nobody's in hell, public or private, for almost an hour but are instead laboriously working their way to that point in the script when the movie can actually begin.A curio for Siegel fans, and those with fond memories of Republic, but otherwise more like purgatory than the brand of Hades it purports to chronicle.
AD
