User Reviews

Strangely paced but generally effective film noir with clever echoes of Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment", about an unprincipled cop (Steve Cochran) who tries to get his honest partner (Howard Duff) to go along with making off with $80,000 in stolen loot.

Co-written by twitchy, slinky actress Ida Lupino, who gives herself a juicy part, it moves along in fits and starts but has a kind of wobbly, dizzy energy that exerts a certain pull. Sort of like an ice skater that trips up a couple times in the middle of her routine, but gamely sees it through to the end.

I've seen Steve Cochran now in three films ("Tomorrow is Another Day", and "I, Mobster" being the others) and it's clear that he was an actor in command of his craft. He had a very sly, sturdy appeal; he always seems to be laying back, calculating the odds, sizing up the other guy (or girl), figuring his chances. Watching his and Lupino's verbal chess match after they first meet and he is questioning her about what she knows, is pretty close to acting heaven.

It all leads up to a nifty, suitably stark finish, and an arresting closing shot.

Independent filmmaker Ida Lupino didn't intend to make a B picture with PRIVATE HELL 36 but that's what happened. In the early 1950s, director/writer/actress Ida and her writer/producer husband Collier Young broke away from the studio system by forming "The Filmmakers" and they used it to tackle such topical subjects as rape and "ripped from the headlines" social commentary. Young and Lupino soon divorced but they kept their working relationship going and even used each other's new spouses in their "classy" exploitation films. Ida directed Collier's wife Joan Fontaine in THE BIGAMIST (1953) and her follow-up film was going to be "The Story Of A Cop" starring her husband, Howard Duff. At the time, big city police corruption and the Kefauver TV hearings on organized crime were hot-button issues that made national headlines and were inspiration to writers like William P. McGivern who fashioned roman-a-clefs in films like THE BIG HEAT (1953), SHIELD FOR MURDER, and ROGUE COP (both 1954). Never one to let a good story go by, Ida Lupino threw her bonnet into the ring but by the time she was ready to make "Cop", she and Duff had separated. They soon reconciled but, afraid to rock the boat, Ida decided not to direct her husband and hired Don Siegel, who had just made RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11, for the job. The result, now called PRIVATE HELL 36, is the story of L.A.P.D. partners Steve Cochran & Howard Duff and what happens when temptation proves too much for one of them. Lupino actually tackles themes that many Films Noirs have been accused of doing now and then: capitalism, materialism, and the American Dream are the mitigating circumstances propelling the self-inflicted problems everyone involved have to confront. Loyalty and "the blue wall of silence" are also thrown in for good measure but the character study the film becomes disrupts the pace. The movie starts off with a murder/robbery but the real action doesn't come until after the half-way mark; in between are slow build-ups involving family man Duff and his wife, Dorothy Malone, and the single Cochran who's fallen for a witness in the case, nightclub chanteuse Ida Lupino. Ida's a bit old for her role as a sympathetic "femme fatale" but the dynamics between her and the seemingly laid-back Cochran are one of the film's highlights. The movie takes too long by half to get where it's going but the ride is fascinating -as is the back story:

"Siegel was never comfortable working on the film and most of his memories of it are bad. He can remember little of it and readily admits that he may be blocking it out psychologically. The things he does remember are uniformly unpleasant. Siegel recalls there was a great deal of drinking on the set by the cast and producer. The script was never really in shape, ready for shooting, and Siegel was given little opportunity to work on it. He began to lose control of the picture, got into fights with Lupino and Young, had difficulty keeping Cochran sober, and got in the middle of arguments with his cameraman... One time, he recalls, Miss Lupino told Guffey that she wanted him to re-shoot something and even Guffey, whom Siegel describes as the mildest of men, exploded and became party to the bickering. 'I was terribly self-conscious on that picture,' recalls Siegel. 'I had just done a picture for Walter Wanger, RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11, in which I had great authority, did whatever I wanted to do. Now I was on a picture battling for every decision, working with people who were pretentious, talented but pretentious. They'd talk, talk, talk, but they wouldn't sit down and give me enough time. They wouldn't rehearse. Perhaps it was my fault. Cochran was a good actor, but not when he was loaded, and I had a hard time catching him even slightly sober. I was not able to communicate with these people and the picture showed it. Strangely enough, I personally liked both Ida Lupino and Young and still do, but not to work with."

Cinematographer Burnett Guffey had just won an Academy Award for FROM HERE TO ETERNITY and would do so again with BONNIE & CLYDE over a decade later. Don Seigel hired his friend Sam Peckinpah as "dialogue coach" and Howard & Ida's little girl had a bit part. The alcohol-fueled acting (enhanced by Leith Stevens' jazzy score) is fine all the way around with Steve, as usual, being the stand-out as he slowly reveals his character to be a self-assured sociopath under the badge.

Recommended -but not for the usual reasons.

Cop partners are tempted into stealing robbery loot, causing tension between them and troubles for their women.

The crime drama may be a potboiler, but it's also redeemed by an effective cast. And that's despite one of the most obtuse film titles in Hollywood annals. Actually, the movie amounts to a Steve Cochran showcase, showing what that swarthy actor could do given the chance. Nonetheless, the competition's pretty stiff from Duff and Lupino, while Malone would have to wait a year for her break-through role in Battle Cry (1955).

Cochran and Lupino do make a convincing tarnished couple, as another reviewer points out. At the same time, Cochran's devious cop amounts to one of the most unself-conscious performances I've seen from an actor. Note how at ease he is in the role, as if he really is cop Bruner.

It's also director Don Siegel, a year away from his classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). His skills are especially apparent in that opening action sequence that hooks the audience right away. Also, the car-wreck scene is really well done—no stock footage there— including the smoothly executed thievery scene. However, the last sequence, in the trailer park, appears too abrupt and poorly staged, as though the production had run out of film or money or both.

Kudos to co-producer Lupino who continued to be instrumental in turning out quality B- movies at a time when TV was slowing demand. Nothing memorable here, just a solid little crime drama with an expert cast.

"Private Hell 36" (1954), directed by Don Siegel, is tough little film noir starring a reliable cast of familiar faces for film buffs: Ida Lupino, Steve Cochran, Dean Jagger, Dorothy Malone and Howard Duff.

The plot isn't anything particularly special: two cops (Cochran and Duff) decide to take thousands of dollars from the suitcase of a dead counterfeiter and hid it in a trailer park. But then Cochran starts suffering with his conscience… The opening scene is the best when Steve Cochran stumbles onto a drug store robbery late night. Burnett Guffey's agile camera surveys the action with a cool calm and helps put everything into perspective. The jazz soundtrack composed by Leith Stevens purrs along nicely, as does Don Siegel's direction, which is far from his finest hour but still holds the viewer interested in the events portrayed. The acting, on the main, is good, especially Ida Lupino as a singer cop Howard Duff falls fall. This isn't a shining example of the film noir genre but it passes the time pleasantly enough.

Private Hell 36 is a tale of two Los Angeles PD cops who get an assignment to track down money from a big bank robbery which is being laundered at the pari-mutual window at Hollywood Park. Howard Duff is a responsible family man with wife Dorothy Malone and an infant daughter. He's got the financial responsibilities that any middle class individual from the Eisenhower 50s has.

His partner is Steve Cochran a brooding loner who feels he's not gotten his just due from the job. Their boss is Captain Dean Jagger who gives them that assignment.

That assignment also comes with trailing singer Ida Lupino who is the only one who can finger the right bettor. She does and when they give chase the perpetrator dies and they're left with a whole lot of money and maybe, just maybe they ought to keep it themselves.

I'm not sure how any of us would have handled the issue. The police however have some strict guidelines because they get tempted in these situations a lot more often than you or I would be. Cochran goes over the edge and he's taking Duff with him.

Some of these situations were handled a dozen years later in the Glenn Ford film The Money Trap where he and Ricardo Montalban found themselves tempted the same way. If you're familiar with that film you know how it comes out and probably a bit better for one of the detectives than in The Money Trap.

Don Siegel got good performances out of his ensemble cast. See this one back to back with The Money Trap if possible.

This taut, low-key and highly effective B-movie film noir was an early example of a style that director Don Siegel came to perfect in his later films. Although dealing with robbery and murder it's at its most effective in the small scenes of domesticity between the central characters, a crooked cop, his partner and the women they are both involved with and there are good performances from Steve Cochran, Howard Duff, Ida Lupino and Dorothy Malone in these roles. (Lupino co-wrote the movie with producer Collier Young). Excitement is generated from not knowing exactly which way the characters might go and from the degree of complexity that both the players and writers invest them with. The denouement is a bit of let-down, however, with things tidied up too quickly and too neatly. Still, it's a commendable effort.

Strolling home one night, Los Angeles police detective Steve Cochran interrupts a robbery in progress at a drugstore. He fatally shoots one of the perps and books the other. A marked $50 bill in the loot came from $300-grand robbery-homicide in New York. Cochran and his partner Howard Duff trace the bill back to the pharmacist, the bartender who passed it to him, and Ida Lupino, coat-check girl and part-time singer at the bar. She claims a drunk tipped her with it one night after she sang him `Smoke Gets In Your Eyes' five times; the cops don't quite believe her, but it doesn't matter. Cochran is falling for her, even though his cop's salary won't snare her the diamond bracelets she's after.

Over the next week, they drag her to a racetrack where more of the marked cash is being uttered, in hopes that she'll spot her tipsy tipper. When she does, Cochran and Duff go off in hot pursuit. The getaway car hurtles down an embankment, killing the driver but leaving cash blowing around the ravine. Cochran pockets about $80-grand and turns over the rest, leaving Duff angry but not angry enough to break the inviolable code: Never rat out your partner. Cochran makes Duff an unwilling accomplice by giving him a duplicate key to a rented trailer where he's stashed the money; it's parked in slip #36. But then Cochran gets a phone call from a stranger who claims the cash is his and wants to make a deal....

Opening with an initial burst of two brutal robberies, director Don Siegel then slackens the pace but not the tension; he moves the story forward through character rather than incident. The square-rigger Duff tries to dissolve his guilt in alcohol, to the distress of his wife (Dorothy Malone, in too skimpy a role); Cochran and Lupino seesaw up and down, back and forth in their more volatile liaison. The fifth major player, Dean Jagger, as the detectives' canny superior, senses that their story doesn't quite add up.

Written by Lupino and her ex-husband Collier Young, the movie departs from the usual formula by not making current spouse Duff Lupino's love interest; perhaps in consequence, Duff loses the cocky, ingratiating mien he often adopts, while Cochran runs off with the meatier role. Private Hell 36 stays lean and hard-edged (with help from cinematographer Burnett Guffey); it's among the better offerings from the latter years of the noir cycle.

Very watchable film, especially scenes with Steve Cochran. He is absolutely beautiful to look at, one of the most gorgeous men ever captured on film. He is also the best actor of the cast, bringing a sly grace to his role. He seems very on target as a cop who sees an opportunity to get rich off of money from a dead murder suspect. Ida Lupino does a capable job as the object of his lust, but she was a bit long in the tooth at that point, and just didn't "fit" as a femme fatale. Howard Duff went way overboard in his portrayal of the "good" cop. His teeth-clenching, jaw-rubbing portrayal of moral dilemma was kind of strained. Dorothy Malone did a suprisingly good job as Duff's wife. Her performance in the film was one of the most subtle she ever gave. The film suffered when it got really bogged down in the middle as they searched for the suspect at the racetrack. A lot of that should have been trimmed out. Otherwise, a nice film for a rainy afternoon.

I have the highest regard for Don Siegel's directorial capabilities, which he repeatedly proved in films such as INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956, to me one of the most perfectly directed films ever), RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11, THE LINEUP, DIRTY HARRY, among others. He has a keen sense of the real, and of the difficulties facing any given character at any point. He does not try to find the easy, or pleasant way out: life is tough and you survive or die.

The economy of his direction is evident in PRIVATE HELL 36, saving it from any dishonest and sentimental approach that would have irremediably undermined it. One crucial highlight is the car chase, still spectacular today, reflecting all the potential hazards, and showing the extent to which the unprincipled cop (Cochran) is prepared to go -- not to enforce the law, but to line his own pocket, although the viewer does not know it yet at that point.

Siegel's direction always rests on three pillars: photography, which is superb and to the point in PRIVATE HELL 36; script, which is concise and gripping enough, with the important contribution of Ida Lupino's writing talent; and solid acting.

In the latter department, Steve Cochran is in a class of his own. This good-looking man and seemingly law-abiding cop plays his part so perfectly -- no doubt helped by his sympathetically built character -- that when he steals money from the accident scene, he hardly seems to break the law, and I almost felt like urging Howard Duff not to be stupid but take advantage of the opportunity.

No doubt I would make a corrupt cop, but the point I'm making is that Cochran achieves this seamlessly, without even seeming smug about it.

Lupino provides the other great performance. She is out to have fun regardless, and her morals are clearly loose - in fact, she might even be open to being picked up at a price.

Duff plays very convincingly the part of the honest cop. Sadly, good is seldom as eye-catching as evil, so he is overshadowed by Cochran's subtle shiftiness.

I regard PRIVATE HELL 36 as must-see for anyone interested in film noir, and certainly for any Don Siegel fan like me. 8/10.

No, not really.

Two detectives, Jack Farnham and Cal Bruner are deeply investigating a robbery in which $300,000 was stolen. As their investigation progresses, they, by way of a sultry woman called Lilli Marlowe, manage to find the perp and recover the cash. But Bruner has fallen for Marlowe, and realising she has expensive tastes and that his police salary can not sustain the relationship, he ponders turning to the dark side, with Farnham equally at odds with himself over the pressures of raising a family.

Is Private Hell 36 a noir film? Well I'm no professionally paid expert on the subject, but it certainly has all the ingredients in place. Yet the film, in spite of some watchable attributes, is a largely character driven talky piece of fluff that isn't really raising the bar in the pantheon of film noir. Or, in fact, crime picture history. Certainly it's not a film that screams out that it was directed by Don Siegel.

It's a solid premise to work from, and in Ida Lupino (Marlowe) and the great Steve Cochran (Bruner), the picture boasts two very fine performances, with each actor giving the film its emotional weight. A nod of approval also goes to the scoring of the piece by Leith Stevens, as jazzy blues like combos flit in and out to create an ear worthy alliance as our detectives battle with their very conscience.

All things considered it's an enjoyable enough piece, but one that to me fades very quick from the memory. So, solid if unspectacular, and reliable if lacking in any major amount of thrills and brain tickling plotting. 5/10

Cops Cochran and Duff investigate stolen money from a robbery that involved murder. When a stolen bill is dropped to a nightclub singer the cops use her to identify the man who gave it to her. However when the thief is killed in a car chase the two cops, one with a family the other with an expensive girlfriend, decide to take the money and hide it in a trailer park (hence the title). But with time comes pressure from within and without to come clean.

This film came from Ida Lupino's filmaker company and was co-scripted by her and she plays the nightclub singer who can identify the killer. She is good in the role and gets plenty of help from young director Don Siegel. This is pretty small beer by his standard but it's still a pretty good thriller all the same. Some scenes are brilliant - the opening robbery of a drug store for one, while others are just good. But the gritty story isn't as good as I was hoping.

Overall a solid thriller from a good team of director and actors but it doesn't really have anything that makes it stand out from other crime thrillers of the same period.

Howard Duff and Ida Lupino were one of the more talented teams in Hollywood history. This film does not really show their unique talents; especially those of Lupino, who was one of the smartest women in Hollywood at the time. A good-looking woman with great writing talent is not a common occurrence. There is a nice turn by Steve Cochran as well.

This is not pure noir; it really isn't that dark, but it is an interesting plot. Any cop recovering a ton of money would have to be tempted to dip into the cash. This is a nice, small, gritty film that highlights the future potential of both Duff and Lupino. She was truly a gifted actress and writer.

Steve Cochran gets into Lawrence Tierney land as a dirty cop in Private Hell 36. It is a precipitous fall that takes him from courageous hero to corrupt villain as he commits a myriad of crimes and capital sins in under 90 minutes.

Plagued by lack of cash flow detectives Bruner (Steve Cochran) and Farnham (Howard Duff) go dirty by skimming off the top some stolen cash recovered from a dead robber. Farnham has his doubts but instigator Bruner is all in and once the die is cast there is no turning back. Farnham the family man continues to doubt while Bruner, bewitched by cynical cabaret singer, Lili Marlowe dreams of la dolce vita. A skeptical captain (Dean Jagger) remains suspicious.

Shot with the customary economical and crafts manlike style of Don Siegel it lags at moments (race track scenes in particular) but still moves with his customary briskness in advancing the story like his The Line-Up with a brutal well edited opening.

All three of his leads are deeply flawed and far from sympathetic but interesting to follow, especially Cochran who dominates the picture with disturbing conviction. Lupino (who also co- writes the script) has the right look and sound of a lounge lizard climber while Duff who goes into guilt early and remains there plays it macho smarmy.

The story remains thin with some superfluous filler along the way but with Siegel touching things up "Hell" makes the best of the little it has.

Steve Cochran, Howard Duff, Ida Lupino, and Dean Jagger star in "Private Hell 26," a noir directed by Don Siegel.

In Los Angeles, Cal Bruner (Cochran), a police officer, sees a robbery going on at a pharmacy. He finds a marked $50 bill. It's from a New York robbery of $300,000.

Bruner and his partner Jack Farnham (Duff) trace the bill to first to a druggist, and then back to the bartender who gave it to him. There, they meet the sultry Lilli Marlowe, coat check girl and part time singer in the bar.

Bruner falls for her, and the partners take her to various places where marked bills have been found to see if she can spot the person who gave her the fifty. She does, and Bruner and Farnham give chase.

The driver crashes down an embankment and is killed. There is money everywhere. After picking it all up, Bruner takes $80,000, infuriating Farnham. However, Farnham isn't about to snitch on his own partner. They turn in about $200,000.

Bruner has a duplicate key made for a slip, #36 where he has the money hidden. Meanwhile, Farnham doesn't like his boss' (Jagger) questions and doesn't want any part of the money. Bruner can only see giving Lilli the kind of life she wants, which he can't do on a cop's salary.

Good noir written by Ida Lupino and her ex-husband, Collier Young, with whom she had formed a production company. Interestingly the film stars her current husband, Duff, and features their baby daughter Bridget. I guess they were all good friends.

Duff is young and handsome and gives an earnest performance as an honest man who can't quite believe his partner is so crooked. The sexy Cochran has the stronger role, and portrays someone with no conscience at all.

Lupino is great as always as the no-nonsense Lilli. Dorothy Malone plays Farnham's wife; she has little to do.

All in all, quite good.

Brilliant intrigue getting you on a wayward journey through webs and jams of complications, especially concerning relationships, the outcome of which is impossible to guess - you can't even guess what's round the corner.

The film opens brilliantly with a regular burglary getting into trouble with hard knocks completely ruining a well furnished drugstore, and that's only the introduction. The curious thing is, that although nothing much happens for the next 30 minutes or so, as the two policemen set out an an impossible quest in search of a haystack to begin with in order to be able to start looking for a needle in it, which enterprise involves some boring routine, which not even horse races can brighten up, the film is tremendously exciting all the way, simply because you can't possibly know what to expect. Then Ida Lupino suddenly is helpful.

She is the star of the film, she always makes interesting characters of more than one shade and deep shadows into it, and here she really (unintentionally) gets her policeman involved in a serious fall.

Don Siegel was a genius comparable with Ben Hecht for poignant dialogue and smashing stories. When the plot finally gets going here, things really happen unexpectedly, and mystery is added to the complications, until everything is resolved in the end with a wonderful sens morale, for a gratifying release out of the unbearable excitement.

One mystery remains though after things get settled down. You'll never know what happened to Ida Lupino afterwards. She will probably just go on singing, maybe even "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", like she did when she got the plot started.

A strong cast with Steve Cochran and Howard Duff as two plainsclothes cops and Ida Lupino as the girlfriend make this a very entertaining film noir if the mid '50s. The cops assigned to the Robbery Detail steal half a robber's loot after the robber is killed in a high-speed pursuit. It's a case of good cop, bad cop as one if them has an attack of conscience while the the wants to go the whole way even if it means murder. A good script and the addition of Ida Lupino who never put in a bad performance in a long acting (and directing) career and old reliable Dean Jagger as the boss cop combine to make for an entertaining little drama indeed.