Michael Curtiz's snappy little murder & mystery "Private Detective 62" is a lot of hard-boiled baloney sandwiched into 66 nimble minutes about a diplomatic agent who is arrested by French authorities and then deported back to America after his mission went haywire. His passport revoked, Donald Free (William Powell) finds himself shipped back home. Rian James' screenplay is based on a story by Raoul Whitfield, but it isn't much to speak of. Curtiz and his scribes reveal few details about Free's botched mission. Basically, it serves as a prologue for this splendidly made Warner Brothers' potboiler. Once the ship enters New York harbor, our hero takes a header over the rail and literally plunges to his freedom. Free manages to scrap together some clothes and takes a job as a private eye. He doesn't realize that partner, Dan Hogan (Arthur Hohl of "Island of Lost Souls"), has few scruples when it comes to crossing the line between legal and illegal business. Eventually, luck rewards Hogan when a mobster, Tony Bandor (Gordon Westcott of "Murder in the Clouds"), sets him up for the big time in a ritzy office complex. Bandor uses Hogan's agency as a way to blackmail clients. However, Free's inherent sense of honesty prevents him from participating in this kind of shady business. Free straddles the straight and narrow like a high wire acrobat. During the course of the film,Free's relationship with Hogan changes after he dispatches Free on a Bandor mandated mission to deliver dirt on a dame.
Janet Reynolds (Margaret Lindsay of "G-Men") has been taking Tony to the cleaners every time she gambles in his casino. Incredibly, every number she chooses is a winner! Reluctantly, Tony agrees to pay Janet the $50 grand owed her. He arranges for her to come to his apartment where he keeps the cash. He explains that he doesn't keep large sums of dough there because the police could confiscate it during a raid. Before he arranges a nocturnal rendezvous with Janet at his apartment, Tony pays a thug, Whitey (James Bell of "The Spiral Staircase"), to snatch her small .32 caliber pistol. Whitey removes the bullets and then doctors them, so when Tony refuses to hand over the loot, Janet will have no alternative but to shoot him. Indeed, this very thing happens before Janet's incredulous eyes. She plugs Tony, who fakes his death. Meantime, Whitey, who had concealed himself behind the curtains in Tony's apartment, waits until Janet flees and then he drills Tony. Janet rushes to Hogan when she cannot find Donald, and they have their heads together trying to figure out a solution to her woes when Donald clears up everything. He exposes Hogan as a con artist. Happily, everything turns out well in the end. However, since he has regained his diplomatic agent status, Donald prefers to go back overseas to the job he loves.
Interestingly enough, Whitey is a dope fiend who is hooked on cocaine. Since the Production Code frowned on drugs in films, Warner Brothers relied on street slang. Hogan refers to Whitey as a 'snowbird' who should lay off the 'snow.' Nevertheless, Curtiz keeps the action moving at a rapid clip, with one surprise after another in this slickly done black & white thriller. According to the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Science, Curtiz lensed "this movie for twenty-one days at a cost of $260,000." Of course, Curtiz is world famous for having helmed "Casablanca" with Humphrey Bogart.
Janet Reynolds (Margaret Lindsay of "G-Men") has been taking Tony to the cleaners every time she gambles in his casino. Incredibly, every number she chooses is a winner! Reluctantly, Tony agrees to pay Janet the $50 grand owed her. He arranges for her to come to his apartment where he keeps the cash. He explains that he doesn't keep large sums of dough there because the police could confiscate it during a raid. Before he arranges a nocturnal rendezvous with Janet at his apartment, Tony pays a thug, Whitey (James Bell of "The Spiral Staircase"), to snatch her small .32 caliber pistol. Whitey removes the bullets and then doctors them, so when Tony refuses to hand over the loot, Janet will have no alternative but to shoot him. Indeed, this very thing happens before Janet's incredulous eyes. She plugs Tony, who fakes his death. Meantime, Whitey, who had concealed himself behind the curtains in Tony's apartment, waits until Janet flees and then he drills Tony. Janet rushes to Hogan when she cannot find Donald, and they have their heads together trying to figure out a solution to her woes when Donald clears up everything. He exposes Hogan as a con artist. Happily, everything turns out well in the end. However, since he has regained his diplomatic agent status, Donald prefers to go back overseas to the job he loves.
Interestingly enough, Whitey is a dope fiend who is hooked on cocaine. Since the Production Code frowned on drugs in films, Warner Brothers relied on street slang. Hogan refers to Whitey as a 'snowbird' who should lay off the 'snow.' Nevertheless, Curtiz keeps the action moving at a rapid clip, with one surprise after another in this slickly done black & white thriller. According to the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Science, Curtiz lensed "this movie for twenty-one days at a cost of $260,000." Of course, Curtiz is world famous for having helmed "Casablanca" with Humphrey Bogart.